Rembrant

I remembering seeing other people with this issue. I seem to recall it being an issue that the upper balljoint is too low due to the placement of the alignment bushing. If it's too low and the upper is all tightened in place first, then when you tighten the lower it wants to pull it out of the beam. But still, I'm surprised that lower balljoint does not have a circlip to hold it in place. What joints are they?

That balljoint should be pressed in until the shoulder hits the beam. You'll have to get it all the way through to get the circlip on it, I think? Here's a picture of mine on the bench when I did them a few years ago (with Moog joints).

I think vehicles have always been "She" for me, but I've probably called them he as well. I'll tell you something funny about having to learn some French words years ago. My wife and I have had Basset Hounds for 20+ years, and currently have our 5th and 6th dogs now. All but one were rescues or adult dogs we got from other people, for various reasons. Anyway, our 2nd and 3rd Bassets were a pair of litter mates we got from two neighboring French families that were leaving to move back to Quebec. Halifax is a big Navy town, and a lot of them get transferred a lot, so they come and go. Something that had never occurred to us prior to owning these dogs was that dogs learn specific languages also, and these two only knew French haha. Basset Hounds are not big on learning a lot of commands to begin with, but the commands these ones did know, were only French. The female's name was Cuddie, and if we wanted her to come to us, we had to say "ici Cuddie", pronounced "E-see Cuddie" and she'd come running like a bullet! ici is the French word for "here". That's my funny story for adopting a couple dogs that didn't "speak" English lol. We had to take French classes in school until grade 9. Once grade 10 hit, it was optional and I opted out. I know some basic words, and I can read French road signs and restaurant menus when I'm in Quebec, but I can't speak the language at all. Being bilingual in Canada opens a lot of doors for people with regards to employment, so it's worthwhile for kids to learn it in school in my opinion. In any case, nice masculine truck you've got there!! Bonne chance!!

The flex plate that came with the engine is for an E4OD. I had assumed they were the same, but I just looked on RockAuto and of the two brands listed on there, they both show different flex plates...one for the 4R70W and 4R75W, and a different plate for the E4OD and C6. Very good to know. Thanks for the heads up in this thread.

Haha, well in an ideal world we'd keep them all, wouldn't we? I do have seller's remorse once in a while, but at the same time I was ready for something new, and a new challenge.

Ya, the small block Ford crankshaft counterbalanced parts have been causing problems and infuriating mechanics for many many years...lol, and it still happens today. The 302 and the 351w were the same @28oz counterbalance for many years, but in or around 1982, the 302 changed to 50oz and screwed everything up lol. The 300 inline 6 has a 0 counterbalance flywheel, yet they can all interchange with each other physically. A lot of people find out the hard way unfortunately. Some people find out about the different size ring gears the hard way too. Some of the cars had 157 tooth, while the trucks were 164. Imagine bolting everything together, and only finding out when you try to start it the the starter bendix doesn't touch the ring gear lol. Whirrrrrrrrrrrrr. Good to know on the flex plates, so thank you for that. I'll have to investigate. The 5.0 V8 I purchased came out of a 1996 F150 with an E4OD trans. The AODE-W/4R70W I bought also came out of a 1996 F150, also with a 5.0 V8. I might just order a new correct flex plate just to be safe. Thanks for the heads up.

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.

I find the Bullnose gauges work quite well when everything is operating as it should. My temp and oil pressure gauges would show fairly small fluctuations. People often say that they're just "dumb" gauges and not very accurate, but my opinion and experience is the opposite. I don't think it hurts to go a bit overboard...even a bit OCD, when it comes to proper grounding in these trucks.

Gary, they're really not problems at all when the engine is on a stand and you're on a chair in front of it, with all the time and patience in the world...lol. However, it happens all the time, and I feel bad for the guys trying to change a $27 water pump and snap a couple of those bolts off when the engine IN the truck. UGH. If there's one thing you can bet on with a small block, it's at least one of those bolts snapping off...lol. The bolts don't seize in the block...they bind up with corrosion in the aluminum timing cover. I ended up destroying the cover...I didn't care because I wasn't using it anyway, but with the bolts relieved from the cover, they turned out of the block no problem. That one that's rusted and broken off in the head though, that's a different story lol. Oh well, time is on my side;).

I had this same issue after rebuilding the 302 in my '84. I screwed around with a bunch of different things, but the temperature always checked out fine with a IR gun. However, the gauge always read high, but not overheating. In my case, it turned out to be the parts store sender I had installed. I went to the local Ford dealer and ordered an OEM replacement, and bam, my temperature gauge worked perfectly after that. At exactly 195F the gauge was reading straight up in the middle (I assume this is what Ford had intended). Can't help with the oil pressure sender though. My parts store senders worked fine, on a couple engines.

