These trucks are all in the middle of old skool stuff. And a little more modern then the old hay days of the Model A Fords days of thunder down the roads.

Working on a vehicle is basics of mostly is what is called R&R=remove & replace of parts.

Most Auto shops today don't have time to do any rebuilding any more. They send it out to a rebuilder that they have had the least problems with there workmanship.

But even a good shop can have a bad days ever so often with a failure due to it's employee for the most part.

Guys who really take an interest in their trucks buy a motor manual that covers just about how to fix or test everything on these trucks.

Its all about taking the time of wanting to learn how to keep the money in your pocket by fixing it yourself. Plus gives you the satisfaction of doing it yourself and taking a little more pride in the girl by keeping her on humming down the road with from your two hands & a book.
Orich

 

351 ClevelandC4 and Rasputin53 Hit the nail on the head! There are other ways to rebuild an engine other than a shop doing it all. Rent any special tools when you need them. Why buy a special tool that you may only use twice in your lifetime? A longblock is another way to go if your block is shot. While the engine is out it might be a good time to do some cleanup, rustproofing, and wiring upgrades. Don't give up-NOTHING BEATS A FAILURE, EXCEPT A TRY!! No one was born with the knowledge to rebuild an engine, we all have to learn, ask, and practice. It's been several years since I even worked on a V8, but what the H*ll, I'm sure that I can do a better job than the previous owner. And if I screw it up, no biggie, I'll just do it again!!! Kenny Nunez had a great idea too, a lot of schools will do the whole job for you.

 

I would say that no way should you be muddling around with the expensive rebuild parts and machine shop costs if you don't even have the resources to pull and install an engine.
If you didn't run it long without oil, fix what's wrong with it, put in a new timing chain and gears and run it. Putting an oil pump in with the engine in the chassis is a bit of a bitch but can be done. About the only reason the pump shaft would be shear is if a piece of the fibre timing gear went in it. In all my years in the auto repair business I saw that maybe 5-6 times.

 

I agree with that. First, diagnose what you have. Drop the oil pan and report back.

 

You're asking the right questions, and got some great advice to think about and help decide for yourself. Not picking on you, but there seems to sometimes be an undercurrent of people who want an old pickup, but are unrealistic and expect modern performance and reliability, even though it has sat in a field for 27 years or whatever and last saw a grease gun during the Ford administration.

Mechanical types see these rigs as a challenge, a labor of love even, since there is no economic rationale to it. Take a look at some of the restoration and build threads here, they are remarkable in their care and attention to detail. Beautiful machines. But they are building for themselves, not trying to make a living. Maybe for folks who have restoration down to a science and an assembly line operation can make a go of it. Not very many. So you're asking whether it's "worth" it to rebuild, get a different truck, etc. What are your goals? Are you willing to get grease under your fingernails, or do you want plug and play turnkey restomod delivered to your door?

Somebody said these old trucks will need money or love and probably both. They were right! Make sure you can live with that truck for several years. Many people get tired of a car or truck after several years.

Incidentally pulling an engine and all that isn't that bad. Many of the tasks are MUCH easier with the engine removed and on a stand.

Get a few manuals, and start reading. It's all there. Step by step, the tools needed can be rented.

 

The first one is always the scariest. But these things are not rocket science. If the machining is right, it is simple reassembly. If you can torque to spec, you can build a motor. My first was a 69 351W. Since then I've done more SBF's and even some foreign, 22R and Cologne 4.0. I'll probably never do another Cologne. Each one is a snowflake. It's worse than the 4.6's in variants. But the FE is simple and solid. The hardest part is getting the rear seal in correctly. And that just takes attitude and a punch. It's heavy. All of it. Even the frickin' intake. Another reason to have some friends over to help. And I will reiterate, you need a *stout* engine stand. Not one of those HF $50 specials. Something in the 1500-2000lb range. The engine is not that heavy. The 1000lb stands will bend like a blade of grass with an FE on it.

 

Thanks everyone for the feedback, opinions and encouragement. This is all much needed and well received. After reading all the replies I think that some background and context regarding why I chose this truck might be in order.

