Rembrant

She's a Monster and had a fancy paint job in her day!

If it's the truck in the picture, it's a Dodge isn't it? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Cool stuff Gary.

Didn't all of the 5.0 EFI trucks have the inertia switch on the inner firewall? I'd be checking that "tout de suite" as my wife would say! I'd also make sure to check all of the engine and frame grounds as well, especially with one of the EFI trucks. I think fuel pumps are common issues with the old EFI trucks as well, no?

Summit is almost like the Amazon of aftermarket car stuff these days...and I mean that in the sense that a lot of stuff they don't actually have, but will still sell it to you. I've found things I've needed from various manufacturers, and then specifically ordered them from Summit. A good example is a Borgeson steering joint I ordered a couple months ago. It was a weird double joint with 3/4" double D on one end, and Metric splines on the other. It didn't show up on normal searches on Summit, but when I entered the exact part number from Borgeson's site, it then showed up on Summit with a note saying that it would be special ordered for me. The reason it is important for me to buy as much as possible from a place like Summit is that they have free shipping to Canada if you spend $300. Shipping is a big issue for us up here in Canada. That same Borgeson joint, if I ordered directly from Borgeson, would likely cost me $70 in shipping alone. So I try to consolidate my stuff through Summit whenever possible. The one downside with them (for me), and it's not much to complain about really, but they only ship to Canada from the warehouse in Ohio, so that is where they will consolidate the order. It's not a big deal, and I understand why they do it. As for parts selection though, I don't think you can beat Summit. I did use Jegs for a little bit when I first started building my '84 Bullnose, but I always go with Summit these days. They're put a lot of effort into their internal search features and stuff like that. Does anybody use their mobile phone app? I see sales popping up and discounts via the app, but I've never used it myself. In any case, I gave them top stars for a vote.

Definitely the original engine then if you have a VIN stamped block. My '84 302 was stamped as well, and I've come across a couple others that were. It's seems to be pretty rare, and totally random, but somebody number matched them along the way (sometimes lol). Mine was stamped on the flat surface at the back of the block. Congrats then on finally confirming the roller block. A roller block/cam isn't really necessary, but I'd say they're preferred so that you don't have be concerned with lifter and cam wear. I actually just sold a 1996 5.0 roller block engine. I could have kept the dogbones and hold down plate if I knew somebody needed them. Be careful drilling and tapping the two holes in the block. I seem to recall that they are directly on top of cam bearings? Also why the screws cannot be too long.

Way up in Canada, east or northeast of Maine;). Can you tell me the size of the big hex nut?

The EFI head will have six holes that will have to be plugged on the exhaust side. They are for the Thermactor system...see the pipe running the length of the head below? There was a guy on here swapping one of these heads on recently. Not sure what he used to plug the holes. PS: On swapping the whole engine in later, keep in mind the later EFI blocks did not have a hold to mount the mechanical fuel pump. David might know more...I believe the hole can be cut out and the bolt holes tapped, but as it stands they're all blank.

Excellent guys, thanks for the replies and confirmations!

Gents, Does anybody know if the rad fan on a 300 is the same as a rad fan on a 302? Friend of mine has a 1978 F100 with a 302 and regular (non-clutch) radiator fan. He wants to convert it to a clutch fan. His existing fan will not work obviously. There's a 1983 F150 Bullnose at the local junkyard with a 300 in it, and a nice condition radiator fan. I know the clutches are different between 300 and 302, but are the fan blades still the same? Next question is regarding removal. I did this before with my 1980 F150, but the truck is gone now. Can anybody remind me what size that nut is, and confirm whether it is right or left hand thread? I made a bar to hold the water pump last time. Might have to do the same, so I want to be prepared if we go grab the fan. How do you hold the water pump from turning if you don't have a holder? I think I tossed mine after I sold the truck with the 300.

That's the later tank...'85 and '86 only. I actually thought they were '86 only, but if you have one on an '85, then they likely got them also. Yes, just a little black rubber push in plug goes in that hole.

Only the Mustang 5.0's got the roller blocks in 1985. Trucks didn't get roller blocks until the new blocks were introduced in 1987. Being a transition year, anything is possible, so you never really know what you will get. I've taken apart a couple '85-'86 F150 EFI 5.0's, and they were flat tappet blocks. The trucks first got the small base roller cam starting in 1992. They got the larger base circle H.O. firing order roller cams in 1994. This is what I'm running in my '96 5.0 engine. The F4TE cam is about the best you can get for low end torque in a 5.0. It is entirely possible that a late build 1986 F150 5.0 got a roller block, but it's far from being a sure thing.

If it’s any Help, I think RedHead recommended Dextron so that is what I used and it was fine.