Started pulling apart the roller block 302 that I plan to use in the old '52. Man these things are a pain. Luckily, only four of the seven water pump bolts snapped off in the timing cover...lol. I was going to make a joke about "feeling blessed". Two intake manifold bolts snapped off in the left cylinder head. I was able to remove one of them later, but the one up front was corroded badly, so there wasn't much holding it on. Hopefully the machine shop can extract it and/or fix that hole. Otherwise, the rest of it is looking pretty clean on the oil side. No serious sludge build-up or anything like that. The engine was running...so fingers crossed it is still OK, and worth a refresh. It supposedly only has about 120k miles on it...as much as one can trust the word of a guy that strips old trucks lol. As those guys go, this guy did seem genuine. Notice the all metal timing gear set and wide chain. I know it was 12 years prior, but my '84 302 had the nylon or plastic toothed cam sprocket and was super loose, even with the low mileage it had back then. Kind of excited about my first roller block though. Break-in will be a non-issue, and I won't have to worry as much about what oil I use. I bought this set of crossmembers...complete set for 302/5.0 and AOD trans, even with mounts. It was on sale for $147, and I don't think I'd waste time fabricating brackets and mounts for what these cost. https://www.performanceonline.com/1948-64-Ford-F1-F-100-Truck-Engine-and-Transmission-Mount-kit-Ford-V-8/ I'm kind of excited to go through the process of installing all this stuff from scratch.

Hi Jeff, nice to meet ya! I'm out in the Maritimes (Nova Scotia). Just slightly younger than you...I'll be 50 in February, and while I currently do not have a Flareside, I have had three of them myself. My 1980 F100 Daily Driver, picture taken winter of 1993/94, I think. It was originally a 300/6 truck, but had a 351 2bbl swapped in, and a 4spd manual. My 1984 that I bought here in a NS in 2017 with only 57,000 original kms on it. Originally a 302 with 3-on-the-tree, I swapped in a 5spd. A 1980 F150 4x4 originally from Ontario, that ended up on NFLD for about 10 years, and then back in NS. This one was a major basket case that I dragged out of the woods and rebuilt during the Covid lockdowns. 300/6 with 1995 5spd trans. Unfortunately they're all sold and gone now;(. I just hang around to look at other member's Bullnoses now lol.

I noticed the 705 area code in his other thread, so he's in the middle of Canada somewhere;). I used to live in Peterborough, so I recognized the 705# right away;).

Jim or Scott? posted a link to this one a while back...I see it has gone up in price a little... https://www.americanvan.com/pick-up-truck-backwall-storage-system.html

Now that's my kind of collection!! Well done.

I'm no expert either, but I'm planning on a complete new master cylinder setup anyway, and you can select 2 wheel discs or 4 wheel discs, so we'll see how it goes! Finger crossed. https://www.performanceonline.com/1948-52-Ford-F1-Truck-Firewall-Mount-Power-Brake-Booster-Kit/ The truck currently has 4 wheel drums, with the original style single chamber manual master cylinder that mounts under the cab. I've read that lots of guys are still running them that way, but I don't want to. The rear discs don't mean a whole lot to me, but they'll add some curb appeal when I turn around and sell it in a few years time lol.

Good question. I don't really care about the disc brakes. The Explorer 8.8 is a common swap for this generation truck due the overall width of the axle (it closely matches the original Dana axle). It is the strongest of the 'smaller' 8.8 diffs as the Explorers had 31 spline axles. It's basically a narrowed F150 axle. As far as I know, the Rangers are very similar or identical dimensionally, but they have the lighter 28 spline axles?...Or at least the majority of them do. All things considered, I'd probably prefer rear drum brakes, but when I went searching for Explorer rear diffs, the majority of the ones I found were the later 90's and early 2000's. I believe 2001 is the last year I can use. I was specifically looking for one with 3.55 gears, and the 2001 was the closest one I found. Just to add...I haven't actually purchased it yet, but I'm planning to unless something else better pops up locally. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. There are a bunch of 2004-ish Rangers at the local pick-n-pull, but of all the ones I checked, I think they had 7.5" diffs. Maybe one of them would be just fine...I don't really know. I'm new to this stuff, and general consensus on the internet was to use an Explorer diff if available.

Gary, I will be getting an Edelbrock aluminum intake, and a Summit 500CFM 4bbl carb. Basic and simple. EFI swap later, maybe...but nothing in the near future.

