Advice for Smog Removal Components

[Machspeed]

Hey Friends, I would appreciate some advice and help. I have an 86 F150 351W HO that I stripped of the emissions years ago. To sum up quickly, I joined the military, the truck sat for a few years and never ran the same after. Even a carb rebuild did not fix it. Frustrated, I stupidly stripped it of all the emissions and installed an Edelbrock Carb and performer intake. I also installed a set of Ford Lightning headers and put dual exhaust on it. The truck ran great, seemingly better than it ever did, and I got much improved fuel mileage. That was twenty years ago.

 

Recently, it has developed a water leak coming from the intake so I need to pull the intake. I’ve removed the valve covers and I’m not pleased with how the valve train looks as compared to my 100K plus mile 69 Mustang. I’m also never pleased with how the oil looks at oil changes. Wondering if the disconnect of the smog stuff is slowly trashing my engine? Additionally, it’s hard to start when hot. Fires right up cold but never well when warmed up. Manifold and carb feel too hot to me. Water temp is always fine. Wondering if I need to plug the EGR ports in the head between the intake ports? And lastly, I can’t park it in the garage as it stinks of raw fuel. This likely secondary to removal of the charcoal canister.

Attached are a couple of pictures of my motor with the intake still on. Note that I kept the thermactor crossover tube and just capped it. Not sure if I’d be better off plugging the back of the head. With what I have, and not going crazy searching for all the Smog parts, what would be your suggestion for putting this truck back together? Thanks, John

 

 

[Gary Lewis]

As said in the intro thread, you have to maintain the coolant in a system like this where you have cast iron and aluminum interfacing with coolant in close proximity. Otherwise you have electrolysis and you strip aluminum off the intake and plate it somewhere on the cast iron. That leaves pits in the aluminum and eventually you'll have a leak.

Sometimes that leak is external and sometimes it is internal. But in either case it has to be repaired. I've seen it done three ways: new intake; heliarcing up the pits and milling them back; JB Weld.

As for the thermactor tube, if it isn't leaking then it isn't a problem.

But what did you do with the EGR? Did you just pull the hose off it, or block it off? Or? The ignition was set up for the inert gas at part throttle and if you just blocked it of w/o compensating in the vacuum advance curve you'll probably have pinging.

On the "hard to start" issue, describe the symptoms. Does it spin fine but doesn't fire? Does it kick back? Or?

[Rusty_S85]

As said in the intro thread, you have to maintain the coolant in a system like this where you have cast iron and aluminum interfacing with coolant in close proximity. Otherwise you have electrolysis and you strip aluminum off the intake and plate it somewhere on the cast iron. That leaves pits in the aluminum and eventually you'll have a leak.

Sometimes that leak is external and sometimes it is internal. But in either case it has to be repaired. I've seen it done three ways: new intake; heliarcing up the pits and milling them back; JB Weld.

As for the thermactor tube, if it isn't leaking then it isn't a problem.

But what did you do with the EGR? Did you just pull the hose off it, or block it off? Or? The ignition was set up for the inert gas at part throttle and if you just blocked it of w/o compensating in the vacuum advance curve you'll probably have pinging.

On the "hard to start" issue, describe the symptoms. Does it spin fine but doesn't fire? Does it kick back? Or?

I strongly recommend running global coolant if you have aluminum. It does better at protecting aluminum components than conventional green.

Even better than that would be dexcool but it requires to have the entire system flushed where there is not a trace of traditional green coolant. Otherwise it will sludge up and turn brown, it is why I recommend using global in this case as it doesnt have an adverse effect if you have conventional green coolant still in your system.

Since I am running aluminum heads and aluminum intake ontop of the OE aluminum timing cover housing I will personally be running Global Gold which looks like a very weak conventional green coolant with a slight gold tinge to it.

[Machspeed]

As said in the intro thread, you have to maintain the coolant in a system like this where you have cast iron and aluminum interfacing with coolant in close proximity. Otherwise you have electrolysis and you strip aluminum off the intake and plate it somewhere on the cast iron. That leaves pits in the aluminum and eventually you'll have a leak.

