Hey everyone, this is just a documentation of my progress/setbacks with my 1990 F-250 351W. I've had lots of great help on this forum, certainly more to come! My original motor had unknown miles and a piston skirt blew off... a piece of shrapnel made its way thru the broken pick up screen and stopped the oil pump in its tracks. Sheared the rolling pin on the distributor gear and the truck lost spark and I rolled to a stop. A few months later I received a remanufactured 351W from PowerTrainProducts.com. Did some motor shopping and they had the cheapest price. Including shipping I got a fresh motor with "0" miles and a 5year unlimited mile warranty for $2700. I'll show some pictures and talk about some things I've learned, questions I have, etcetera.

New motor comes with timing chain pre-installed and IIRC a complete gasket kit as well as an oil pump

A buddy of mine was kind enough to let me use his engine stand. It has a worm gear drive that allows you to spin the motor around. Came in very handy
I don't know why the remans come with the eccentric fuel pump ticker (is that the name?) the EFI 351W 's don't use an on engine fuel pump and have a different timing cover than the earlier model 351W's.

Does this look damaged? I called the warranty department and had them look it over. They were not sure either but reimbursed me $30ish dollars to get an identical replacement through a 3rd party supplier (O'reilly's). Brand is a melling oil pump. I inspected the 2nd oil pump I bought from O'reilly's, same "damage". My best guess is its an effect of the manufacturing process in the casting procedure.
I primed the oil pump on the bench, no leaks from this area. It should be noted that you'll need to buy the pickup tube, not included with the new motor.

I put the old motor up nice and high like a chandelier cause I thought it was funny. Yea the headlight bugs me too. Ill get to it soon. Should I replace it or can I take it apart and clean it?

I used an engine lift plate I bought off amazon for $60, bolts up nicely to the lower intake manifold. I heard it works for both 302's and 351's.

New pump and pickup installed on the bottom end. I previously installed the timing cover/water pump and harmonic balancer.
I was taught to coat all the timing cover and waterpump gaskets with the black rtv for a better seal. Also heard the harmonic balancer should be installed before the timing cover is bolted down. torque is 13ft-lbs. Lot of surface prep work happens before everything goes together, and it goes together so quick, its easy to miss stuff. Write it down if you have to. And if I didn't mention it before, yes I kept the eccentric fuel pump ticker on even though I do not need it. There I confessed. Anyone see what's wrong with the photo below?

That's right! If you look closely the motor is not in the truck. (Please Laugh)
First time I did this I forgot to install the oil pump driveshaft. I was furious. Just plop it down in its bore with the clip on the side of the shaft that's closer to the distributor. This prevents the shaft from popping out and falling into the oil pan when the distributor is removed. Oil pump to block bolts torqued to 35 ft-lbs with some blue loctite. Oil pickup nut on the main cap bolt torqued to 35 ft-lbs with blue loctite as well. Oil pickup tube to oil pump bolts torqued to 25 ft-lbs.

Nothing special here just another POV. Getting ready to install the oil pan
Felpro rubber gakset (Blue) was used on the oil pan. Black RTV was applied where the gasket between the timing cover and block meet, as well as the four corners of the motor. Above and below the four corners. Where the semi-circles meet the flat part. I don't believe you need to rtv that whole groove, but I guess you could if it puts your mind at ease. I don't have any photos of the oil pan install, but these oil pan brackets that came off the old motor (long piece of metal with 12ish holes) were reused cause they looked important in evenly dispersing the clamping force that seals the oil pan to the block. Torque the small bolts to 11ft-lbs and the 4 bigger bolts, two in the rear two in the front cover to 18ft-lbs.

Heres the ole clunker that came out earlier. Not much to see here. Those dents in the headers serve a purpose. Needs clearance to get the bolts in and out.
Guess how many bolts that came out of that intake manifold didn't snap. 3. Thankfully the special ones were okay. 2 of them hold up the (TAB/TAD? what does this stuff do anyways?) and the ignition coil. If you they weren't there, I believe you would need to find another way to ground the assy. I'm not entirely sure about that, but the capacitor needs to be grounded ((silver cylinder) is it called a capacitor?)).

