I have an 85 F150 2wd with the 300 and a T-18. I'm pretty sure the valve guides are toast with the way it burns oil and fouls the plugs...blue cloud at start up and when revved after idling, but not driving down the road. Anyway, I've looked up how to replace valve guides without removing the head and I do not have the air compressor to hold the valves in place while I remove the spring so I would have to pull the head to do them. I am open to any ideas on how to hold the valve in place using cheaper means as well.

So I started thinking, if I have to pull the head anyway, why not get it refreshed...which lead me to wonder if there are different castings of this head that might be better than my 85. Are there any pre-smog heads? Where could I find a good one and would I realize any power gains? Not trying to make a dragster, just looking for a little more oomph.

Thanks!

 

If you can find a head from a 240, they offer slightly higher compression.
Other than that, the best bet for your head is a port and polish. That will do quite a bit for performance above as they're really restrictive.

 

you can't change valve guides with the head on the block. only seals. I agree with ab, 240 head, port and polish.

 

OK, bad terminology on my part. It is the valve seals that I need to replace.

 

I would do a compression check first, before I did anything. follow the commpression check with a leak down test, that way you know what condition your rings are in, before you spend money on head work, only to have to tear it all down again for a rebuild. one way to see how the rings are preforming, is to go down a large hill without touching the gas, when you get to the bottom, floor it, and watch behind you. if you fog the whole block with blue smoke, you need a whole rebuild, your rings are shot. if it only smokes on start up, you need valve seals.

 

I have never heard the hill trick before, how long/steep of a hill do you need? I live in south Florida so finding a hill is tough, but I know some bridges that could possibly work.

 

anything that will allow the vehicle to actually pick up a little speed as you are going along. kinda letting the engine do your brakeing for you, don't downshift to do it, just kinda coast along. if it is going to smoke, it will, as soon as you floor it. any hill, any gear., like mabe a ramp off the freeway or something. are you getting any oil in your air cleaner?

 

Ok, I can think of a couple spots to test that out.

No oil in the air cleaner.

 

is it useing a lot of oil? or is the valve cover leaking oil, and makeing you think it's burning oil? valve cover gasket a pia to change, but most of the time that's where the oil is going

 

It does not burn a large amount of oil. I have actually been using it to commute to work the past week (100 miles/ day) and the oil is still up high from when I changed it last weekend. I did the valve cover gasket about two years ago and it is still not leaking...the front main looks like it might be blowing some oil though. The only signs I have of an internal oil leak are the coated plugs and the big blue puff at start up. I am thinking of sinking a little money into the engine and just thought I should try and fix these while I had it apart. I was looking at a header, 4 barrel, and swap to DS II distributor.

 

too bad your not closer, I'm getting ready to part out my 82. tin worms ate it up, and I don't want to sink any more money into it.

 

That is too bad, I can see some parts I am looking for. What intake are you running? I had an 82 with a 302 and SROD in high school...it rotted out and I killed it by pulling an Uncle Jesse and jumping it off a rail road hump. Broke the frame on the left front spring mount.

 

that's the offenhauser c series, and a holly 600. frame rotted out, hasn't broke yet, but only a matter of time. I have an 86 I replaced it with.

 

I tried the coast and floor trick a couple times on my ride home today, not even a hint of smoke...so I'm going to say my rings are good. Now time to decide what to do about the head. From the info I gathered it would probably be fairly economical to find a second head and have it worked, then I could convert over to the 4-brl, header and DS II at one time.

Thank you for the input, and I'm sure I will start or contribute to existing threads for help on this project.

 

I took the 240 head, and bolted a intake gasket to it, then marked where ever metal showed. then I removed the valves, and bought a porting kit from eastwood. after removeing all I could with a dremmel[took forever], I took the head to a machine shop, had them take .20 off the bottom, then do a 3 angle valve job. you can take your engine, and stuff the cyl with rope, and put it on tdc, remove the valve spring, and instal a new seal, then put it back together. it's much easire to use air though. surely you know someone with a air compressor?