Hopefully it won't go 300+ posts!

Just got my motor in from Fraser Engines. Looks good. Had my mechanic pull the valve covers so we could look at the cams and valve train. Nice and shiny. However, even though I specifically asked if the cam and cam towers were stock, i.e. no "custom" cam bearings installed, there they were. I suppose it's not that big of a deal, but it's a little annoying.

Something I've learned about remanufactured motors is there are only a couple of actual manufacturers. All of these places you see selling the motors are just middle men and installers. Seems Fraser Engines got my engine from AER Manufacturing. AER remanufactures for OEM (Ford, GM, Nissan, etc). The motor looks to be of high quality, but I suppose we won't really know until it has a few thousand miles on it. I've decided to bite the bullet and replace everything I can while it's out of the truck. I'll be picking up a new intake manifold and an AC compressor kit (compressor, drier, valve, o-rings, and condenser). This is basically going to be a brand new truck under the hood.

I'll post up pics as we go along.

 

Here are a few pics of the motor I received from Fraser Engines. I was able to verify that the phasers and VCT solenoids were genuine Motorcraft parts

 

 

 

One thing I was disappointed in was that the water pump that came with my motor was a Duralast (Autozone) water pump. WTF? I'm going to skip that and put a Motorcraft water pump on it instead. The oil and filters they gave me were the cheapest ones you could get at Autozone (STP). I'll use the oil for break in, but I'm using a Mobil1 oil filter. The air filter will be good enough though. After break in I'll be using Castrol GTX semi-synth 5w-20 exclusively.

 

How is the swap going? Did they lift the cab or pull it from the top?

 

 

It's going slowly. The mechanic got the motor pulled the old fashioned way, through the top. As he was pulling it, the heater hoses fell apart so I had to get those. Seriously, nobody carries the inlet hose! So, since we had to wait for the hose I went ahead and ordered new cam position sensors and a crank position sensor. I also went ahead and ordered a new starter.

​​​The mechanic has to be out in Idaho next week, so the new engine doesn't go in until the week after. Luckily, I'm not in a hurry.

 

Here's a picture of one of the cylinder heads on the engine that we pulled. Can you see the major problem here?


Something's wrong here. Can you see it?

 

Who paints the valve train?!


They even painted the valve springs!!! :-O

 

If it's a factory engine, then FORD painted it... which given the year and engine, would not surprise me.

I had a reman put in mine and I'm only 2k miles into it. Ticking is still there and I'm pretty sure there is a head gasket leak. Did my oil the other day and found a milky froth on the oil cap, plus the coolant was low. Really hoping it was condensation and temperature changes but the coolant.... worries me to say the least. I've been using 5w-30 motorcraft syn blend, and filter. I swear I'll drive this truck off a cliff before I sink another dollar into it.

 

Well, the engine that came out of this truck was definitely not the original. My mechanic is stumped as to why anyone would spray paint the valve train. They even painted the camshafts!!! I seriously doubt it was Ford who painted it .

Sorry to hear of the issues you're having with your remanufactured motor. Who did you get it from, and who installed it? Hopefully it's under a decent warranty.

 

Stopped by the shop today. No progress on my truck, which was a bit disappointing. The mechanic said the heater lines came without the quick connects so he had to order them, which delayed the progress. He also had to complete a few other jobs in the mean time. I'll admit that I'm becoming a bit antsy and frustrated, but I want this done right the first time. Patience is a virtue, or at least I keep telling my self that...

 

The frustration is understood. Independent shops need to move cars in and out to pay the bills they don't have the reserve capital like a dealership. I have ran into the same situation at my shop it's the first independent that I have worked at.

 

Motor is going in tonight/tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be running by Thursday. One thing that was discovered when the old motor was pulled was that the passenger side cats were fairly plugged. It looks like ilI' have to replace it.

So I'm thinking of just doing the whole exhaust system from the manifolds back. What kind of cost would I be looking at? $1000+? Any suggestions on type and/or brand?