The Deuce Build Thread

[Pete Whitstone]

Some more updates. Got what was rattling in the drivers door tightened back up, and while I was at it I cracked open the passenger side and lubed the manual window mechanism. Installed a couple new window crank handles from LMC.

I went around and tightened up all the coolant hoses, which seems to have helped but not completely cured the situation. Got some dye and put it in, I have inspected several times with a black light but still no real traces. Will continue to monitor. Question - if the antifreeze was being consumed by the engine internally (cracked head or block, head gasket issue, etc.), would I be able to smell it anywhere but the exhaust? I smell it everywhere BUT the exhaust. I also dropped the glovebox and examined the heater core, it's a year-old Motorcraft unit. Nothing there.

Installed a smaller trans cooler, that sits higher up where there is more room to the front grill, and re-installed the grill.

Finally, the big one. Yesterday I braved the cold and installed a Redhead steering box. What an enormous difference! Steering feel is exactly what I was hoping for, it now feels a lot like my 2006 F150. Tracks straight, doesn't wander, feels great. Can't wait to drive it some more.

I am now busy spec'ing out engine internals. I've decided on a 427ci displacement (4.030 bore, 4.17 stroke). Need to recover financially for a bit before I order anything though. So mostly I'll just be driving the truck.

The truck continues to improve. Previously when I went over rough terrain, there were a lot of pops or clanks that sounded like metal on metal. Kind of like the tailgate chains were slapping around, but they are encased in a rubber tube so that wasn't it. I installed the Energy Suspension body pucks on the front 4 positions, and that stopped almost all of the random noises over rough ground.

I still have the back 2 to do, but they appear to be in "good enough" shape, so because of the difficulty of getting to them, I'll wait until I have the bed off for an upcoming project.

I also installed all the '95 donor truck front end accessory drive stuff.

That all went fairly smoothly. I installed a smog pump delete kit (Proform 68110) along with the larger pulley (Dorman 419-644) to have some hope of running a stock-ish sized belt. The Dorman pulley was still a bit smaller than the actual smog pump pulley, so I got some speaker wire and ran it around the belt path and marked the length with the tensioner at rest. Then I pulled back the tensioner all the way and marked again, this produced 2 marks about 2 inches apart from each other. I split the difference and measured that and came up with 102, which appears to be the stock belt size. That belt dropped right on with the tensioner pulled about 60 or 70% back, so that all worked out good.

The one "DOH!!!" moment was during the change-out of the front timing cover, when I was removing the fuel pump from the old one. The new one has no provision for a mechanical fuel pump. Well I guess it's time to go electric. I got a little Mr Gasket pump, apparently a clone of the Holley Mighty Mite, and put it on the frame under the steering shaft. Wiring it in was no problem as I have a custom wire panel under the hood, so it was as simple as running a wire from there.

Later today I'll take it over to my mechanic and have the R134a added.

 

[Gary Lewis]

The truck continues to improve. Previously when I went over rough terrain, there were a lot of pops or clanks that sounded like metal on metal. Kind of like the tailgate chains were slapping around, but they are encased in a rubber tube so that wasn't it. I installed the Energy Suspension body pucks on the front 4 positions, and that stopped almost all of the random noises over rough ground.

I still have the back 2 to do, but they appear to be in "good enough" shape, so because of the difficulty of getting to them, I'll wait until I have the bed off for an upcoming project.

I also installed all the '95 donor truck front end accessory drive stuff.

That all went fairly smoothly. I installed a smog pump delete kit (Proform 68110) along with the larger pulley (Dorman 419-644) to have some hope of running a stock-ish sized belt. The Dorman pulley was still a bit smaller than the actual smog pump pulley, so I got some speaker wire and ran it around the belt path and marked the length with the tensioner at rest. Then I pulled back the tensioner all the way and marked again, this produced 2 marks about 2 inches apart from each other. I split the difference and measured that and came up with 102, which appears to be the stock belt size. That belt dropped right on with the tensioner pulled about 60 or 70% back, so that all worked out good.

The one "DOH!!!" moment was during the change-out of the front timing cover, when I was removing the fuel pump from the old one. The new one has no provision for a mechanical fuel pump. Well I guess it's time to go electric. I got a little Mr Gasket pump, apparently a clone of the Holley Mighty Mite, and put it on the frame under the steering shaft. Wiring it in was no problem as I have a custom wire panel under the hood, so it was as simple as running a wire from there.

Later today I'll take it over to my mechanic and have the R134a added.