I have some updates on the '52 Mercury project truck...feel free to make fun of me for deciding to make some major changes/mods when the original plan was to NOT do so...lol. I might be a bit of an addict...but the winters are long, and I like to tinker. The old Flathead engine is really cool, and I honestly like it...it runs like a top, has a cult like following, and everybody that sees it says how cool the truck is to still have the original engine in it. BUT...modifying that engine, or adding things too it (like power steering, later model transmissions, etc) is expensive. At the end of the day, the truck needs to be nice to drive, and that is what is driving me to make some serious changes. I bought a nice little 302/5.0 V8 for it. The engine was removed from a 1996 F150. I was seeking not only a factory roller block 302, but specifically a 1994-1996 5.0 from an F or E series vehicle. In case anybody doesn't know, the last few years of the 302/5.0 had the F4TE cam (H.O. firing order...or basically the 351 roller cam). So, outside of the very late 5.0's used in the 1997-1998 Explorers, the 1994-1996 F150 5.0 was probably the best of the later SBF engines. Going to start pulling the EFI and everything off of it today... I listed the Flathead and trans for sale and sold them both within 12 hrs locally. Funny story, but the whole transaction was filmed and will be on a TV show soon...more about that later lol. Local custom car builder shop bought it. They did have a running TV show on Discovery, but I believe they're just doing Youtube and Facebook these days. I also bought a AODE-W transmission...or 4R70W, which was also removed from a 1996 F150, but not the same 1996 F150 that my 5.0 was removed from (that one had an E4OD). The rear diff is going to be a 3.55 geared 8.8 from a 2001 Ford Explorer. I guess I'm going to learn how to remove existing leaf spring perches and weld new ones on in a different location. Stay tuned for more. Anyway, that's all the local news here... TGIF Bullnosers.

I used a balljoint press...the style you use with an impact gun, and everything came out of mine just fine. They took a lot of force, and some persuasion...but they did come. My truck had 0 degree concentric bushings from the factory...I assumed they all did? I don't know. I put the same ones back in, and my alignment was bang on. I talked to a guy that used to do a lot of twin I-beam alignments years ago, and he said that the 2wd trucks rarely ever needed alignment bushings installed. He said that more often than not, they just needed new coil springs. I know that the guys that lift and lower these trucks commonly have alignment issues, but for a stockish truck at stock ride height, a front end alignment shouldn't require too much effort imho.

For simplicity sake, I'd be pulling the blower fan first for further inspection... I hate pulling that whole assembly off the firewall.

Hey Rusty, If it's any help, when I had the engine shop build my 302, I paid extra to have a dyno day with it for break-in and tuning. When all was said and done, we had the ignition set at 12* initial, and 20* mechanical, for a total of 32 obviously. A couple points here...the engine builder said that he really didn't like going over 32* long term, but we tried 32, 33, 34, etc...and it made the best power numbers at 32 degrees. Now, I have to mention that this shop does mostly Chevy's, so they weren't necessarily Ford experts. Later on, I pulled that distributor and ordered a new custom curved unit from Parkland Performance. I gave him my engine specs, and what he came back with was 15* initial, 17* mechanical, and 17* vacuum advance. Funny, I didn't tell him what I had done on the dyno day, but he selected 32* for the best performance. The engine worked the very best with his distributor, and I even ran it with 16* initial for a while too. Starts were crisp, as was the low end power and response. The only reason I'm mentioning all of this, is that my 35 year old OE starter worked just fine, even at the 16* initial timing. The engine started like it was EFI. Mind you, that was with 9.0:1 compression, so a little less than yours. The only time I ever did have an issue with starting was when I installed a new "Ford Motorcraft" DSII IGN module from Amazon, and later determined that it did not have the retard during start function. Once I reinstalled the 35 year old OE DSII module, all starts were fine again. In any case, good luck with it! 32 degrees seems to be the target number, at least from two sources that I worked with.

My friend Chris bought a 1983 F150 with manual steering. The manual box has a long input shaft, so it looks like the steering shaft should be the same, but I'm not sure. He took that truck apart, but might still have the parts kicking around to compare them.

You haven't replaced the DSII module with an aftermarket one, have you? I installed a PMGR starter on my 1980 when I built (or rebuilt?) it. It was a starter I snagged off a 1996 F150 at the junkyard a couple years prior...a fairly fresh Napa reman unit, so I grabbed it as a spare for the '84, and then didn't install it until I needed one for the 1980. The only downside I would note is the installation of a non-original part, and somewhere, someday years from now, when somebody else orders a new starter, they might get a surprise when/if they try to connect that large live lead to a non PMGR starter...lol.

He's all good with the 1991 frame Gary. They didn't switch to the boxed end crumble zone frame until 1992, so all the mods I did won't apply to him. I don't know what differences exist between an F250 and an F150, if any...but the front bumper horns should be OK.