Sometimes that leak is external and sometimes it is internal. But in either case it has to be repaired. I've seen it done three ways: new intake; heliarcing up the pits and milling them back; JB Weld.

As for the thermactor tube, if it isn't leaking then it isn't a problem.

But what did you do with the EGR? Did you just pull the hose off it, or block it off? Or? The ignition was set up for the inert gas at part throttle and if you just blocked it of w/o compensating in the vacuum advance curve you'll probably have pinging.

On the "hard to start" issue, describe the symptoms. Does it spin fine but doesn't fire? Does it kick back? Or?

Thanks for the responses fellas. I think there may have been some misunderstanding in my initial post though. Water was not leaking into the engine but rather at the front of the intake. It was weeping out and settling onto the timing chain cover/water pump. After pulling the intake, I was surprised it wasn't leaking elsewhere, as the RTV silicone I used all those years ago was a mushy goo. I don't see any signs of corrosion, but I will look into another coolant. Thanks for that suggestion.

As for the EGR, I totally removed it. I've read that doing so could cause pinging for which I'm very familiar with but I've never heard it. Interestingly, when I pulled the intake, I noted that the intake gaskets were blocking the EGR ports in the head. Surprisingly, they weren't blown through. My Edelbrock intake accommodates those ports so I'm thinking I'll use gaskets to open that up this time. Not sure why I ordered gaskets that would blocked that off.

Gary, as to the hard start, it basically has to turn several times to fire. When it's cold or just mildly warm, it fires right up. I think this may be heat from the intake boiling the fuel in the carb. As such, I'll be putting a special spacer under the carb.

As I mentioned earlier too and of concern to me is the sludge look of my engine. Maybe that's normal for these vehicles, I don't know. What I do know is that when I pulled the engine from my 69 Mustang, I was very pleased at how it looked......it was incredibly clean!!! No black sludge. I admit ignorance in the emissions put on these vehicles but I can't help not to think that recirculating all that mess does not prompt this sludge. I have 100k on this engine and I'd like to keep it going a while longer knowing that what I'm doing to it is not damaging it, thus my questions regarding how I put it back together.

Thanks fellas,

John

 

 

[old55pete]

Thanks for the responses fellas. I think there may have been some misunderstanding in my initial post though. Water was not leaking into the engine but rather at the front of the intake. It was weeping out and settling onto the timing chain cover/water pump. After pulling the intake, I was surprised it wasn't leaking elsewhere, as the RTV silicone I used all those years ago was a mushy goo. I don't see any signs of corrosion, but I will look into another coolant. Thanks for that suggestion.

As for the EGR, I totally removed it. I've read that doing so could cause pinging for which I'm very familiar with but I've never heard it. Interestingly, when I pulled the intake, I noted that the intake gaskets were blocking the EGR ports in the head. Surprisingly, they weren't blown through. My Edelbrock intake accommodates those ports so I'm thinking I'll use gaskets to open that up this time. Not sure why I ordered gaskets that would blocked that off.

Gary, as to the hard start, it basically has to turn several times to fire. When it's cold or just mildly warm, it fires right up. I think this may be heat from the intake boiling the fuel in the carb. As such, I'll be putting a special spacer under the carb.

As I mentioned earlier too and of concern to me is the sludge look of my engine. Maybe that's normal for these vehicles, I don't know. What I do know is that when I pulled the engine from my 69 Mustang, I was very pleased at how it looked......it was incredibly clean!!! No black sludge. I admit ignorance in the emissions put on these vehicles but I can't help not to think that recirculating all that mess does not prompt this sludge. I have 100k on this engine and I'd like to keep it going a while longer knowing that what I'm doing to it is not damaging it, thus my questions regarding how I put it back together.

Thanks fellas,

John

 

 

The sludge in the top of the engine speaks to the detergent package that the oil you are using, or, the lack there of. The cheaper the oil, the lesser the amount of additives that keep the sludge down to a minimum. The sludge also says something about the oil change interval.

