Rembrant's new non-Bullnose project

grumpin wrote

A 1995 351 should be a roller, I think.

A 1995 would definitely be a roller block. I think the 351 was from 1994-up. My friend Chris has one for parts…a 1997 single wheel F350 4x4 with 351 and E4OD. It was a late built ‘97, but still the old Aeronose body. I thought about using that engine, but I am drawn to the 5.0 for some reason.

A roller 351w is the best small block ever in my opinion.

That would have been a sweet truck. No wonder it sold quickly.

Rembrant wrote

grumpin wrote

A 1995 351 should be a roller, I think.

A 1995 would definitely be a roller block. I think the 351 was from 1994-up. My friend Chris has one for parts…a 1997 single wheel F350 4x4 with 351 and E4OD. It was a late built ‘97, but still the old Aeronose body. I thought about using that engine, but I am drawn to the 5.0 for some reason.

A roller 351w is the best small block ever in my opinion.

That would have been a sweet truck. No wonder it sold quickly.

Yeah, I agree, sweet truck. Actually I would rather have the one your friend had, the F350 single rear wheel, 4x4, with the 351 and E4OD. I don’t think I’m going to find one.

Minor update: I finally got my little roller block 5.0 stripped down to the short block, and took the heads in to the local engine shop. There are two bolts snapped off in the driver's side cylinder head...one a 5/16" intake manifold bolt, and one a 3/8" exhaust manifold bolt. Not sure how big a deal they are to remove, but they're going to call with a quote to refresh both heads...and he said they likely have a good spare head in-stock anyway. No sense spending too much extracting bolts from an E7TE cylinder head...they're barely worth $50 each, and sometimes $50 per pair. Anyway, stay tuned for that, I guess.

Good news on the cylinder bores. Almost no ring ridge...likely next to nothing at all. I measured them for ID, and out of round, and they look great. Haven't checked for taper yet as the pistons/crank are still in there, but the cylinders are reading between 4.00", and 4.002", with the majority of them between 4.001" and 4.0015". These numbers are not 100% accurate as the the 4th digit on the caliper I was using only moves in increments of 0.0005". However, even if I'm off by a half a thou, or even a full 0.001", the cylinders appear to be well with the wear tolerances of 4.004", and 4.0052", and well within the out of round spec of 0.005". So that's good, assuming the taper is OK.

According to the engine shop, they tell me that many of the 302/5.0 blocks were as big as 4.002" when they were new anyway. The crosshatch pattern IS is clearly visible, but the engine shop that rebuilt my last 302 told me that that didn't matter. I dunno.

The only catch with this local shop is that they tell me they don't "rebuild" engines much anymore. They do machine work. So, they'll clean-up and machine my block for me, but I'll be on my own for assembly.

The decks need to be skimmed...there's a big ridge of rust along the exhaust side, and that really should be done. Hopefully the crank is OK and doesn't need machining. The cam and lifters look great, and I guess the good news is that everybody is telling me to re-use them. I'm not really used to that coming from the flat tappet world...lol.




Interesting (to me) that this 1996 5.0 engine has factory flat top pistons in it...same as my 1984 302. There's a huge difference in chamber size between the old E8 heads and the 90's E7's, so this engine should have been 9:1 compression for sure, maybe even 9.1:1. I thought all of these 302's with the E7 heads had the deep dished pistons, but maybe that changed later on. I always wondered about the 9:1+ compression claims in the 90's, but maybe it was true on these 1994-up 5.0's with the F4TZ cam.

More to come once I hear from the engine shop...

And I'm not sure how I feel about rebuilding the engine myself, but I guess I might as well learn...lol.

I may have missed this, but what is your overall goal with the engine?

Weberman wrote

I may have missed this, but what is your overall goal with the engine?

Hey Weberman,

Sorry for the late reply. Things have been a bit hectic lately.

The goal with this engine is really just a stock rebuild...and by rebuild, I really just mean re-gasket, re-ring, clean-up, and re-seal. I'll be installing a Edelbrock intake and a small 500CFM 4bbl carb, and a new dual direction timing cover with fuel pump mount.
I specifically wanted a 1994-1996 5.0 engine as it was the best one that was ever used in the F-Series. Not that it changed much over the previous roller block versions, but it did have the larger base circle F4 cam with the 351/HO firing order.

I may try bolt on EFI later on when the budget allows, but for 2022 I'm just trying to get it back on the road again as a driver. I've tossed the idea around to swap in a different cam, but I'm trying to keep the spending to a minimum on this one, and the overall swap still requires lots and lots of parts.

I'm always kickin' myself for not going with a roller block 351w...my friend Chris has one still in a 1997 F350 with a bad frame, and now after 3 projects I still kinda kick myself for not using it, so I guess I'm just a sucker for the 302...lol.