I love my hyper tough tool box. Said no one ever. Its my oh no I am on the side of the road tool box, I think everyone should have one.
At this point the old motor has only a few parts left on it. The Fuel rail/injectors and engine harness were set aside. I bought new injectors from rockauto for $25 a piece. Made by standard, the yellow ones, no core charge. I think these are 19lb/hr. Please let me know. The old injectors still back there in the fuel rail were single shot. The new ones are multi shot. From what I've read the multi-shot will atomize the fuel more, giving you a better burn which means better fuel economy and some performance; whether that be a marginal gain in horsepower or a smoother/faster throttle response I don't know exactly. Someone let me know if I'm in the ballpark on this one. I replaced all the sensors at this point as well. Two coolant sensors, intake air temp sensor, and oil pump sensor. I also bought a new map sensor - I got a little carried away with buying stuff. it happens.

Headers and plugs are in on this one. Headers are short tubes bought off of summit racing. I did notice a slight boost in performance, or maybe it was just my heavy foot.
I know the long tube are more favorable because of how the scavenge the exhaust gas, but on a 4x4 truck installation is hit or miss when it comes to fitment. Does anyone know of a brand of long tubes that has a guaranteed fitment on a 4x4? There's a lot to unpack in this picture and I am bound to miss somethings. sorry. I did not paint my valve covers, I did not want to spend the extra time to paint them. The big grade 8 bolts you see in the back of the heads on the new motor (on engine stand) cover the air injection ports. I used a little bit of plumbers tape and sent them to their forever home. I had to delete the air injection system when I bought headers. Remember to plug off your TAB and TAD vacuum lines to keep the CEL at bay. I installed my spark plugs prior to installing the headers since a few of them are really difficult to get to. A little bit of copper anti-seize for good measure. The headers are installed to 16 feel-pounds (I believe it is actually 16ft-lbs) but again there are clearance issues with getting a torque wrench in there. Maybe a crows foot will work if you are serious about it. Start from the inside and work your way out. Not too tight or you crush the gasket, not too loose, or it wont seal. you may need to tighten them up a little more after you run the engine through a few heat cycles, that's normal. VHT paint was used on the headers. (Very High Temp paint). I think blue would look cool but black is okay. I think that's about everything besides the intake manifold. The cork gaskets for the china walls were coated with RTV. RTV was also applied in the four corners at the ends of the china walls, below and above the tab ends of the cork china wall gaskets. The lower intake (clean and grease free mating surface) was lowered into place. The 12 intake manifold bolts were torqued in 2 stages. The first stage was to 15ft-lbs, the second was 24ft-lbs. Use a torque wrench. follow the torque sequence. I do not have the chart for the torque pattern (sorry). It took me about $50 and three tries to get the lower intake manifold on correctly. I will try to explain my mistakes the best I can with the help of the picture below so that you do not have to make the same mistakes!

