I have had this '67 F250 (all stock with 352 and stock 4.10 gears) since June. Many of you are familiar with it. I sincerely appreciate all the advice I have received already. To date the truck has had a complete steering column rebuild, complete brake replacement and completely rebuilt original Cruise o Matic trans. The torque converter was modified to about a 2000 stall.

Now to fix the engine oil leaks.... I had assumed the rear main was leaking as the back of the motor drips terribly but in my reading around FTE I realize this may be coming from the rear of the intake. No matter. I have been planning to pull the motor and do a complete reseal and thorough cleaning. I wanted to check the front seal as I think it is leaking as well and since the timing cover was going to be off figured I'd swap new timing chain/gears in. It's always been part of my plan to add headers and a 4bbl so I got to thinking why not a more aggressive cam too. Might as well experiment, right??

I picked up a Comp Cam, lifters, springs and double roller timing set this afternoon. I have had a machine shop recommended for "freshening" of the heads (recommended by the shop from whence came the cam).


I have couple of things I still wonder about doing: I still want to pick up a set of freeze plugs (I hear bronze is the way to go?) but is that routine or recommended even if existing plugs are not leaking? Now, I don't know that they aren't seeping some fluid and the very well may be....

Also, should I consider replacing the oil pump since the motor will be out on a stand with easy access, or do they almost never misbehave??

This will be my first foray into any kind of real work on a V8. Sure I've swapped carbs and intakes, pulled VC's to reseal and minor other stuff, but I have never considered pulling timing bits apart let alone a cam swap.

Any other recommendations? I'm all ears. I am not planning on any bottom end work. I know there have been recommendations to swap in a 390 crank etc., but this is not part of the plan at the moment. If I discover issues when the heads are off then the plan will change of course... What I will likely be using this thread for is procedure advice and kind of a running tally of events and progress. I know a load of you all have been doing this for years and I am definitely looking forward to hearing ideas, tips and tricks.

JIM

 

If you have the engine out, do the freeze plugs anyway - you never know how rotted they are inside, and how long before one springs a leak

Oil pump, in my opinion, definitely. Or, open it up and see how scored up it is, and check clearances. If it's good, leave it.

Biggest thing is the oil mods, at the very least, restrict the oil going to the heads. And check that the rockers and rocker shafts are good. Most head/oil flooding is because the rocker shafts and rockers are worn, NOT because Ford didn't engineer the oil feed correctly.

Do headers NOW if you're putting a cam in it, the stock logs will hurt whatever performance gain you get.

You'll get lots of other opinions, which is a good thing.

Oh, and do the cam break-in correctly - with lots of additive. Or you'll be sorry

 

+1 on replacing freeze plugs (brass) and oil pump both are very cheap new .
how many miles on this motor ? while it's out and on a stand give it a good looking at , is there a ridge on cylinders ? if so how much?
play in the lower end ? how much ?
my 390 build started as a oil leak repair , dropped my oil pan and found #1 wrist pin out and gouging cylinder wall ,engine ran perfect before i found this .

 

I started a response before I saw there were two folks to address....

@krewat: freeze plugs will be done. They look cheap. Hoping they are an easy r/r...

Oil pump will likely be changed as well. As I asked below should I consider a high volume pump?

Also, I was unaware oil flooding was an issue with the FE motors. Is this problem only with worn rockers/shafts or does it happen with components in spec as well? The fellow recommended to me for head work is semi retired and a bit hard to get ahold of but I understand he has spent his career focused on the FE motors. When I catch up with him I will ask that he check the rockers and shafts as well as the heads.

Regarding reatriction of oil flow to the rockers, how is this accomplished? Should it be done even if they are within spec?