In a normal year, June would be getting pretty late in the production run, but since this was the last year for the Bullnose, it seems like they ran the production late as I have seen 1986 models with fall of ‘86 build dates. In any case, if it is the original engine, it definitely isn’t a roller cam engine, and probably not even a roller block. I don’t think the roller blocks showed up until the late 80’s and the roller cams didn’t show up in trucks until the early 1990’s. I think you are fairly limited with cam and mod selection with speed density, but I’m not an expert on the early EFI systems.

Jim, I wanted to make the little 5.0 look like it belongs in there...not really of course, but sort of. Enough to make people ask questions on car night lol. Problem is, when I went on the hunt for Mercury branded engine stuff, it is super obscure. After the early to mid 60's or so, it seems like most Mercury vehicles had Ford badging under the hood. Cars like the Foxbody Capri's only said Mercury on the outside if they said it at all. The air cleaner decals I think are from early Cougars. I want to do something with the valve covers also, but that would have to be custom. You can buy expensive adapters to run Y? block valve covers on a SBF, but with the adapters costing several hundred, and rare Mercury valve covers costing several more hundred, that idea fizzled out fast. Mercury stamped covers would look really cool on the 5.0 in my truck, but it ain't happening. I'd like to do something like the below with high temp decals. For the time being, I'd settle for a factory looking Mercury 5.0 decal for the air cleaner. I think that would be neat enough. I see the guys in the US online commenting about how rare the Mercury pickups are. It's funny, because they're actually pretty common here. If you go to a car show around here, of all the 1948-1968 pickups, half of them will be Mercs. I bet there's a half a dozen of them within a 30 mile radius of me just in the 1948-1952 body style like mine. The story behind them being branded is interesting, but it makes sense if you understand just how sparsely populated Canada was back in those days. I seem to recall reading that the Merc pickups only came with V8's, but I don't know if that is true. Maybe for certain generations, like my own.

That is what I should have done...hindsight is 20/20 eh Gary? Press...that's a good idea. Maybe I'll bring it to work tomorrow and put some pressure on it to see if it will flatten out. It's only 3/8" x 2" wide flat bar. It will bend.

I ran into a bit of a snag last night. Funny, you plan for one type of error, and a different error shows up lol. These are not my pictures below, but they're exactly what I did to mount my steering box. I had the bracket all tacked together perfectly. Everything fit swell. So last night I welded it all up solid, and I even welded a temporary bridge across the top opening so that the two ends would now bow out or in while I was welding them. That little bridge worked perfectly, so I was pleased with that. What DID happen though, is that my bottom horizontal mounting plate bent like a banana on me, so now it's high in the center. I'm going to shave a little off the middle of it, and some off the bottom of the box itself in hopes I can get it sitting flat. Worst case scenario I guess I could shim the ends if I had to. What a bugger.

Ahh cool. I replied to you on Instagram about these. I wanted a 4.9 H.O. decal for my 1980 F150 with 300, but I didn't have the truck all that long. I want to get one for my current project that says Mercury 5.0 4V H.O. or something like that. Only problem is, I haven't purchased the air cleaner yet so I don't even know what it will be. AS soon as I figure out what air cleaner I'm going with, I'll reach out to you.

I can't take much credit for the beauty of the truck. All I've done is rip the drivetrain out of it lol. It's an older restoration, from about 20 years ago or more, but it's in really nice condition. A bunch of panels have been replaced, and all the fenders and running boards are fiberglass. A brief handwritten history of the truck came with it. Previous owner made a lot of calls trying to get the full story on it. A lot can happen to a vehicle in 70 years. The truck was sold new here in NS, about 60-70 miles away from me. It lived and worked on a farm for the first 20 or so years, and was then left in the field in the late 60's or early 70's. Some guys dragged it out of the field in the early 1980's, but it wouldn't run and needed a lot of work. It then sat unattended in a barn until the early 1990's. The restoration started sometime in the early to mid 90's and was partially finished in the late 90's. It changed owners a couple times over the last 20 years, but the guy I bought it from had it for 7-8 years, and only really took it to shows a couple times a year. It hadn't been out of the garage in two years when I bought it. As charming an nostalgic as the manual steering and manual brakes were, they were not for me. I got my driver's license in 1988, so those things were long gone by that time. Going down the road they're fine, but parking and maneuvering tight spaces were another story. Not a big deal really, but I worry enough as it is about hitting something (or somebody) at one of the local car shows or weekly cruise-ins with cars and people all over the place. I've been working at getting the Toyota power steering swap done so that I can place the 302/5.0 in the frame and move on to other things. Once the engine and trans are all bolted in, things will start to move along a little better. I just ordered a Quick4 controller for the AODE/W trans, and I still need to order lots of other things as time and money allow. I'm going to do some measuring and test fitting tomorrow. I have to cut the new crossmember to even get it in the frame, but once I have it loosely fitted, I can then figure out how far back I can put it. The engine (5.0 V8) and Trans (AODE/W) came out of two different 1996 F150's. Going with a full 80's Duraspark ignition, '96 3G alternator, and a 500CFM 4bbl for this year...maybe EFI next year. We'll see. I'll be lucky enough to get it on the road this year without thinking of spending a couple extra grand on an EFI system. It sure is great that Gary lets us hang out on here even after our Bullnoses are gone (or, maybe better said...while we're between Bullnoses...lol). The drivetrain in this truck will be what a lot of people stuff into Bullnoses as upgrades, so I still have some stuff in common.