Yes, it is improving, and improving quite well! Good job!

[Pete Whitstone]

The truck continues to improve. Previously when I went over rough terrain, there were a lot of pops or clanks that sounded like metal on metal. Kind of like the tailgate chains were slapping around, but they are encased in a rubber tube so that wasn't it. I installed the Energy Suspension body pucks on the front 4 positions, and that stopped almost all of the random noises over rough ground.

I still have the back 2 to do, but they appear to be in "good enough" shape, so because of the difficulty of getting to them, I'll wait until I have the bed off for an upcoming project.

I also installed all the '95 donor truck front end accessory drive stuff.

That all went fairly smoothly. I installed a smog pump delete kit (Proform 68110) along with the larger pulley (Dorman 419-644) to have some hope of running a stock-ish sized belt. The Dorman pulley was still a bit smaller than the actual smog pump pulley, so I got some speaker wire and ran it around the belt path and marked the length with the tensioner at rest. Then I pulled back the tensioner all the way and marked again, this produced 2 marks about 2 inches apart from each other. I split the difference and measured that and came up with 102, which appears to be the stock belt size. That belt dropped right on with the tensioner pulled about 60 or 70% back, so that all worked out good.

The one "DOH!!!" moment was during the change-out of the front timing cover, when I was removing the fuel pump from the old one. The new one has no provision for a mechanical fuel pump. Well I guess it's time to go electric. I got a little Mr Gasket pump, apparently a clone of the Holley Mighty Mite, and put it on the frame under the steering shaft. Wiring it in was no problem as I have a custom wire panel under the hood, so it was as simple as running a wire from there.

Later today I'll take it over to my mechanic and have the R134a added.

I have been working on a new engine for the truck. It will be another 351w, but this block is from the '95 parts truck and so it is hydraulic roller. Teardown of the engine was pretty much textbook, no broken bolts or anything. I have been getting the bare block cleaned up.

I have an engine rebuild master kit, with all new bearings, oil pump, timing chain, etc. The block is in excellent shape, with cross-hatch honing still present on all cylinders, and everything within spec. I thought about reusing the pistons with new rings, but the top ring on the #5 piston is stuck really good and I would probably damage the piston getting it off. Also, the 20cc dish in the piston would make it really hard to meet the compression goal with reasonable quench, so I have some forged 11cc pistons coming tomorrow. That should put me right at 10:1 compression with quench somewhere between .050 and .060. I'll know more about the final dimensions when I'm able to mock up a piston in the cylinder and measure deck clearance. From there, final CR will be adjusted with the head gasket selection.

I have a set of AFR 185 heads ready to go on as well. ARP head bolts will hold them on. I am sticking with the stock cam for now.

I ran the combination through a HP estimator, it came up with 377hp and about 400tq. Not sure how accurate those things are, but with goodies like headers, 10:1 compression, Weiand intake manifold, etc it should not be too far off.

With the block torn down and the cam bearings removed, I needed a tool to install the new cam bearings. I found the plug that came out of the back of the block to be the perfect size for the start of a tool. I found some 2" tubing and cut off a small section to go inside it. I also took some quarter inch plate and welded (badly) a 5/8" nut over a 3/4" hole in the plate. That will go with the 5/8" threaded rod. Here is all that stuff.

Here is the actual bearing pusher up close.

I also made a little "steady rest" to support the threaded rod in one of the holes that does not have a bearing in it yet, it is visible here.

The pushing will be done from the front of the block, where the plate with the nut on it is trapped under the cam retainer.

And here is the whole thing, all assembled.

This is just a mock-up at this point. I'm not going to actually press them in until the block has been cleaned better, and painted.

[Gary Lewis]

I have been working on a new engine for the truck. It will be another 351w, but this block is from the '95 parts truck and so it is hydraulic roller. Teardown of the engine was pretty much textbook, no broken bolts or anything. I have been getting the bare block cleaned up.

I have an engine rebuild master kit, with all new bearings, oil pump, timing chain, etc. The block is in excellent shape, with cross-hatch honing still present on all cylinders, and everything within spec. I thought about reusing the pistons with new rings, but the top ring on the #5 piston is stuck really good and I would probably damage the piston getting it off. Also, the 20cc dish in the piston would make it really hard to meet the compression goal with reasonable quench, so I have some forged 11cc pistons coming tomorrow. That should put me right at 10:1 compression with quench somewhere between .050 and .060. I'll know more about the final dimensions when I'm able to mock up a piston in the cylinder and measure deck clearance. From there, final CR will be adjusted with the head gasket selection.

