so heres the deal. My truck has a rebuilt 5.8w from a van. When they did the swap they left the van dip stick tube in and its a f***** pain to check my oil. So I want to put they correct truck one in and thats the problem. I don't know what year or style van the motor came from. My truck being an 88 f250 should have a press style tube in it. The van motor has a screw in style. So does anyone know if all the earlier 5.8 oil pans are the same for trucks and vans? Or how to indentify my pan without pulling it?

 

you should be able to identify the pan by the number of bolts

 

The dipstick tube screws into the side of the pan? If so that's just like mine and you need a dipstick for an '85 F150, it puts the stick up between the middle cylinders on the drivers side.

 

Had the same problem with an 84' 351 in my 87'. Heres what I used...

Lokar 5005
Lokar: Flexible Engine Dipsticks

 

well I fixed my problem. After running around to all the local junk yards to no avail I went to a couple of performance shops and all they had were 80 dollar flex types. That would of worked but my truck is a work truck and I am on a tight budget. So I took my van dip stick and heated it with my torches and rebent it. Worked pretty darn good and only took my about 30 minutes.

 

I have a 351 out of a 85 F150 and the stick screws in to the pan on mine. I pick up a new stick and tube from Jeff's bronco graveyard when I moved the motor to my 89 F 250.