1987 is correct. He was swapping an EFI head on to the engine a while back, I do remember that. In 1985, the only EFI was the 5.0, and even then, it was only some of them. I think the 5.0 finally went all EFI after February of 1985. The 300 might have had a feedback carb in a 1985, but it definitely wasn't EFI until 1987.

Well I guess I will do some measuring this weekend and see what I can get away with, because I know one thing for sure, I don't want to have to change this after the fact. I'm just not sure if I can move the engine over the full 2" or not. Still, if the trans output and rear diff input are offset, but still parallel, it should be fine?

I was just reading the section on the 3G alternator conversion as I was trying to find out what size fuse holder and fuse I was going to need. Then I spotted Gary's note that the 1996 harness had a fusible link in the grey wire. I have the 1996 alternator harness, but the guy that pulled the engine cut the end of it off. There's currently only about 2" of it there. I don't think it was much longer to begin with. I saw one last weekend and it looked like it was only about 3" long to the ring terminal (the grey part, that is). So should I still put a fuse on this? I assume yes?... If yes, what size? I don't know for certain, but from what little I've read, I believe the factory alternator on this engine was 95 amp?

Thanks Jim! I like the serpentine drive, but it sure is big and bulky compared to the basic v-belt system it replaced. It's a massive chunk hanging on the front of the little 5.0 V8. This truck had factory AC, but I just have an AC delete pulley kit on there for now (and maybe forever lol). I have the stock AC compressor and lines, but my plan is to take the original aluminum block that attaches to the back of the pump, and have it machined so that it will accept AN fittings. That way I can use the Ford factory pump with an aftermarket AC system (or at least that is my long term plan). I had the local hydraulic shop make me a -6AN Metric fitting for my C2 power steering pump. The basically took a standard M16 fitting and he machined a groove to fit a nylon seal washer, same as the factory fitting had. The Ford CII pump is going to be running a power steering box from an old Toyota 4x4 with the solid front axle (1979-1985). I'm working on finishing this install this weekend. I'm having the original steering shaft machined to fit a Borgeson double u-joint that is 3/4" DD on the input side, and 17mm splined on the drive side. I'm not splittin' any atoms here or anything...this is all stuff car builders have been as long as I've been alive. The only reason I mention it all is that I'm working towards getting the 5.0 and AOD-E/W fitted into the truck, but I have to finish the Toyota steering box swap and serpentine system installation before I can place the engine. I don't have a ton of space to work with, so everything has to fit just so. One thing I'm still not 100% on, and would appreciate your thoughts on, is driveshaft side to side angle. I'm installing an Ford 8.8 diff out of a 2001 Ford Explorer. It's fine, but the pinion is offset 2" to the passenger side. This is perfectly fine in a truck like a Bullnose as the engine is also offset 2" to the passenger side, ensuring the driveline is all straight back. I know there are several reasons for why they do this, but the fact remains that the driveline is straight. I'm still not sure yet whether I'm going to center my engine, or offset it once inch, or maybe even 2" if I have enough room. I'm fully aware of setting the transmission (down) and differential (up) pinion angles, but can you add a sideways offset to that, by 1" or 2"? I've read where some people say it doesn't matter, and that their truck works just fine that way. That's all well and good...but I know a lot of guys that drive around with vibrations in their vehicles that they don't even notice...lol.

Jim, agreed on all counts. This is the stock alternator for this engine, so it should be fine...now even more so with more belt wrapped around the pulley. I was really trying to minimize the extras on this engine...I have very little room to work with under the hood of this truck. A cleaner and tighter serpentine belt was preferred, but also needed.

Yup, I was aware from a youtube video I watched that the pulley would be smaller, and have already sourced the larger AC pulley. Even it was somewhat smaller in diameter than the stock pulley from the smog pump. Not by much, maybe 3/4", so I suspect after it comes in, I will still be chasing the correct belt size. RockAuto to the rescue! I finally have a winner with this alternate belt routing. A 93.5" belt fits perfectly, and the tensioner is only at about 50% travel, maybe even a hair less. This should do the trick. I don't know how common this belt drive swap will be on the older trucks, but this is one way to run a 94-96 SBF serpentine belt (when smog pump is removed).