Sparky Posted March 27, 2022 Share Posted March 27, 2022 I wanted to start a thread for my engine project. I pulled the engine today and my goal is to fix the many leaks (oil, exhaust manifold, intake manifold, power steering pump, transmission are all leaking) and to also do some mild mods while I have it apart. Right now I'm thinking a speed density-friendly cam and possibly aluminum heads plus headers/new exhaust. I'm shooting for around 300HP with better low end torque. I'm sure I will have many questions since this is, by far, the deepest I have gotten into an engine but the first question concerns the block. The casting number appears to be E7TE 6015 CA (I'm sure about the E7TE but the rest is hard to read). Question: this should be an '87 block based on the number but my truck is an '86. Can this be right? The PO actually rebuilt the motor about 5000 miles ago but he said it is the original motor. Also, any idea if this is a roller block? I will find out soon when I remove the lower intake but just thought I would ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Posted March 27, 2022 Author Share Posted March 27, 2022 I should add that my truck was built in June of '86. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_S85 Posted March 27, 2022 Share Posted March 27, 2022 I wanted to start a thread for my engine project. I pulled the engine today and my goal is to fix the many leaks (oil, exhaust manifold, intake manifold, power steering pump, transmission are all leaking) and to also do some mild mods while I have it apart. Right now I'm thinking a speed density-friendly cam and possibly aluminum heads plus headers/new exhaust. I'm shooting for around 300HP with better low end torque. I'm sure I will have many questions since this is, by far, the deepest I have gotten into an engine but the first question concerns the block. The casting number appears to be E7TE 6015 CA (I'm sure about the E7TE but the rest is hard to read). Question: this should be an '87 block based on the number but my truck is an '86. Can this be right? The PO actually rebuilt the motor about 5000 miles ago but he said it is the original motor. Also, any idea if this is a roller block? I will find out soon when I remove the lower intake but just thought I would ask. If he took the block to the machine shop it is quite possible there was another 302 block at the shop and they got mixed up and he believes it is the original one to his truck. There was a post on social media on the small block windsor group I am on, guy and his buddy took their engines in to be rebuilt, he had a roller cam 302 block his buddy had a flat tappet cam block. His buddies short block was finished first and stopped by at his house on way home thats when he noticed that the shop used his roller block to build his buddies engine. As far as for performance if you are going aluminum heads I strongly recommend the AFR Renegade 165cc heads. They are 58cc chambers and they are great heads for stock displacement 302/351W engines and wont harm throttle response. Those are the heads I am personally running but with upgrades as I am running an aftermarket cam. What you need to do is look at cams first find what cam you want to run and then build around that as what ever cylinder heads you go with, you will need to know the recommended valve spring rates to have the heads matched to your cam. Be careful cause something mild can turn quite wild when you are finished. Mine was going to be a carbed 4V 302 build full roller for my '82 and it ended up being a aftermarket fuel injected 302 build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted March 27, 2022 Share Posted March 27, 2022 I should add that my truck was built in June of '86. 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_S85 Posted March 27, 2022 Share Posted March 27, 2022 I should add that my truck was built in June of '86. 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. The 302 roller showed up in 1985, hence the 1985 Mustang GT 5.0HO distributor we use for swaps with a duraspark II ignition system. Ford trucks didnt get the roller till 1994 with the F4TE roller cam. His block should be a roller block but it wont have the roller components if it is original to the truck and not a 5.0 HO mustang transplant which would be easy enough to tell based off the 351W firing order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Posted March 28, 2022 Author Share Posted March 28, 2022 I wanted to start a thread for my engine project. I pulled the engine today and my goal is to fix the many leaks (oil, exhaust manifold, intake manifold, power steering pump, transmission are all leaking) and to also do some mild mods while I have it apart. Right now I'm thinking a speed density-friendly cam and possibly aluminum heads plus headers/new exhaust. I'm shooting for around 300HP with better low end torque. I'm sure I will have many questions since this is, by far, the deepest I have gotten into an engine but the first question concerns the block. The casting number appears to be E7TE 6015 CA (I'm sure about the E7TE but the rest is hard to read). Question: this should be an '87 block based on the number but my truck is an '86. Can this be right? The PO actually rebuilt the motor about 5000 miles ago but he said it is the original motor. Also, any idea if this is a roller block? I will find out soon when I remove the lower intake but just thought I would ask. If he took the block to the machine shop it is quite possible there was another 302 block at the shop and they got mixed up and he believes it is the original one to his truck. There was a post on social media on the small block windsor group I am on, guy and his buddy took their engines in to be rebuilt, he had a roller cam 302 block his buddy had a flat tappet cam block. His buddies short block was finished first and stopped by at his house on way home thats when he noticed that the shop used his roller block to build his buddies engine. As far as for performance if you are going