I have a set of AFR 185 heads ready to go on as well. ARP head bolts will hold them on. I am sticking with the stock cam for now.

I ran the combination through a HP estimator, it came up with 377hp and about 400tq. Not sure how accurate those things are, but with goodies like headers, 10:1 compression, Weiand intake manifold, etc it should not be too far off.

With the block torn down and the cam bearings removed, I needed a tool to install the new cam bearings. I found the plug that came out of the back of the block to be the perfect size for the start of a tool. I found some 2" tubing and cut off a small section to go inside it. I also took some quarter inch plate and welded (badly) a 5/8" nut over a 3/4" hole in the plate. That will go with the 5/8" threaded rod. Here is all that stuff.

Here is the actual bearing pusher up close.

I also made a little "steady rest" to support the threaded rod in one of the holes that does not have a bearing in it yet, it is visible here.

The pushing will be done from the front of the block, where the plate with the nut on it is trapped under the cam retainer.

And here is the whole thing, all assembled.

This is just a mock-up at this point. I'm not going to actually press them in until the block has been cleaned better, and painted.

That's an interesting approach to a cam bearing installer! All the ones I've used have needed a hammer to drive them in, which is always worrying since it is so easy to go too far. In yours you'll have a whole lot of control.

And your engine should be stout. At first I was worried about the compression ratio until you mentioned the heads. They should tame that compression.

[Pete Whitstone]

I have been working on a new engine for the truck. It will be another 351w, but this block is from the '95 parts truck and so it is hydraulic roller. Teardown of the engine was pretty much textbook, no broken bolts or anything. I have been getting the bare block cleaned up.

I have an engine rebuild master kit, with all new bearings, oil pump, timing chain, etc. The block is in excellent shape, with cross-hatch honing still present on all cylinders, and everything within spec. I thought about reusing the pistons with new rings, but the top ring on the #5 piston is stuck really good and I would probably damage the piston getting it off. Also, the 20cc dish in the piston would make it really hard to meet the compression goal with reasonable quench, so I have some forged 11cc pistons coming tomorrow. That should put me right at 10:1 compression with quench somewhere between .050 and .060. I'll know more about the final dimensions when I'm able to mock up a piston in the cylinder and measure deck clearance. From there, final CR will be adjusted with the head gasket selection.

I have a set of AFR 185 heads ready to go on as well. ARP head bolts will hold them on. I am sticking with the stock cam for now.

I ran the combination through a HP estimator, it came up with 377hp and about 400tq. Not sure how accurate those things are, but with goodies like headers, 10:1 compression, Weiand intake manifold, etc it should not be too far off.

With the block torn down and the cam bearings removed, I needed a tool to install the new cam bearings. I found the plug that came out of the back of the block to be the perfect size for the start of a tool. I found some 2" tubing and cut off a small section to go inside it. I also took some quarter inch plate and welded (badly) a 5/8" nut over a 3/4" hole in the plate. That will go with the 5/8" threaded rod. Here is all that stuff.

Here is the actual bearing pusher up close.

I also made a little "steady rest" to support the threaded rod in one of the holes that does not have a bearing in it yet, it is visible here.

The pushing will be done from the front of the block, where the plate with the nut on it is trapped under the cam retainer.

And here is the whole thing, all assembled.

This is just a mock-up at this point. I'm not going to actually press them in until the block has been cleaned better, and painted.

A little bit of progress on the engine build. I got the block completely cleaned and painted.

I then installed the cam bearings. I decided to slide the camshaft in place to make sure it rotated freely. It went in fine until the last bearing on the front of the engine. It did not really want to slide in the last 3/4" or so. I gently tapped on the end with a mallet, but after it slid a little more in, it was impossible to turn. Something definitely not right here!

So I used a prybar to push the cam back out, but as it slid out, the #1 bearing came out on the camshaft. Very curious - that says that the press fit onto the camshaft was tighter than the press fit into the block! I verified the cam bearing was the right one, then gently tried to separate it from the camshaft. I was successful with that, and didn't nick the bearing or the camshaft as far as I can tell.

I was wondering if the bearing was the wrong size or something. Measuring it outside the block, it is definitely oval-shaped, but I imagine that will change when it's in the block. It appears to be the right size. Then I started looking closely at the camshaft journal, and found a couple small areas that need some polishing. Nothing major, but if you can catch your fingernail on it, it's probably at least a thousandth. Since the clearance between the camshaft and bearing is between 1 and 2 thousandths, I think that's probably the issue. I'm going to try to polish the camshaft journal tonight and see if I can get it all to fit properly.