Picked up my freshened up E7 cylinder heads today. Surface skim, valves done, new expansion plugs, and new Viton valve seals. Tech said the valve guides were all good. He said that the later Ford heads must have head better guides as they seem to last much longer than the older ones did? No idea. They were able to remove the one broken intake manifold bolt, but the broken exhaust manifold stud had to be machined and Helicoiled. I tried welding a nut to the broken stud and couldn't get it to budge, so I don't feel so bad knowing they couldn't get it out either. Will get the rest of the short block disassembled this weekend so I can drop it off next week. Things are starting to come together, slowly but surely.

I guess the heads "came together", but it sounds like the block is "coming apart".  

Whatever, it is all PROGRESS!  

Two heads are better than one… wait, some don’t think so!

I haven't updated this project thread in a while, so here's the latest news...

As you know I purchased a 5.0 V8 out of a 1996 F150. I had it mostly stripped down and had the heads refurbed already. I was just getting ready to take the short block in to the engine shop for a refresh when one popped up locally already finished and ready to go. That changed my plans slightly, but buying a finished short block knocks weeks, if not not a full month off my project schedule. This IS good news. The only catch is that the finished shortblock had a Ford E303 cam in it, and Foxbody oil pan and sump. However, it had brand new pistons, new roller lifters, new timing chain, oil pump, etc. The block had been line honed and balanced, too. Anyway, I swapped the truck cam over as well as the truck oil pan and sump, and then buttoned the heads on yesterday with new TTY bolts. It's starting to feel like and engine again!






So that's where it sits as of today. I'm going to paint the engine gloss black, leaving the intake and water pump in raw aluminum.

Put another big order in today with both RockAuto and Summit, so I should have more parts to work with by next weekend. As per everybody's suggestions on here I ordered all new seals and gaskets, filters, etc for the 4R70W trans. New flexplate, new PMGR starter, etc, etc. My goal is to have the engine and trans mounted in the truck by the end of January.

PS: By the way, I noticed that this shortbock I bought has a pilot bearing in the crank. Do I need to remove that, or can I just leave it in there if I'm installing an auto trans? I guess I'll have to test fit the flexplate and see.

By the way #2...for the 4R70W input seal, I ordered a "torque converter shaft seal". I assume this is what one would call the input seal? I'm not used to working on auto trannys. On manuals, I'd just order an input shaft seal.

So, my current holdup is that I still need to remove some stuff from the truck. I have to swap in a Toyota power steering box that I'll be operating with the Ford CII pump. Since some fab work is required to get the box in, I really need to get that done in order to position the engine properly.

Other things to note...

I'll be running the stock 1996 3G alternator (I think 95 amp), and I'll be going with an 80's DSII ignition module, etc. I already have the distributor, and the PMGR starter. So this old thing will be very Bullnose-ish under the hood...or upgraded Bullnose-ish at least.

Anyway, I still have a long LONG way to go, but with the engine starting to look like an engine again, and trans rehab parts on the way, I'm feeling like I'll be able to get it all installed in the truck soon. Once I get that far, everything else will seem like gravy after that.

looks great and I love the old truck lurking in all the pics trying to get a little attention. i have a niece like that.  what type of belt system are you planning to use? timing cover looks to be for a clockwise rotation like a v belt would use

Oh, you guys might like this...

I was really trying to come up with a way to make this small block Ford look unique under the hood of an old Mercury pickup. I searched for SBF Mercury valve covers, but it seems that by the time any Mercury's were running SBF's, the engines were all still Ford branded. I did find some Cougar valve covers, but they're no good to me. I did find Mercury valve covers for FE? engines?>..with 5 bolts?




Annnd, I also found nice machined aluminum adapters that would allow me to run FE valve covers on a small block Ford, but the prices of all these things put it all way out of reach. I think they'd look so cool on there, and of course they're make a great conversation piece. Most of the old guys would know the difference, but lots of people would still be scratching their heads.

Anyway, what ended up with is that I ordered a set of cheap plain black valve covers, and a friend of mine is making me adhesive stencils in the Mercury script so I can paint the Mercury on the valve covers. I'll do the lettering in high temp engine paint, and then clear. I might try to scuff them up a bit to give them a weathered look.

Oh well, it'll be something to take about at the local cruise-ins!

mat in tn wrote

looks great and I love the old truck lurking in all the pics trying to get a little attention. i have a niece like that.  what type of belt system are you planning to use? timing cover looks to be for a clockwise rotation like a v belt would use

Oh, it's in the background all the time because I'm working in a small attached garage. There's no room lol.

