Gary Lewis Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 Alright some progress has been made with the new engine. I bought a set of Flotek 203-505FT heads instead of reusing the Edelbrocks on this engine as I am pretty sure the engine is consuming coolant now and its getting worse every time I drive it. Not sure if using the stock Fel-Pro replacement gaskets with aluminum heads was a bad idea back in 2016 or if the deck surface wasn't optimal or what but I didn't feel like finding out last minute there's something wrong with the heads. I'll just check them out and reuse the old heads on the old engine when I go through and rebuild it for a spare engine eventually. I also noticed a partial VIN on the new engine, anyone care to try to decode what it came from? 1970 something I know that. Wow! That looks good! As for the partial VIN, does it match your truck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 Wow! That looks good! As for the partial VIN, does it match your truck? Gary, you will find this tidbit intersting. When I had to go in a rebuild the engine in my 66 GT350 due to a good friend losing the drain plug on I-64, I found the original Mustang Ford VIN stamped in the block upside down behind the alternator. 6R09K225398. 6-model year, R-San Jose assembly plant, 09-2DR fastback, K-HiPo 289, 225398-consecutive unit number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordFETruck Posted June 14 Author Share Posted June 14 Oh man that's pretty! ❤️ Which head gaskets did you use w/ the Flotech heads? Do you think the slightly bigger port volumes will affect bottom end with that cam? There used to be a kid here in town that had a very healthy 351(ish ) in his Mustang. He had some kind of 4-link or alternate rear suspension because there's no way a car that light should hook as hard as it did. Word spread fast not to even try... I used the Fel-Pro 1011-2 gaskets on this one. I used the 8548-PT2 on the old engine and wonder if that was a mistake using those with aluminum heads long term. And no, vin doesn't match the truck at all haha. The engine in the truck now I don't think that block even has a VIN stamp on it, can't remember seeing one at least. The port sizes are only marginally bigger at the gasket surfaces but the ports inside the head sure look bigger, but no I don't expect any loss of low end, the slightly higher CR should help make up for it. As I calculated the CR on this engine, static should be 9.5-9.6:1 and dynamic of 8.27. Last night on the freeway I was in the far right lane in a construction zone and some semi pulling a set of 28 footers blows past me in a big curve and almost sucks me into his back trailer then into the guard rail, gets in front of me then slows way down. I was already doing 60, he must have been doing 75-80 how fast he blew past me, then slows down to 55 once in front of me. I decided I wanted way away from that psycho, that old engine can still bury the speedometer on a 4% grade for 2 miles, I couldn't see that truck in the rear view mirror anymore According to Comp cams camquest/desktop dyno with the specs I have and the cam I chose it says it should be making 342HP @ 4500 RPM and 444 TQ at 2500 RPM. Not sure it'll make that much but should be in the neighborhood of it I'd think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordFETruck Posted June 19 Author Share Posted June 19 I used the Fel-Pro 1011-2 gaskets on this one. I used the 8548-PT2 on the old engine and wonder if that was a mistake using those with aluminum heads long term. And no, vin doesn't match the truck at all haha. The engine in the truck now I don't think that block even has a VIN stamp on it, can't remember seeing one at least. The port sizes are only marginally bigger at the gasket surfaces but the ports inside the head sure look bigger, but no I don't expect any loss of low end, the slightly higher CR should help make up for it. As I calculated the CR on this engine, static should be 9.5-9.6:1 and dynamic of 8.27. Last night on the freeway I was in the far right lane in a construction zone and some semi pulling a set of 28 footers blows past me in a big curve and almost sucks me into his back trailer then into the guard rail, gets in front of me then slows way down. I was already doing 60, he must have been doing 75-80 how fast he blew past me, then slows down to 55 once in front of me. I decided I wanted way away from that psycho, that old engine can still bury the speedometer on a 4% grade for 2 miles, I couldn't see that truck in the rear view mirror anymore http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/uploads/6/5/8/7/65879365/laughing-25-x-25_orig.gif According to Comp cams camquest/desktop dyno with the specs I have and the cam I chose it says it should be making 342HP @ 4500 RPM and 444 TQ at 2500 RPM. Not sure it'll make that much but should be in the neighborhood of it I'd think. Alright got the old engine and trans out today and tore the old engine down. I found the source of the weird smoke and coolant loss, needed intake gaskets. I also found a bent connecting rod on cylinder 5, that explains the weird harmonic shake idling in park that I could never make go away. It was not noticeable in gear or under load or high idle. I caused that by accident in 2017 after the engine got filled full of rainwater and didn't know it but the engine never ran any different after the accident so I figured it survived without bending a rod, well it did bend a rod. To think I ran that engine to 5000-6000 RPM dozens of times like that and it never caused a problem is insane. The bearings date coded to Aug 1999 - Feb 2000 and the old water pump, and fuel pump casting dates were 2000-2001 so I bet this engine was installed 2001-2002. Engine block is in good shape and the cylinders have some wear but not bad at all. The bearings though, looked pretty nasty. My Comp cams XE250H came out looking great and the lifter faces looked good too but the lifter internals were always loud and crappy sounding, cam is good for a regrind for future use in something else anyways. I took the trans half apart draining the fluid and it looked pretty good as well so that should be a quick easy job. That intake gasket is the steel core Felpro 1250S3 which isn't supposed to do that. The steel core actually broke around one of the ports there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 Alright got the old engine and trans out today and tore the old engine down. I found the source of the weird smoke and coolant loss, needed intake gaskets. I also found a bent connecting rod on cylinder 5, that explains the weird harmonic shake idling in park that I could never make go away. It was not noticeable in gear or under load or high idle. I caused that by accident in 2017 after the engine