I wanted to start a new thread to have a place that you all can look over my shoulder on the assembly of this engine. This is a project that has been put aside for a yr or so. It was for my '85 F150 4x4 that has an extremely tired 300 in it now.

I bought this '88 engine used off Craigslist for $200 and was hoping it was good enough to run as is while I could rebuild the stock engine in the truck. That was not to be; I wanted to look inside a bit and the more I saw, less I liked. It's not a full bore rebuild as it spec'd out OK on the pistons and rod/main clearances, albeit that were at the upper limit.

When all that was going on, I bought the '81 off Joe (fellow FTE member) and the '85 now sits as does this engine. My garage has reached critical mass and I really need the room, so this engine needs to get finished and either set aside or installed in the '85. I have most of the parts cleaned or new ready to go.

I got it on a stand today and chased the threads. And yes, I have regular thread chasers; I didn't use a tap.



Some of the parts and mess:



I had the head machined and rebuilt at the local NAPA auto machine shop, so it's good to go. It's just a stock efi head, but it'll work fine for this build. I'm not sure I'll use the Offy on this engine as I'm thinking it needs to go on the '81. I keep looking for them on Craigslist but haven't seen any, or not been able to get to it in time if I did.

I do have a full set of Ford '81 shop manuals. I would like to find a factory Ford parts manual but no luck so far. It wouldn't have to be an '81, but somewhere in the '80s would do. But, I'm really glad to have these:



The block was boiled out by a different machine shop. He used citric acid IIRC. It didn't fully remove the old paint, so I'll be cleaning all that up and repainting Ford grey. I also want to deburr the sharp edges and chamfer the oil holes. Any guidance on that, or anything please do.

That's it for now -

 

Hey Jim,
No advice on the block, since I didn't do mine. But, subscribed to this thread.

 

Dang AB, I was counting on your advice Lol. I needed some supplies including a handheld die grinder sorta Harbor Freight tool, and carbide burrs, and wire wheels and burrs for same. Those all got here yesterday, so I should be able to do a little bit this weekend. Wifey & I are headed overseas next week for a little bit, but I'd like to get some things done before that happens.

My biggest question is if and how should I deburr any of the oiling holes in both the block and the crankshaft. I've seen some bits here and there on youtube, but not really clear on it. I can hold off on that a little bit as first I just want to get the old paint off the outside and shoot some Ford gray on it, but of course any deburr or other block mods needs to be done before assembly so I can get it all blown and washed out before parts start getting bolted in.

We have a house/dog sitter coming in next week for when we're gone and my wife has already warned that she'll be cleaning all weekend, so that sounds like a great time to be out in the garage picking away at this block!