I'm running the serpentine system from the 1996 F150, minus the smog pump. It had factory AC, so I'm leaving that intact as I plan to use it later on. Funny you mention the timing cover, I actually didn't think to check the rotation, but there's no provisions at all for a mechanical fuel pump, so I just assumed it was for serpentine rotation. In any case, I bought an '87 Mustang 5.0 water pump, and it has round ports so that it can be used on either rotation timing cover (Ford did that on purpose for a few years with the Mustang). The Mustang water pump is identical to the 1996 F150 water pump, except for that rear plate with the ports/holes in it.

It was last year since you posted
It is nice when things just pop up like that, I am not so lucky.

As for the pilot bushing in the crank its not the flex plate you have to worry about but the converter.
The snout on the front index into the crank and sometimes a bushing will keep the converter from fitting in and touching the flex so you cant bolt it up.

Before you fill the converter and install it in the trans I would mount the flex and then fit the converter up to see if it will sit flush to the flex plate.

With AMC motors that might have come from a Jeep with an TH400 auto you have to check the crank for a thin spacer before using that motor with a TF904/999/727 auto.
The snout on the TH comverter is smaller in dia. than the TF and the TF converter will not slip into the rear of the crank with that thin spacer.
Thing is you want to try and save the spacer as no one makes them and there is always someone who needs one.
Dave ----

I like the plan with the valve covers.  It'll look "right" to most and confuse some.  

And the engine is going to look sharp.  The dark engine will make the aluminum parts "pop".  

But Dave is right about the pilot bushing and torque converter.  So checking it out as he suggested is a good plan.

Gary Lewis wrote

I like the plan with the valve covers.  It'll look "right" to most and confuse some.  

Gary,

I saw this engine in a truck on Ebay. This is all I'm trying to do with the valve covers. Of course most will know exactly what the engine is, but a lot of people will not;).




Distributor in the back? What in tarnation?....Y-Block?

Anybody know how to find a font? How would I figure out what font those Mercury letters are?

That will look good, Cory.  And yes, it looks like a Y-block to me.

As for fonts, you need Jim/Ardwrkntrk.  He knows fonts.  He's AWOL, but you might be able to get him to come help you.  I just sent you his cell # via FM PM.

Hey Folks,

Happy Sunday am, I hope the coffee is good. I'm just on my 2nd large while I'm cruising the web for more junk parts.

I can't remember the last pics I posted of my little 5.0, but here she is as of this weekend:





I just got all my serpentine drive system parts back from the sand blaster yesterday, so I hope to have all of that fitted and re-installed this week. It's important for me to have everything ON the engine so that I can get it placed/fitted into the frame properly. I don't to get it all bolted and welded in place only to find out that the alternator doesn't fit next to the inner fender lol.

Things are tight though...the shorty block hugger headers fit between the engine mount and starter, leaving NO room. I'm going to notch the header collector flange a little bit. Bugger.





I temporarily mounted the starter/separator plate on the back of the block, so the good news is that the starter can be installed and removed without having to touch the headers, but the fit is still super close. I'm told that there are high torque mini-starters for the SBF, so worst case scenario I might have to get one of those. However, for now, this pmgr starter is going to work. I guess the lifespan with the heat exposure is TBD.

For the power steering swap, I'm going with a Toyota box out of a 1979-1984 Toyota 4x4 pickup with the solid front axle. Rebuild kit was only $28 on Rock Auto, but the Borgeson double joint was not cheap...ack that stuff is expensive. Going to take quite a bit of fab work to get this installed...just starting on this today, so I can then drop the engine and trans in the frame and make sure it clears the steering box.

Have I mentioned lately how much I miss that big Bullnose open engine bay???...lol.




The pitman arm is a custom made piece from CPP in California. It was only $39 bucks, but it has the Toyota tapered splines on one end, and the 1" ball on the bottom end for the Ford drag link.

Lots of hacking and welding going on this week!

Just starting on my first cup, but the sight of that engine woke me up.

And you are right, the header IS close to the starter. Is there any way you can fashion a shield that will sit 1/2 way between the header and starter?  Maybe held on with the flange bolt?

But you are making progress.  Good progress.

However, I’m not sure what open engine bay you are talking about on the Bullnose trucks. A 460 with dual batteries, dual PDB’s, and EFI seems to fill that space up.

Gary Lewis wrote

However, I’m not sure what open engine bay you are talking about on the Bullnose trucks. A 460 with dual batteries, dual PDB’s, and EFI seems to fill that space up.

Oh ya...I forgot about you Big Block guys with all the extras lol. I was referring to the lowly small block and 300 inline guys with no AC and no extras lol.

It's coming Gary, slowly...but coming.

I'm scrambling and scheming to get it finished for this summer, but I'm not sure it will happen. I still need to spend a lot of $$$ for some bigger ticket items, but all things considered I'm OK with tinkering on it as is. The price of gas this year puts a bit of a damper on all things V8.

Even the V6’s are getting hit hard. I filled Blue up the other day for $142. But those 33 gallons will take it well over 600 miles. About twice what I’d get on Big Blue.