The 2 special bolts I mentioned earlier that did not snap are on the drivers side of the engine.
All the other bolts are grade 8 flange bolts from Ace. 2" long, except the front right (driver side) which is 2.5" long. The first time I installed the manifold, I made a few custom bolts out of threaded rod. Do not do that! I did not want to re-use old hardware, but I had to. Some bolts have studs coming out the other end and those ends are utilized for mounting stuff and ground wires. The homemade studs snapped when I put some torque to them. Dang. I took the Intake off and I tried again with a new gasket set. This time all grade 8 hardware, all 2" bolts. Everything was going smoothly. I figured that I would find out a different way to mount the junk that goes on those two long studs later. I get to the number six bolt on the second torque pass (24ft-lbs) which is the very front drivers side bolt, and it gets tighter, tighter, then loose... oh no. I took the Intake off again. I come to the conclusion that the number six bolt was too short and needed more "meat" (threads) to bite into. I bought a 2.5" bolt specifically for that hole. I was very mad at this point and I do not remember exactly what happened, but it was either my first or second try, the cork china walls were getting squeezed out of their spots while i torqued the intake down. This was another reason I had to re-do this seal for a 3rd time. The 3rd time was a charm. I used the 3 bolts (old hardware) for their specific uses of mounting and grounding other stuff, then I used 8 new bolts (2") for all the other holes, and 1 new 2.5" bolt for the drivers front bolt hole. While tightening the bolts down to spec I stopped every once in a while to check on those china walls making sure they stayed put and did not slip out. This portion of the job was my least favorite part of the whole experience. I couldn't imagine doing this with the motor still in the truck, I would be so sore! I also went ahead and replaced my PCV valve with a new one. The new one I got had two vacuum ports, I just capped one off.

Different view, yes the top bolt for the water pump is missing because it snapped off in the timing cover (Previous Owner Shenanigans). It still sealed just fine. I tried getting it out, could not do it.

The dipstick I bought is a universal. The Original dipstick is discontinued. A little bending and turning got it where it needs to be.
How the dipstick is oriented here I would not recommend. The dipstick rests against the main cap, but it should rest FLAT against the main, not perpendicular as shown. Just rotate the dipstick tube to get the stick to lay flat against the cap. The dipstick is not cut to size by the way. So if you need to change your dipstick out for some reason, I suggest installing the tube and dipstick, get it oriented correctly. Take out the dipstick, change your oil, fill it up with 6 fresh quarts (with filter change) (if you have a 351W) and start the motor, let the oil cycle and turn the truck off. Let the oil settle for a minute then insert your dipstick. Cut off whatever excess "stick" you have, round the edges of the stick so it does not scratch anything, then etch a line at the highest point the oil reaches, You should have about 1-2" of dipstick that is submerged in oil up to the fill mark you etched earlier. This is the best way I could think of getting an accurate oil measurement when all other references are unreliable or unavailable.

I did not think of this earlier, but it should have been mentioned earlier for my Torque Wrench Warriors. Yes you can get a swivel socket on this oil pump bolt!
You can use a crows foot too I guess, but in my limited experience I found that a crows foot or wrench will slip off cause the clearance is so tight here. And yea I took the oil pan off and put it back on again because I put the oil pump to block gasket on after priming the oil pump. Which Soaked the gasket in oil. For peace of mind I did it again and made sure it stayed dry. Who knows if it matters. I heard that chevy does not use these pump to block gaskets because they rely on the finely machined surfaces of the block and pump to seal. Maybe that is why they all have low oil pressure? Haha. I could be dead wrong here, that is just what I heard. Moving on.

Nothing Looks better than new injectors, you cannot change my mind. Make sure to lubricate the o-rings before installing them into the rail or block. I heard you should not use a petroleum based lubricant to seal these rings or they can swell or split. I used a silicon based lubricant spray (good for window tracks as well if you have slow power windows). Put all 8 injectors into the fuel rail first, twist and push. Then install the fuel rail/injectors into their assigned bores in the intake manifold. Sometimes you will have carbon build up on the metal sleeve inserts of the intake manifold, clean this stuff out before your install. The injectors can be difficult to push into these sleeves, so make sure they are lubricated well, and use a rubber mallet. A rubber mallet is perfect for gently tapping against the fuel rail to seat the injectors. Make sure all you injectors are actually in there holes before you begin, its a terrible feeling breaking an injector, especially a new one because you were not careful and impatient. Do one side at a time, make sure all injectors are in and start going down the line, tap-tap, tap-tap. Then cinch down your 4 injector rail hold down bolts.