got filled full of rainwater and didn't know it but the engine never ran any different after the accident so I figured it survived without bending a rod, well it did bend a rod. To think I ran that engine to 5000-6000 RPM dozens of times like that and it never caused a problem is insane. The bearings date coded to Aug 1999 - Feb 2000 and the old water pump, and fuel pump casting dates were 2000-2001 so I bet this engine was installed 2001-2002. Engine block is in good shape and the cylinders have some wear but not bad at all. The bearings though, looked pretty nasty. My Comp cams XE250H came out looking great and the lifter faces looked good too but the lifter internals were always loud and crappy sounding, cam is good for a regrind for future use in something else anyways. I took the trans half apart draining the fluid and it looked pretty good as well so that should be a quick easy job. That intake gasket is the steel core Felpro 1250S3 which isn't supposed to do that. The steel core actually broke around one of the ports there. How does that #5 bore and journal look after running a bent rod for 7 years!?!?!? Damn, rods are tough! Wow, that's pretty amazing the piston could move at all! 🤯 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordFETruck Posted June 19 Author Share Posted June 19 How does that #5 bore and journal look after running a bent rod for 7 years!?!?!? Damn, rods are tough! Wow, that's pretty amazing the piston could move at all! 🤯 Rod journal looks ok, bearings looked about the same as the rest of the rod bearings. Cylinder bore undamaged. The bearings in this engine were pretty worn and had a lot of debris run through them at one point or another. If this engine was installed in 2001-2002 that would have been 170-178,000 miles and truck has 253,000 now. Not really a lot of miles but I suppose it was probably ran pretty hard towing a 5th wheel and hauling who knows what, it didn't have a whole lot of power stock. The block is good for another go around at least. Crank was 10/10 and probably needs turned again a couple of journals are grooved up. Some of the bearings looked worse but most were about like these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 Rod journal looks ok, bearings looked about the same as the rest of the rod bearings. Cylinder bore undamaged. The bearings in this engine were pretty worn and had a lot of debris run through them at one point or another. If this engine was installed in 2001-2002 that would have been 170-178,000 miles and truck has 253,000 now. Not really a lot of miles but I suppose it was probably ran pretty hard towing a 5th wheel and hauling who knows what, it didn't have a whole lot of power stock. The block is good for another go around at least. Crank was 10/10 and probably needs turned again a couple of journals are grooved up. Some of the bearings looked worse but most were about like these. That is amazing that the rod was bent that much and not only was there no damage to anything else but it ran - for many thousands of miles! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordFETruck Posted June 20 Author Share Posted June 20 That is amazing that the rod was bent that much and not only was there no damage to anything else but it ran - for many thousands of miles! Alright today I reconditioned the oil pan and installed it, the timing cover, water pump, balancer, lifters, push rods, aligned the rocker arm guide plates (PITA)! all of the lifters are rotating, oil pressure was 60-65 PSI spinning it with the drill. I'll have the intake manifold on tomorrow and a few other misc pieces. It's coming along nicely. I got pretty lucky and the old pushrods which are 8.152" were the correct length and gave a pretty good geometry line/pattern on the valve stems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 Alright today I reconditioned the oil pan and installed it, the timing cover, water pump, balancer, lifters, push rods, aligned the rocker arm guide plates (PITA)! all of the lifters are rotating, oil pressure was 60-65 PSI spinning it with the drill. I'll have the intake manifold on tomorrow and a few other misc pieces. It's coming along nicely. I got pretty lucky and the old pushrods which are 8.152" were the correct length and gave a pretty good geometry line/pattern on the valve stems. In the past I drilled the rivets out and threaded the dipstick boss for bolts but wasn't very happy with the 5/16-18 threads so I re-tapped it to M8X1.25 and now have better threads and better bolts with flanges on them and I used copper sealing washers with the bolts, made a new gasket for it and coated it with permatex super 300 and red loctite on the bolts. Flotech seem to have paid attention to valve depth and deck to rocker boss height. 👍 Have you tried the orange gel for 'red' applications? I've gone over to PST for almost all my sealing needs, though I still use the red anerobic gasket eliminator, and that green tube, gear oil resistant RTV on the diff's Some places -like china walls- you just can't get away from ultra grey or The Right Stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordFETruck Posted June 20 Author Share Posted June 20 Flotech seem to have paid attention to valve depth and deck to rocker boss height. 👍 Have you tried the orange gel for 'red' applications? I've gone over to PST for almost all my sealing needs, though I still use the red anerobic gasket eliminator, and that green tube, gear oil resistant RTV on the diff's Some places -like china walls- you just can't get away from ultra grey or The Right Stuff. You know its funny you mention the valve depth. They have the intake and exhaust valves set up at different installed heights. Not that far off from each other, looks like its intentional as they're all the same for intake and exhaust. The push rods are close enough, exhaust valve stem pattern is dead on in the middle, thin line. Intakes are also in the middle but the contact pattern is a little wider. I can't make it any better without having a custom set of push rods made, or using two lengths but they're plenty acceptable for this low lift cam I'd say. Haven't tried the orange loctite yet, I really don't want those bolts coming loose. I've been gravitating to the Permatex super 300 for a gasket dressing/sealant where I don't want to use silicone. It's especially made for use with high detergent fluids such as coolant and ATF, and it has worked fantastic on everything I've used it on. It also works well on the outside of shaft seals. I plan on using ultra grey for the china walls and coolant ports. Just realize I didn't upload a pic of what I was talking about. This absolutely stupid design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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