Good deal Gary, glad to see you got some stuff done despite the chilly weather we had this weekend. I hit a pretty good lick on the Bronco as well. You can find in the "what have you done to your truck?" thread. Also I am glad we had the head gasket discussion here. It should be fresh in your head for the install. I wish now I would have started a thread like this for my build, but , I am on the last couple of days to completion so I will just use the thread mentioned above.

 

Bruno - I saw your post re what you've done today. While you are further along I think I have more time, so it looks like the race is on as I'm hoping to have this truck back together and on the road by end-of-week.

On the head gasket issue, I'm wondering if I put the gaskets on wrong on the engine I overheated. I don't think so as I had "Front" to the front on both sides. But, I did have overheating problems that I haven't been able to explain.

So, I'm going to explore this idea very closely tomorrow before the heads go on. I'll line up the coolant passages on the head awa the block and KNOW I have it right before proceeding.

 

I don't know if you thought of this, or if you already know this and I'm preaching to the choir, when you break-in your old/new engine make sure you use some kind of break-in additive. I used a quart of Lucas Oil. Also I wouldn't buy a high end oil filter. You're going to have a lot of gunk go through the oil. I would recommend changing the oil after 100 miles to clear all that stuff out then you can put on the expensive filter and oil.

 

I have Comp Cams' Engine Break-In Oil Additive that I'll put in the 10W-30 Rotella T oil, and strain it through a Motorcraft FL1-A. But, I don't think there'll be too much gunk as I've been meticulous in cleaning everything before it has gone in or on.

So, I'll probably deliver it to the guy that's said he'll buy it with the initial oil fill in it. He's wanting it pretty soon, so I'm hoping to have it on the road by this weekend and put a couple hundred miles on it or more breaking it in. Sure would like to get a good handle on gas mileage though since that was one of the goals for this quest before I realized I need to sell it.

 

General cleaning wasn't what I had in mind but you will probably have some shavings that you couldn't get to that will get flushed into the oil when it gets running. What I had in mind was the assembly lube, any grease you may have had to use and other lubricants that will get into the oil. After breaking it in I would change the oil or at the very least the filter to get those foreign particles out of the system. I would really hate for the guy you're selling it to come back and say the engine is leaking or heaven forbid blew up.

 

Good point. I'll take that into consideration. Maybe he won't be ready for it and I can get more miles on it. Tnx.

 

I'm starting to type this as I work since I'm forgetting a lot of things I want to include if I wait until end-of-day. Good thing this old laptop is black!

Battery: Hooked the charger to the battery so it'd be ready when the engine is. Bet that Bruno guy won't remember that, so I'll get more time on him there.

Heads: Tom Monroe's book says to clean things with paper towels and not shop rags, but I beg to differ. If you use the blue paper towels you'll find that the brake cleaner appears to kill whatever binder is used in the felting process on the towels and you'll wind up with LOTS of bits of towel all over. I'm using clean shop towels and having no problems.

Head Gaskets: While I've always used Permatex Copper-Spray-A-Gasket on head gaskets, but no where else, Monroe says to use high-temp aluminum spray paint on head gaskets. However, I've noticed that the '81 FSM says "Do not apply sealer to a composition gasket", and the bold font comes from Ford. So, these are going in dry but with the heads and block CLEAN. (I hope Chris is reading this - you were right, buddy.)

Head Bolt Torque: Monroe says the bolts for a 351W are to be torqued in three stages: 55; 65; 90-100. However, the FSM says 85; 95; 105-112. So, here's what I'm doing: 40 ('cause my battery-powered impact driver does ~40); 65; 85; 95; & 108.5ish. (Note that I'm not saying that my torque wrench is that accurate but that's halfway 'tween 105 & 112, so 108.5 on the wrench gives me the best chance of being in the range.)

Lifters: Pumped them up w/a pump oil can, ensuring there was ample oil on the sides, and then put a huge dollop of Comp Cams' Cam & Lifter Installation Lube on the bottom of each one before installing it.

Intake Manifold: This one is the aluminum Ford 2bbl that seems to have come on the 82's as both of mine had them. And, somewhere along the line the PO's ran water instead of coolant and the manifolds lost the galvanic battle with the block and heads. In the other truck's case the manifold was a throwaway, but in this truck's case I was able to have it heliarced up and milled back. However, there are still some pits in the aluminum so I put a bead of silicone around all four water passages - the ones in front and back. And, I don't use the cork gaskets on the front and back webs. Instead I use silicone. And, I use four studs screwed into the block at the corners to guide the manifold on so there's no sliding.

That's it for today, but tomorrow I should not only button the engine up but also test the oil pressure. And, maybe marry the engine w/the tranny and get ready to install the pair.

 

I don't think they had the blue shop towels when he wrote that book.
He says this because cotton fibers are long and tough, paper is made from fine pulp.

I hate those blue things and think it's not a binder, but the fibers themselves are plastic.
Sticky goop, and they will dissolve entirely in acetone.


Giving Bruno a run for his money!

Progress is good!

 

What won't dissolve in acetone? Oh yeah, cotton towels.

Yep! And, I took most of the morning off to go register the new-to-me truck, the '81 w/a rebuilt 351M, NP435, etc. The guy didn't tell me the tag was out of date, so that cost me $59 in penalties, which is a lot on a $500 truck.

 

$59 in penalties is rather cheap by Oklahoma standards. I find it ironic they charge $100/year in penalties, for a tag that only costs $23/year.

BTW, had you took in a reciept for clutch parts, you might have been forgiven the penalty. Brake parts will not work, only engine/trans/drivetrain (their wording, not mine) count. Brakes, apparently, are not important to the Department of "Public Safety".......

 

Well, since I haven't fixed the clutch, and probably the flywheel as well given the grinding sound it makes, I don't have a receipt. Still thinking about the ZF5. In fact, I think I'll start a new thread to discuss that because of several things. First, Wyowanderer is doing such a swap w/a 400 (M, just to tease Chris) and he's discovered a pilot bushing issue. And, Ken Blythen has just swapped his C6 for, of all things, an NP435 and is reporting better power and vacuum. So, I'm feeling like another thread is in order.

 

Have you ever bought those red cloth shop towels for sale at every auto parts store? Ugh, they are awful. They aren't very absorbant, and if/when you try to wash them, they bleed that cheap red ink out all over whatever else is in the washer with them. And they keep bleeding red ink wash after wash unless you bleach them.

That's about the only contribution I am qualified to make to this excellent thread. Keep it up Gary, its fun to follow your progress!

 

Wish I remembered what I'm apparently right about. Maybe the copper stuff as a sealer, and I said I've never used anything like that?

I can't imagine you'd be talking about RTV here....

*sigh*

Well, except for that M, at least you use proper capitalization & punctuation in your posts....

 

Had it on the charger all day yesterday.

 

Silver spray paint used to be SOP , but , tech support said use nothing. I used to use the old K&W copper coat , but , I was scared off by tech support.

I like this!

Been there done that!



I'll drive this thing out to your house Saturday and help you finish up Gary.