aluminum heads I strongly recommend the AFR Renegade 165cc heads. They are 58cc chambers and they are great heads for stock displacement 302/351W engines and wont harm throttle response. Those are the heads I am personally running but with upgrades as I am running an aftermarket cam. What you need to do is look at cams first find what cam you want to run and then build around that as what ever cylinder heads you go with, you will need to know the recommended valve spring rates to have the heads matched to your cam. Be careful cause something mild can turn quite wild when you are finished. Mine was going to be a carbed 4V 302 build full roller for my '82 and it ended up being a aftermarket fuel injected 302 build. It's possible that this is not the original engine but maybe Ford had the '87 blocks ready to go before the '86 production run was finished? Anyway, I hope it's a roller block. Once I know if it's roller or flat tappet I will make a cam selection. I've seen the AFR heads recommended by others. They sound like a good option. The advice I've heard is to keep the intake runners at 170cc max for good low end torque. I will have to decide if they are in the budget because they are pricey. I can definitely see how a build can get out of hand but I will be limited by the speed density EFI since I am planning to keep it, at least for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat in tn Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 It's possible that this is not the original engine but maybe Ford had the '87 blocks ready to go before the '86 production run was finished? Anyway, I hope it's a roller block. Once I know if it's roller or flat tappet I will make a cam selection. I've seen the AFR heads recommended by others. They sound like a good option. The advice I've heard is to keep the intake runners at 170cc max for good low end torque. I will have to decide if they are in the budget because they are pricey. I can definitely see how a build can get out of hand but I will be limited by the speed density EFI since I am planning to keep it, at least for now. I would have to reply to this in the same way I would any other friends and the way I told my son. "don't modify until you can afford to do it twice". re engineering on a budget should always be a cause for concern. I'm dealing with this on a daily basis correcting things just finished and improved. now I modify and try new things and combos in the effort of tuning one way or another all the time. the point is take no modification for granted. even if it is popular on you tube. the best recommendation I can make is to do good maintenance and repairs while saving up to do the engine that you really want. if its already been swapped then originality is not the issue. getting a roller block and starting with good machine work will be easy. remember the 93 lightning? 245 hp factory! 351 gt40 top end. power is more then just the numbers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Posted March 28, 2022 Author Share Posted March 28, 2022 I would have to reply to this in the same way I would any other friends and the way I told my son. "don't modify until you can afford to do it twice". re engineering on a budget should always be a cause for concern. I'm dealing with this on a daily basis correcting things just finished and improved. now I modify and try new things and combos in the effort of tuning one way or another all the time. the point is take no modification for granted. even if it is popular on you tube. the best recommendation I can make is to do good maintenance and repairs while saving up to do the engine that you really want. if its already been swapped then originality is not the issue. getting a roller block and starting with good machine work will be easy. remember the 93 lightning? 245 hp factory! 351 gt40 top end. power is more then just the numbers Good advice. I will try to buy quality stuff that gives me the most bang for my buck. I'm not interested in a speed machine, just trying to wake it up and make it a little more fun to drive. The main areas of improvement seem to be cam, heads and exhaust according to what I have read. I've heard that the factory intake is pretty good. I would like to hear other opinions on what what I should focus on. I have another truck to drive so time is not an issue. I found a thread on another forum that has a lot of good information for building a speed density 302. Maybe some of you have seen it: https://www.f150forum.com/f10/bit-info-those-looking-build-300-hp-5-0l-302s-276512/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_S85 Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 It's possible that this is not the original engine but maybe Ford had the '87 blocks ready to go before the '86 production run was finished? Anyway, I hope it's a roller block. Once I know if it's roller or flat tappet I will make a cam selection. I've seen the AFR heads recommended by others. They sound like a good option. The advice I've heard is to keep the intake runners at 170cc max for good low end torque. I will have to decide if they are in the budget because they are pricey. I can definitely see how a build can get out of hand but I will be limited by the speed density EFI since I am planning to keep it, at least for now. It should be a roller block. Ford introduced the roller 302 in 1985 its just that trucks kept getting the flat tappet cams till 1994 with the F4TE roller cam upgrade done to the 302 which has many people questioning why Ford waited so long to introduced roller cams on their trucks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 It should be a roller block. Ford introduced the roller 302 in 1985 its just that trucks kept getting the flat tappet cams till 1994 with the F4TE roller cam upgrade done to the 302 which has many people questioning why Ford waited so long to introduced roller cams on their trucks 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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