Observe, top left corner, the new PCV valve I mentioned earlier that had two outlet ports, one of which I capped off.
My harness is old and maybe some day down the line I will freshen it up, but it works. Plug everything in that you can, use this picture as reference if you need it. The two special intake manifold bolts I referred too earlier are holding up the ignition coil and TAB/TAD. The engine lift plate I bought and used earlier to remove the old engine will soon be used to install the new engine. I was worried that if I used the engine lift plate on the newly sealed intake, that it would somehow pull apart or weaken that seal, what do you guys think? I think not, but there is always that lingering doubt in the back of your mind...

To put the flywheel and other transmission stuff on, the engine needs to come off the stand.
Personally, I like to do this stuff outside of the truck rather than underneath it if I can help it. To take some strain off the crane and have a motor that wont wiggle around while you work on it, the motor was set on the ground. The green pad on the ground is a recycled plastic foam block. You can find them at your local arts and crafts store. The foam takes a form fitting shape to the pan protecting it from getting crushed or dented when weight is applied. Not sure about you auto guys, but if you have a manual transmission, I have the ZF S5-42, THE ENGINE/TRANS PLATE GOES ON FIRST. FIRST!!! I'm not sure if its a super important part, but its probably a shim for the starter and input shaft. Put it on. Next step is to install your pilot bearing. They come pre-greased, but they never give you enough grease. Take some wheel bearing grease (lithium not sodium based) and start working it in with your finger. Then install it with a dead blow or some soft face hammer. make sure it goes in straight. Once its started you can switch to an appropriately sized socket and metal hammer till its seated. You will know when its seated, listen for the pitch change. As you hammer on it, the sound will change from piing piing piing to tink tink.

Next put your flywheel on. Notice the bolt holes don't line up? Keep spinning the flywheel till the bolt holes line up.

The flywheel only goes on one way, IIRC its because the flywheel is balanced with the crank. Go ahead and clean the flywheel surface with some brake clean before installing your new or used clutch. My flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate are about 8 months 10k miles old, so I reused them. The surface looks fine, its not blue or cracked so it will be okay.

This is how I torqued my flywheel bolts down. 75-85ft-lbs and blue loctite. I did 80ft-lbs.
DO NOT OVER TORQUE THESE BOLTS. It will compress the crank flange causing it to bulge outwards, ruining the crank and your RMS will never seal right. For this next you will need a clutch alignment tool, insert the tool on the clutch and insert the tool into the bore of the pilot bearing. Install pressure plate (clean surface with brake clean) torque to 35ft-lbs. Question for you guys, which way does the "top hat" portion of the clutch go? I am certain the raised deck side of the clutch faces the pressure plate. I am not sure if it matters, unless the pads are directional.

New motor going in! Dad wanted me to take his picture, I am thankful to have him around to help out with big projects like this!
I left the crank pulley off so I could have the horizontal clearance needed to install the motor with the clutch assy attached. I pulled my radiator out, but left my condenser in because its tucked away. Its hard to see cause everything on this motor is black, but I installed the new motor mounts before I put the new engine into the truck.

Shiny Turd
Once the motor is in, the transmission is installed. If you have a manual trans, I recommend replacing the slave cylinder since it is concentric and not external. Now is the time to replace it while its out. I do not recommend aftermarket. I have heard horror stories of guys putting new ones in and failing immediately or quickly. Better to stay on the safe side and pay FoMoCo for their OEM slave.

Side Note: Some of you may have noticed, I swapped the bench seat out for two captains chairs from a same year bronco. Very comfy but I do not recommend if you are taller than 6'2". Sometimes is pays off to be shorter.
Side Note: Some people may ask why I did not swap the stock heads out for gt-40's or some other head right then and there while the new motor was out. While it would have made sense, it was not within my budget or time frame to do so. Winter is coming, and I miss driving this truck!