As for the coolant, there is an additive that can be put in the coolant that drops the ph balance and slows/stops the electrallios(spelling?) it is called Nowcool, or if you get it from NAPA, it is called NAPAcool. You need to buy test strips to check the balance of the coolant and follow the directions on the bottle when adding it. This is a big problem in diesels as there are so many different metals that the coolant comes in contact with. If you look at the picture below, the pits are caused by electrallios.

[Machspeed]

The sludge in the top of the engine speaks to the detergent package that the oil you are using, or, the lack there of. The cheaper the oil, the lesser the amount of additives that keep the sludge down to a minimum. The sludge also says something about the oil change interval.

As for the coolant, there is an additive that can be put in the coolant that drops the ph balance and slows/stops the electrallios(spelling?) it is called Nowcool, or if you get it from NAPA, it is called NAPAcool. You need to buy test strips to check the balance of the coolant and follow the directions on the bottle when adding it. This is a big problem in diesels as there are so many different metals that the coolant comes in contact with. If you look at the picture below, the pits are caused by electrallios.

Thanks for your input, Steve. I've been running Castrol 10w30 but as I don't drive the truck that often, I neglect the oil changes. I will do better in that. Is there an oil that you gentleman prefer?

[ArdWrknTrk]

Thanks for your input, Steve. I've been running Castrol 10w30 but as I don't drive the truck that often, I neglect the oil changes. I will do better in that. Is there an oil that you gentleman prefer?

Many of us like to run diesel oil, as it has a high detergent level and a bit more anti-wear additives.

But ZDDP will plate out on your catalytic converter if your truck was under 8,500 gvw.

I have almost 200,000 miles on this engine and the last time I had the valve covers off it was clean as a whistle.

Delvac, Rotella, whatever is on sale in the weight you want.

I've also gone to extended OCI and haven't noticed any problems.

[old55pete]

Thanks for your input, Steve. I've been running Castrol 10w30 but as I don't drive the truck that often, I neglect the oil changes. I will do better in that. Is there an oil that you gentleman prefer?

In my Bronco, I run 15w40 Dello 400. It has a big detergent package that is ment for the big over the road diesel engines. It is suggested in the owners manual for towing, 15w40, not the Dello 400. Because I buy it in bulk for my shop and it is handy, I use it in everything I own. My race cars, the wife's 07 F150, 7.3 IDI, 5.9 Cummins.

I will have to say that if you are going to use a high detergent oil in your engine, you might want to buy a few extra filters and change them every 500 to 600 during the first oil change to keep them from plugging up with the sludge.

I am sure that you will get several different suggestions on oils that everybody uses so don't take mine as gospel, I use what works for me.

Just as a foot note, my original engine had over 200,000 on it before it spun a main bearing using this oil.

[Gary Lewis]

In my Bronco, I run 15w40 Dello 400. It has a big detergent package that is ment for the big over the road diesel engines. It is suggested in the owners manual for towing, 15w40, not the Dello 400. Because I buy it in bulk for my shop and it is handy, I use it in everything I own. My race cars, the wife's 07 F150, 7.3 IDI, 5.9 Cummins.

I will have to say that if you are going to use a high detergent oil in your engine, you might want to buy a few extra filters and change them every 500 to 600 during the first oil change to keep them from plugging up with the sludge.

I am sure that you will get several different suggestions on oils that everybody uses so don't take mine as gospel, I use what works for me.

Just as a foot note, my original engine had over 200,000 on it before it spun a main bearing using this oil.

Another thing is your thermostat. Ford put 192 degree stats in everything, and it is important to get engines up to temps like that to boil the condensation out of the oil. But if you drive short distances, or run a lower temp stat, you may never get the engine fully up to temp and get the moisture out.

[old55pete]

Another thing is your thermostat. Ford put 192 degree stats in everything, and it is important to get engines up to temps like that to boil the condensation out of the oil. But if you drive short distances, or run a lower temp stat, you may never get the engine fully up to temp and get the moisture out.

Good point Gary, that would also address the raw fuel smell because the higher coolant temp promotes better combustion in an engine with an under 10:1 compression ratio.