Engine oil leaks are forcing the engine pull, reseal and minor mods now but headers are on the list. Unfortunately for me (from a header availability standpoint) I have a Camper Special and will need shorty headers. Any ones I have seen are not cheap especially after ceramic coating which I would want done. I also need the entire exhaust re routed to the passenger side as I want to reinstall the factory auxilliary tank on the driver side of the truck so it will be a rather large expense. I realize exhaust out = power gains and it will be done as soon as I can finance it without rocking the financial boat with my wife.



@mikes68:

I do realize I could be in for a load of work I can't see at the moment. I figure I can't lose tearing it down to have a look inside. When I bought the truck I was told the odo had rolled over (it read 65k). The son of the original owner, admitted he had no idea how many miles were actually on the truck and didn't want to mislead a buyer so he marked it in excess of mechanical limits. I have yet to see physical evidencethat the truck is that well used though. Typical signs of extended use are not present. I also have service receipts from the original owner that record the mileage at about 55k in 1992. I suppose it could have been used heavily in the 70's and 80's, rolled over to the 55k range and then set aside for a newer truck (owner was a CA farmer) so it will likely remain a mystery. I hope to see some silver left on the bearing when I r/r the rear main and I suppose all I can do is add up all the objective evidence and make up my mind.

I will definitely look into a new oil pump. Any preference to high volume vs a standard replacement pump?

Also, by play in the bottom end do you mean end play? If so what is spec for crank end play on a motor like this?

 

my 360 had crazy play in the rods , seriously moved like 3/16th
i went with melling high volume pump , cant remember the # someone will probably chime in with it .

 

M57HV


Words for the lack of words.

 

The oiling mods are mentioned in the sticky at the top of this forum - the FE FAQ.

Usually, a #90 Holley jet is put in the oil feed hole under the rocker stand. If this guy knows FEs, he knows either knows about the oiling mods, or knows about the rocker shaft/rocker clearances.

 

Does the Melling M57HV oil pump make sense if you are restricting flow to the heads via an orifice in the oil feed line at the head? Seems like those two fixes contradict each other.

 

Actually, they don't. If you do NOT restrict the oil feed to the heads, the high-volume pump can flood the heads

 

But by restricting the flow to the heads with a constant displacement oil pump you are forcing flow somewhere else (cam or crank I assume).

Do you need the added high volume output of the HV pump on top of this redistribution? Seems like too much of a good thing.

 

I'll have a look through the sticky...

I picked up a stock replacement pump yesterday. Seems to me if everything is within spec it ought to work fine. If it's not in spec it needs to be fixed. Thise engines wouldn't have survived for us to be discussing them if the design was so bad that the engines failed, right? I understand there are mods that the manufacturer didn't conceive and they can be, at times, vast improvements over stock.

 

Read through the oiling mods. Not sure about drilling oil pump Passage with the bottom end assembled and obviously can't do the bearing saddles but the HD pump is easy. Should the drive shaft always be changed when changing the pump? The carb jets too seem a vey simple mod. They are drop in? They don't migrate and cause problems??

Also, if I don't upgrade to a HV pump I don't need to do the mods? Or should they really be done on every FE anyway and the mods go hand in hand with the rocker oil flow restriction.

 

I wouldn't get too stressed out about this, but here are some thoughts.

The Holley jets do not migrate - they are the perfect outside diameter for the oil port, and the rocker stand will keep them in the hole.

The reason for upgrading/replacing the oil pump driveshaft is the HV pump can take more torque to drive it. Better to replace it than break it.

As for the HV pump vs. the mods, it's really a toss-up, in my opinion. If you do use an HV pump, you should restrict the rocker shaft oil feed. If you don't have a problem now, and don't plan on running very high RPMs for long periods of time, it's not entirely necessary. But can't hurt

 

Understood. Might look into prices for the HD stuff and decide. I DO run 4.10's and my freeway rpm is usually hovering at 3k at 65mph...

 

I know the feeling - my '74 highboy ran that high too...

Also, the question isn't so much how are the rockers/shafts NOW - but what happens a few 10K's down the road and all that high RPM highway driving. You might be happy you did the oil restrictors in a few years.