As of now this is as far as I have gotten. There is still a lot left to do but Next weekend I will hopefully start it up for the first time. I only have time to work on this thing on the weekends, and these last 3 weekends are summed up in this long post. This post is just a documentation of my experience removing and replacing a motor. I feel confident in my ability to complete this project, but I still want to hear whatever inputs or criticisms you guys have. If you read the whole thing, thank you. It means a lot. Till next weekend

 

The part on the end of the camshaft is the fuel pump eccentric. I’m not entirely sure what you are referring to as the “ticker.” I believe your engine came that way because it for the wrong application. It is set up for a carburetor.

Do you know what camshaft is in the engine? I hope it it is going to work with your speed density EFI.

I am not a fan of smearing everything with RTV. A lot of gaskets are designed to be installed dry.

Thermactor Air Bypass and Thermactor Air Divert. They control where the the air from the air pump is sent. The air going to the catalytic converter helps get it up to temperature faster. The air is for reducing emissions. The solenoids need to be plugged into the wire harness for the computer to be happy. It doesn’t know what is happening on the vacuum side.

The timing cover that came on the engine for the mechanical fuel pump is for a standard rotation water pump with “V” belts. You should have replaced it with the reverse rotation cover from your old engine since your truck has a serpentine belt. Did I miss what you did to cover the fuel pump hole in the timing cover?

You should have thrown the cork intake gaskets in the trash. This is the place where you should have used a bead of RTV.

Why didn’t you use the dipstick and tube from your old engine? Back in the Spring, I bought a brand new dipstick and dipstick tube from Jeff’s Bronco Graveyard.

You replaced the single hole fuel injectors with multi hole injectors? I assume that what you mean by “multi-shot”.

 

Fuel Pump eccentric, that's what its called thanks! Yea the fuel pump eccentric is unnecessary for the late model efi engines.

I do not know what camshaft is in this motor. I would assume the stock cam. I talked to a Powertrainproducts representative and they matched up the vin and year make model to give me an identical replacement motor.

I would agree with you on the use of RTV, I was recommended to use the rtv coated timing cover gasket because of the pitting/imperfections/scratches in the aluminum timing cover. Good to know about the TAB/TAD my bad I was wrong about that.

I have a 1990 351W. I did not document the waterpump/timing cover install, but the newer covers do not have a fuel pump hole in the timing cover. Older style water pumps move clockwise, the newer style using a serpentine run counterclockwise.

I do not like using cork gaskets either. I have seen the guys on powernation just throw a bead of rtv down as well. The only cork gaskets I used were the valve cover gaskets and the china wall gaskets, but I coated those in RTV so I'm not too worried about it leaking. I will remember that for the future, thanks.

I guess I didn't look hard enough for a stock dipstick, I am familiar with Jeff's bronco graveyard. The new dipstick still works the same it just sits a little shorter. I actually like the way the aftermarket dipstick looks compared to the stock one, and how it sits between the headers so I can still take the headers off without the tube getting in the way. My old stock dipstick had a large hole rusted through it.

Yes that is what I meant by multi-shot injectors. Multi-shot=multi-hole. I always heard it called multi-shot/single-shot, my bad.

Also, do you know of any Long tube headers that will squeeze past the 4x4 system? Looking to upgrade if I can make them fit.

 

You stated that you used the timing cover that came on the engine. Did you make a plate to block off the hole for the fuel pump?

I was talking about tossing the cork China wall gaskets in the trash. Even with the RTV smeared on them that is a guaranteed leak. You also should have used the steel core rubber/silicone valve cover gaskets. There is a reason Ford stopped using cork.

The dipstick or the tube had a hole in it? When I replaced the heads and cam on the 302 I had to replace the tube. It broke in two from the rust when I removed it. I reused the dipstick. There wasn’t anything wrong with it.

 

There is no fuel pump hole. The timing cover I used came off the old motor. I did not need to make a plate to block off the fuel pump hole, because there is no hole.
I know what you meant about the china wall cork gaskets being trash. I hope for my sake that you are wrong about it leaking. Time will tell. I do regret using the cork valve cover gaskets but it is what it is. The dipstick tube itself had a hole rusted through it, the dipstick itself was fine. I don't have the stock dipstick anymore.