I was looking for a 5th generation F250 because this is what my grandpa drove on his farm. So these trucks just bring back some fond memories for me and I've just always wanted one. As I was shopping around, this one sort of called to me because it is a camper special and has power steering and power brakes, which if I understand correctly, were not always standard options. One of the things that I liked about this one was that it appears from the maintenance records that the original owner was a doctor that used this truck as his main transportation and so I don't think that it has seen the same type of heavy/hard use that some other trucks have. Several service receipts and a carbon copy of the original bill of sale came with the truck. It also came with an original Ford Truck shop manual.

So I got this truck thinking it would be pretty cool and would be an opportunity to learn some basic auto mechanics. I knew that this would be a labor of love and I don't have any delusions about the amount of attention it will take. In fact, I was fully expecting an engine overhaul at some point. I was just hoping that it would be more like a couple of years out in the future and not 2 months after I bought it. I know that I shouldn't be surprised by this because this type of thing can happen at any time but, dang-it, 2 months. Let's just say that the conversation I had with the wife could have gone better.

So my intention with this truck is to mainly just clean it up a little bit and make it look decent and drive as reliable as can reasonably be expected. Sort of a nice looking daily driver. It appears to be mostly all original and it really hasn't been monkeyed with too much. It has headers, which I don't think are original, and a couple of additional gauges in the cab but other than that there haven't been any modifications, which I think is a good thing. At some point I'll probably have it repainted and I also have plans to clean up the interior a little bit. I want it to look good but at the same time I don't want it to be so fancy that I'm afraid to throw a couple of sheets of plywood in the back. I've also been reading up on how a lot of owners switch out the front drum brakes and upgrade to disc brakes. That seems like a cool project. This truck is our 3rd vehicle and since I work from home I actually don't drive that much anyway.

So here is what I'm thinking. For now, I think that I'm going to fork over the money and pay a mechanic to replace the engine and I think that I will probably go with a 390. This is the option that will keep my wife at bay. The idea of having an F250 yard ornament for several weeks went over like a fart in church plus this gets me back into a running pickup truck the quickest.

In the future, I think that I'm going to buckle down and just start digging into the problems myself. You guys have offered up enough encouragement that I think that I now have the ***** to tackle most everything else. My main constraint right now is garage space. I think that if I had the space in my garage it wouldn't be a big deal but I run a side business out of my garage and I just can't clear the space right now and going into the winter I don't really want to disassemble an engine outside.

Anyway, thanks again everyone and as soon as I have more info about the problems I'll provide and update.

 

Just got off the phone with the auto shop and they are saying that the rod bearings are shot. They said that there are a couple of other things but that the main problem is the rod bearings.

 

Cam priority oiling system, so that would be the first result of oiling system failure. I can empathize with conversations not going well with the entertainment committee. Oh yeah. You picked a good path.

 

Well, something caused that. Rod bearings usually fail from lack of oil. At any rate it is now a full on rebuild. Even if you do all the assembly yourself, a thorough job is going to cost at least $3000 to do it right. You can't (or shouldn't) hang old crap on a new engine so plan on all new belts, hoses, water and fuel pump, starter, boiling out or replacing the radiator, rebuild the carb or buy a NEW one (not a parts store reman), flywheel (flexplate) if the gear shows any wear. And it's also a darned good idea to put a new front seal in the tranny while it's open. And also all new plugs, wires, cap and rotor and more than likely the old distributor is sloppy and needs replaced or upgraded.
BTW, that is a darned nice truck, I love that color combination. These are great trucks, I've owned a bunch of them. They are about the oldest trucks you can easily use for daily drivers without major upgrades. And they were darned well made trucks. The end of the all metal trucks before cheesy plastic door panels ect. started creeping in.

 

Here are a couple of things that came w/ the truck

Shop Manual by FatSwede, on Flickr
Facts & Features by FatSwede, on Flickr
Brochure by FatSwede, on Flickr
bill of sale by FatSwede, on Flickr

 

My truck had a bunch of stuff like that packed into the glove box, a kind of time capsule.

I take it fettsvenska means "fat Sweede."

 

Correct, it's taken me years of hard work to look the way I do.

 

I'm in shape. Round is a shape...

 

Watching your progress... glad you decided to keep that good looking truck.