I will begin this thread by saying this forum has been priceless to me since I was 16 years old. It has been an amazing resource for my projects over the past few years. I have been given lots of very useful advice and confidence (maybe too much at times) to assist me while wrenching on various trucks and cars. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...ap-thread.html Had no idea what I was doing here and the truck ran when I was finished. haha

Now on to the reason for this thread...1989 F-250 351w zf5 4x4 4.10gears SCLB 50,0xx miles. I acquired this truck in 2008(42k miles at the time). It was passed down to me from my great grandpa. It was my first truck and I drove it all through high school. So many memories on on that brown bench seat and in the bed of that truck! After high school I got a 94 5.0 mustang and passed the truck on to my little brother. He drove the truck for a couple months and hit a deer, smashing in the passenger fender. The truck was then parked sometime in 2012 and has sat since. Below is a picture of when I first began driving it in 2008:


Now that I finished school and have a full-time job, I finally have the time and money to give this old pile the attention it deserves. I started by replacing the bashed in fender(sorry for lack of pics at this time). I pulled the core bumper and core support which I think will have to be replaced.







One side of the core support had a few shims under it where it bolts to the frame. Could this be factory?

 

Then it was time to pull the motor. This was my first time removing an engine so it was very interesting for me. A friend and I pulled it with a tractor that had no brakes. I do not advise doing this, nor will I ever do it again.


After a couple close calls and almost a whole can of Grizzly, the old 351w is on the stand.



This is where I am now on the build. I bought a set of GT40s that came off a lightning. I have yet to see them in person, so I am unsure of how much work they will need. I am only able to work on the trucking during the weekends, so this build will not be extremely fast.

 

I'll be interested to see where you go with the build, especially the motor.

 

Good luck! I applaud you for the courage to tear into it and try to breath new life into the old girl! I look forward to seeing where you take this.

 

Does anyone have a recommendation for a full gasket set? I want one that has a one piece oil pan gasket and rubber valve cover gaskets. Thanks

 

I love build threads! Keep posting!

As far as gaskets Fel-pro makes a bunch of one piece gaskets for a variety of applications, they are not cheap but worth the money. I used all Fel-pro gaskets on the 454 Chevy in my boat. Its hard to find a whole gasket kit with all the nice one piece gaskets. I purchased them all individually.

 

look into an arp complete stainless engine bolt kit also. there will be a lot of crusty bolts that you don't want to use, or may even break pullin the engine apart. always good to have a bolt set when doing an engine rebuild.


best bang for buck is felpro. there are better gaskets out there, but for mild builds the cost doesn't justify the gain.

 

Made some progress on the motor today. I wanted to make sure I had a clean motor to work on so I went at it with a couple cans of degreaser.


Then I began unbolting parts



Thats where I stopped tonight. Here are some pictures of the Lightning GT40s I bought.
Need to get them to the machine shop.Still trying to decide if I should get new springs or give the stockers a try. I have a Crane 444232 cam.

 

Springs are so cheap that it'd be stupid not to adhere to the recommended springs for the cam you select.

 

Glad you're bringing it back to life instead of letting it sit and rot. Looks like a clean truck.

To answer your question about the shims at the radiator support, those aren't factory. Looks like someone cut a slot in some fender washers and used them as shims. Had the truck ever been in an accident?

 

It has never been in an accident to my knowledge. All paint appears factory with no touch ups. The shims look like they are manufactured that way. I will look for further signs of an accident as I tear it apart.

 

Is that vacuum reservoir original? I thought all the trucks of this era had the soup cans. I'd love to replace mine with a plastic reservoir while I've got everything torn apart.



I found one shim just like that under one side of the core support on my '90 F150 when I pulled it so it may well be a factory shim to adjust body alignment.

 

Yes it is original. Would Like to find a way to eliminate it. The only emissions equipment I want to retain are the EGR and cat.

 

Got the heads off today. That's as far as I got for this weekend.



I plan to go as far as taking the cam out. I would like to leave the crank alone. What is the best way to clean the entire shortblock? Obviously I won't spray the crank and bearing down with degreaser and water, but I want to get the block as clean as I can without completely disassembling the block and having it hot tanked. I heard diesel fuel may work?

 

gotta love those 89 f250s... w351s... and 5 speeds...

Good lookin truck you got there, cant wait to see you fix her up!