I cleaned off my valve covers and installed new gaskets so I can stop calling her Valdeze. After start up, there was still oil burning on the exhaust. A closer look showed oil leaking from the head. I have not determined if the head is cracked or if the head gasket needs replaced. Either way, and advice is welcome, I will be tearing into the engine. I don't know the history of this 460.
Options are:
Rebuild the heads. Should something be done to the short block at this time?

Rebuild or buy a rebuilt engine. Are the 70s engines hard to come by? I can go either direction. Any recommendations for rebuilt companies?

Buy an 80's truck to swap out the engine and tranny. Will the peripherals still be the same (intake/exhaust manifold, fuel pump, distributor etc)? I have just bought, installed or will install the new parts.

One thing is certain is that the engine will be a 460! I love everything about this engine and the one I have is old at that!

 

Newer engines may not have the bosses cast into them for the mechanical fuel pump. If you're asking my opinion, I would clean everything with carb cleaner or engine degreaser. Then let it run to clearly see where the leak is coming from. (You can't fix it if you don't know what's broken) If, after you clean everything, you can't find the leak, then I suggest pulling the heads, having the boiled and magnafluxed to see if they're cracked. These old engines aren't too awful bad to find and I think rebuilding is a better idea than just getting another engine. You don't know what problems the other engine will have, so to properly fix what you have is always the better solution.

 

Is the leak coming from the front or rear of the head? Which side? Have you checked the oil pressure sending unit for leaks? Or the rear intake gasket? I would check those first before tearing into the engine.

 

Is there a reason you're so abrasive? Have you never had a leak travel along a casting line and drip somewhere completely different than where the leak started? That's why we were saying to CLEAN everything first. It could very well be the rear valley seal leaking and running down past the head. That's the difference between a mechanic and a technician. A technician will actually KNOW what the problem is before he fixes it. Any monkey can throw parts at a problem and hope he gets it.

This may come as a bit of a shock to you, but no one person is ALWAYS right.

 

2x with 'quake. Need to do further investigation before plotting a course of action. At this point there is no real answer. Possibilities yes, but very premature to jump off the deep end withe an engine swap or a rebuild.

 

Totally agree with earthquake. Time to clean, degrease, and inspect everything. A proper diagnoses is the best and only way to go about making a worthy repair. And will save a lot of money a headaches in the long run.

 

84espy like it has been stated I would want to identify the exact place of the leak even if you are tearing it down for head work.

Have you even checked the area around the valve covers bolt holes for "true-ness"? The bolts tend to some times get over torqued and bend the area around the valve cover bolt hole and that can lead to improper sealing of the valve cover and leaks.

Take a steel straight edge (6" steel machinist ruler works great) and ck it out, can't hurt one bit. Hate to go chasing a eng leak that is not coming from where you think it is.

***** is right about "do it once, do it right". If you are rebuilding the heads, you might as well go all in and get a complete rebuild kit for rest of it. Of course all this is wallet dependent, but it shouldn't be for the sake of reliability. Nothing like getting just the heads done and then spin a main bearing the following week after buttoning it all back up.

http://www.summitracing.com/int/sear...kits/make/ford

Use (rebuild) the block you have if it passes the eng shop insp, like Alan said why buy something you know nothing about, meaning a used block, that you should go get shop checked and probably do a complete rebuild on anyway.

Cross that road if your block is bad. 70's era BB's are not that rare a motor and Jasper (jasperengines.com) makes a long or short block crate motor and offer transmissions, I believe.

I have heard there name always talked about for years, but have no personal experience with them.

Let us know what you figure out about that leak.

 

Agree to the max with earthquake, especially his first sentence. The rest is true, also....clean the engine first, then the problem will present itself if one has a keen eye.

 

Thanks for the replies all. I'll be starting this one today and keep you posted.

 

I checked the 460 this morning. Let me know if this is logical. I started the engine. It took about a minute before it started smoking at the #4 cylinder. The area around it glistened with dirty oil. I double checked the valve covers and there is nothing coming from there. I shut off the motor and started cleaning all around #4. Small chunks of old debris was peeling (better term would be chipping) away. As this progressed, I restarted the truck and the smoking decreased greatly. Another round of cleaning and a restart and run for 5 minutes showed no leaks anywhere. Smoking has decreased even more. I'm thinking that the heat up moistened the top layer of the oil causing the burn off. This buys me time for getting an engine ready. Thanks again to all you guys for your input.

 

Good deal to insp it before a complete engine tear down huh? All advice is good, the correct advice is priceless. Glad it worked out for you.

Some advice shows that there is a difference between a mechanic and a technician. lol And I am sure earthquake68, lance65, HIO Silver, paredneck33, and Filthy Beast will agree.

Just saying...lol and here are some more clean up tips, said the monkey just throwing cleaning fluid at it.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-old-mess.html

Have you heard of "whole sight?" It's seeing the entire picture using the mind and emotion rather than one or the other. "Whole sight" prevents instances like we are having here.

“The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”

 

84espy now that you have the engine cleaned. Keep an eye on it. Sometimes it does take a while for an oil leak to appear. I call this an oil seep. Although not a big deal. And is a problem especially with cork style valve cover gaskets. I remember one time I had a leaking intake gasket on my 86 302. I thought that it might be a leaky water pump gasket. Because for the longest time when I would park the truck and let it sit I would come back and find a small puddle of coolant under that area. But I couldn't see where it was leaking from. Till one day I shut it off for like 15 minutes and I noticed that it was still dripping. I hurried up and opened the hood to find that it was an external leak at the front of the intake. It didn't go internal as there was no coolant in the oil. And wouldn't leak while running. And didn't leak when you first shut it off. But after a little while of sitting she decided to pee. My point is that something similar could be happening hear. So just keep an eye on it over the next few days. And keep us posted.