Well my '96 F150 hasn't been right since the timing gear disintegrated at ~75mph. It makes a horrible knocking noise at idle and even weirder it really struggles on hot starts. So with deer season around the corner and the deer lease four hours away it's time for a new engine.

I picked up a core out of a '95 F150 from the junkyard, tore it down, and got the block/rotating assembly over to a machine shop. Having the usual done - rebore, new hypereutectic pistions, resizing the mains and rods, ARP rod bolts, new cam bearings, balancing, etc. Since I'm in a bit of a hurry I'm going to have him build out the long block save installing the timing cover (the '96 has a crank/cam sensor that the '95 didn't have so need to swap that over).

The truck has MAF EFI so cam choice was wide open, but after talking to a tech I settled on a relatively mild grind - Crower 19212. Adv duration is 260°/268°, at .050" lift it's 202°/210°, 112° lobe centers, .443"I/.448"E lift. Also have the matching lifter/spring/retainer/oil seal kit coming.

Funny how different manufacturers have similar grinds but claim wildly different performance and RPM ranges. I was looking at the Crower 19213 (210°/213° @.050") and they classify it as level 4, RPM range 2,000-6,000.

Then I see a Lunati cam with 207°/213° @.050" with 112° lobe centers that claims to be great for towing and RPM range from idle to 5,000.

What's up with that?

Anyway, I had the head cleaned and pressure tested and it's crack free. Woohoo. Going to do a bit of pocket porting, clean up the thermactor humps a little, and polish the chambers before taking it to the shop for a three-angle valve job with a backcut on the intake valves, resurfacing and assembly.

I talked to a shop I trust and they spitballed a price of $1,200 to remove and replace the old engine. So again in the interest of time - and still smarting from the new engine I put in the Bronco knocking - Imma have them knock it out. The final tally will surely be higher since I'm going to have them change out the clutch slave while it's easily available plus some other little things that are much easier while the engine is out of the truck anyway.

Oh, yeah, it will have all metal timing set.

 

"...claim wildly different performance and RPM ranges."

The operative term is 'claim'...and it's all about marketing.

 

I really know how to pick them. I dropped an engine core and a bunch of parts at the machine shop at the beginning of October hoping to have everything back in time to have the new engine in the truck by the start of deer season (Nov. 7). Didn't happen.

Turns out there was a fire next door in the building and supposedly the fire marshal wouldn't let him in to his shop for ~six weeks. As of Wednesday last week he has my engine in his garage and plans to have it together this week. I'm not holding my breath.

 

I noticed that with the crower cam too. The specs don't tally or mesh with the description. Actually, it seems a fairly mild cam.

I'm sure you know what to do with a new t.set, but if it were me I'd go with a Comp or Cloyes set for $122 on Summit.

I hope this one works out well.

Side note: when you got your ZF, did you have it rebuilt?

 

When I was on the phone with Crower what he was saying and what I could see on their website didn't sync. The guy said there was a problem with their catalog. I deferred to the tech's judgment. Better to be slightly under-cammed than slightly over-cammed on a street vehicle.

I didn't originally have the ZF rebuilt when I put it in but did once I drove it and the syncros were shot. In the future any used transmission will get rebuilt before I install it in a vehicle. Cost me an extra $400 to have the transmission shop remove and install the ZF...

 

My favorite part of the cam description was how it said that rather mild cam required a minimum of 10.25:1 compression. I'm certain something is amiss.

 

Finally picked up the short block and head Friday. Started getting everything in place to assemble and remember how I said there was a fire next door to the shop? The box of lifters must have gotten wet somehow - they've all got rust on the sides and face. So I've ordered another set. It's never as easy as I hope...

 

"It's never as easy as I hope..."

Because...Murphy rules.

 

That dude was an incurable optimist.

 

I ended up ordering another set of lifters from Jeg's - a set of 16 that was in stock and on sale for $2 more than the set of 12 that wouldn't ship for a week. Added 25 feet of silicone vacuum hose to qualify for free shipping. Plan is to replace all the old plastic lines running under the manifold while it's apart.

The rockers, etc. from the core engine are freaking filthy. I've got the 300 out of the Bronco on a stand in the garage and was planning to pull the timing cover anyway but I pulled the valve cover and the rockers, springs, head look almost brand new. So that saves me the trouble of cleaning the skanky ones.

 

Got the engine all bolted together and dropped the truck at the shop this evening. My neighbor recommended a shop just up the street. I had them do some brake work in the past and was happy with them so dropped it with them. Walking distance to the house, which is nice, plus the quote he gave me was very reasonable. He said it should be ready Saturday.

 

Shop calls yesterday and the guy says, "yeah, about that secondary air injection..." In retrospect I should have left the one on the donor engine in place but removing it seemed like the thing to do at the time. Removing it meant pretty much destroying it and the same holds true for the one on the old engine. So I had to order one and it won't be here until Monday, maybe Tuesday.

I'm going to use the delay to my advantage and clean the intake. I cleaned the throttle body recently and the manifold had a ~2mm layer of grime all around. Can't hurt while it's off anyway.

 

Well, I asked about Crower lifters in another thread - they were different than any others I've ever seen. The pistons were loose vs. the spring pushing them up tight against the retaining ring. Crower tech support says to pump them up before installing. Again, never heard that recommended before.

Anyway, I used shims under the rocker pedestals to get the preload to their specs. When the shop calls they say it's ready but the rockers are making noise. Sounds like a diesel. I limp it the three blocks home and tear apart the upper, etc. to remove the shims and pray the cam isn't damaged.

I went ahead and got new rocker arms and pedestals. They feel looser side-to-side than the stockers. Now there's still noise from the rockers, not nearly as bad but still there.

Shop also had the distributor off by about 20°. Now that the timing is better it's pulling a rock steady 20" vacuum at idle. They didn't bleed the new clutch slave very well either. I've bled it once and it's better now but still not 100%.

On the road it runs about as I hoped. Happily pulls at least 1,000 rpm beyond where I would normally shift and pulls good from 10 mph to 50 mph in 3rd gear. Fingers crossed the cam and lifters weren't damaged and the rockers quiet as they wear in.