I am positive the #1 bearing was in its bore squarely, I don't think anything was cocked or anything. More to come.

Oh, and a question - what's the wisdom on using a bit of red or blue loctite on that camshaft bearing, in order to make sure it's locked in place? Good idea, or bad?

[Gary Lewis]

A little bit of progress on the engine build. I got the block completely cleaned and painted.

I then installed the cam bearings. I decided to slide the camshaft in place to make sure it rotated freely. It went in fine until the last bearing on the front of the engine. It did not really want to slide in the last 3/4" or so. I gently tapped on the end with a mallet, but after it slid a little more in, it was impossible to turn. Something definitely not right here!

So I used a prybar to push the cam back out, but as it slid out, the #1 bearing came out on the camshaft. Very curious - that says that the press fit onto the camshaft was tighter than the press fit into the block! I verified the cam bearing was the right one, then gently tried to separate it from the camshaft. I was successful with that, and didn't nick the bearing or the camshaft as far as I can tell.

I was wondering if the bearing was the wrong size or something. Measuring it outside the block, it is definitely oval-shaped, but I imagine that will change when it's in the block. It appears to be the right size. Then I started looking closely at the camshaft journal, and found a couple small areas that need some polishing. Nothing major, but if you can catch your fingernail on it, it's probably at least a thousandth. Since the clearance between the camshaft and bearing is between 1 and 2 thousandths, I think that's probably the issue. I'm going to try to polish the camshaft journal tonight and see if I can get it all to fit properly.

I am positive the #1 bearing was in its bore squarely, I don't think anything was cocked or anything. More to come.

Oh, and a question - what's the wisdom on using a bit of red or blue loctite on that camshaft bearing, in order to make sure it's locked in place? Good idea, or bad?

I've not used any loctite on bearings. And you shouldn't need it as the bearing should fit tightly enough not to come out. But if there are nicks you can catch with your fingernail then you are right, that might be the problem.

[FuzzFace2]

I've not used any loctite on bearings. And you shouldn't need it as the bearing should fit tightly enough not to come out. But if there are nicks you can catch with your fingernail then you are right, that might be the problem.

I also would not use Loctite on the bearings.

Dose that bearing slip on to the cam not in the block as I think it should.

If not you think polishing will fix that?

I have seen fine scotch bright used on bearings to make them to spec.

Dave ----

[Pete Whitstone]

Dose that bearing slip on to the cam not in the block as I think it should.

If not you think polishing will fix that?

I have seen fine scotch bright used on bearings to make them to spec.

Dave ----

It does. I had to knock some high spots off the cam journal, which helped. Then I made sure all the bearings were perfectly straight and not cocked in their bores. Got the cam all the way in, but the breakaway torque required to turn it was pretty high - certainly out of spec, if there is a spec on that.

I took the block with the cam in it to my mechanic, he is a racer and has built engines all his life. He took a brass drift and tapped on the cam all around to knock the high spots off the bearings. This helped some, and we finally got it to the point where he said "it's tighter than I would like, but I would run it like that."

So no loctite on the bearings, and hopefully the cam will wear in without drama.

[Gary Lewis]

Dose that bearing slip on to the cam not in the block as I think it should.

If not you think polishing will fix that?

I have seen fine scotch bright used on bearings to make them to spec.

Dave ----

It does. I had to knock some high spots off the cam journal, which helped. Then I made sure all the bearings were perfectly straight and not cocked in their bores. Got the cam all the way in, but the breakaway torque required to turn it was pretty high - certainly out of spec, if there is a spec on that.

I took the block with the cam in it to my mechanic, he is a racer and has built engines all his life. He took a brass drift and tapped on the cam all around to knock the high spots off the bearings. This helped some, and we finally got it to the point where he said "it's tighter than I would like, but I would run it like that."

So no loctite on the bearings, and hopefully the cam will wear in without drama.

I think it'll work if it is well lubed for startup.

I've seen blocks with core shift such that the cam bearings aren't lined up perfectly. (And the mains weren't either.) I'm wondering if that's the problem here.

[Pete Whitstone]

I've seen blocks with core shift such that the cam bearings aren't lined up perfectly. (And the mains weren't either.) I'm wondering if that's the problem here.

Core shift is the only conclusion I can come to. I put the cam on V blocks and indicated it while I rotated it, it is arrow straight.