Clean the block and have all its "faults" evaluated. You may be able to hone the scored cylinder, or have the block bored to a larger size. As for the blocked passages, a professional chemical bath cleaning would be ideal. It might be worth having a discussion with Southwest Truck Parts just down the road from you and seeing what it would cost to have them clean and evaluate your engine. Heck, it is a long shot, but with the right attitude, charm, interest, and drive, maybe you could impress them to the point of squeezing some employment from them to better fund your project and gain some work experience in a line of business that seems to overlap your interests.

 

Only to be followed up with....

 

I have tryed that but they dont want the insurance risk and dont have the parts or time. thanks for all the tips everyone i will try that, and check post dates bmoran. i will still post updates on the build and ask questions, regardless of whether they are answered or not. also nobody calls me stupid other than my mom. i will work for oriellys to get the new parts for the rebuild and will do my best. i only get parts now from 54 pickup because the guy at southwest truck parts wont sell me anything because i dont seem like a interested buyer

 

wait sorry i thought you said 54 pickup not sw truck parts for the rebuild

 

Can you post pictures of the bellhousing and transmission? I am curious whether they put the whole driveline from another vehicle into the F5, or used an adapter to the original F5 trans. If you have the original clutch linkage, it must have an adapter.
What are your intentions for the truck -- farm use?

 

maybe later today although it has the orignal clutch liknage starter and trans. i dont know about the bell

 

it is my tow truck and i dont take it to town much, i just use it for moving my **** around

 

Honestly I think some of the old timers here gave this forum a black eye. You guys jumped his a$$ for no good reason, insisting he try and rebuild what he has, or ask local machine shops for a job.
When I was 20 getting my first 223 rebuilt, I asked three shops for the same thing: can I work to learn something; I'll still pay full price to have my engine built by you?
all three shops including the one I used were ran NOT by young men, but by men of at least 60+ years. they all looked at me like an alien and said "we don't do nothin' like that"
All three.

Who gave me the advice? My dad. It was embarrassing to have all these grown men(who I was about to start paying money to) have to lecture me like a child about legalities and the fact they can't just take a kid off the street with no experience.

You guys are older and might be from a time when shops would do this, but it doesn't work like that most of the time nowadays.


DieselDog, I've rebuilt 2 223's, the parts are expensive, and often hard to come by. There is an oil feed tube under the valve cover that must be clear; a member here named numberdummy confirmed it is completely nonexistent 10 years ago. Rocker shaft assemblies are often trashed due to lack of oil and the whole assembly could cost hundreds.

Obviously you shouldn't totally give up, but on the other hand keep doing what you're doing: looking for a hopefully running core engine(and avoid getting lectured by folks on the internet).

If someone has to tell you they're nice, they're not nice.


My original 223 that I had rebuilt in 2009 still had a mysterious issue I couldn't solve after many attempts, so I got a hold of 2 different core engines, rebuilt one and am very happy with it's running status currently, but only time will tell.

 

There is currently one listed on Craigslist Cincinnati. It was posted about 4 days ago. I don't know anything about it just thought I would pass it along.

 

I had a 215 rebuilt about 6 years ago. I did some of the disassembly and assembly and a friend helped me get the engine out and back into the truck. The machine shop charged about $2300 for parts and labor. It seemed like a lot to pay at the time, but I'm happy now with the investment. Swapping in a different engine might seem like a cheaper option, but there are likely to be unexpected expenses involved fabricating motor mounts, mating up the engine to a transmission and drive shaft, and getting everything else just right--and then of course, the engine you swapped in probably isn't rebuild and may have issues and expensive repairs that need to be made.

This is what a rebuilt and painted 215/223 engine looks like:







Good luck.

Jim

 

Thanks guys for understanding my current situation and for sharing links. I hope i can find the parts i need for the rebuild, and if not then i will get a running motor and keep the old one for parts that i might sell. I will keep you updated.

 

A pointer to the basic kit I found that seems to be appropriate for your engine: https://www.cleggengine.com/engine-r...1954-1964.html

You need to pull things apart to and get things cleaned to get the correct measurements for the bore and bearings. Depending upon your budget, engine condition, and desires, you may not need everything in that kit and would find that you can purchase just the bearings and specific gaskets and seals and whatnot at reduced overall cost. And just so others don't flame me, I acknowledge having a machine shop actually machine things will yield superior results, but we are striking a balance here.




The only thing I see above are many being honest and cautioning not to write off the engine without a better more through evaluation and to not defiantly run it into the ground. This was coupled with a reality realignment with the idea that a viable 223 could readily be had within the budget of $500.

Classic under the table agreements like such are extremely laughable in today's litigious world as your experience mirrors. What was suggested was gainful employment with a business that is much larger than a one man machine shop where there is a spread of opportunities outside of running machine tools. There are warehousing, shipping, salvage, vehicle service and other realms where the suggestion of proper employment would not be unthinkable.

Depending upon the specific 223 production, the following are the applicable oil tubes. They are obsolete and unavailable as stated, however, they can be easily formed up and crimped very similar to what is commonly done with brake and fuel lines.

EAA-6580-B .. Valve Rocker Arm Shaft Oil Inlet Tube

B5A-6588-B .. Valve Rocker Arm Shaft Oil Outlet Tube - approx. 12 13/16" overall length

Hence the incessant and insistent recommendations to stop running the engine and to clean and further evaluate what is currently had.

Nothing wrong with finding a running engine and doing a swap to another 223. However, that probably wouldn't fit within the stated budget of $500 with desirable results. And we don't want to witness or condone the destruction a potentially salvageable/rebuildable engine in the meantime. I've priced a 223 rebuild kit with all the basics for a tad under $1000. I would doubt one could dependably get another 223 in good running condition worth swapping out for similar. Discrete parts costs for a bottom end poor mans rebuild is just under the stated budget of $500. Expand the budget (just like for all of our projects), we could amp things up in many ways. The approaches lined out by us "old timers" (I'd wager I'm younger than many) are sound and based on valid experience and balancing the constraints presented.

 

I will keep that kit in mind but i think i will just do rings bearings and seals, as that is all i can afford. I will look into the motor later today after school.

 

Beyond a compression test and doing rings etc, if you have a chance take the valve cover off and take a pic of whats going on if you can. Anyways, you can easily take off the rocker shaft assembly, or at least one of the feed/drain tubes.

The rocker shaft tube is hollow to allow oil to flow to each rocker arm, but the ends of the shaft are sealed with pressed plugs, in other words it's not actually that easy to simply look inside or clean out anything inside. Nonetheless you don't need to take it off, but if you want to it isn't hard. But even with it off it may be a bit involved cleaning it out.
There are two feed tubes, in my pic the one on the left side of the pic is the drain tube, and the long elongated one on the right side of the pic is the dreaded feed tube. This tube is sealed with a small o-ring that is deep in the engine, these o rings harden and make getting the feed tube out very not-fun. Treat the tube like it is salvageable, so BE NICE. Try and get it out without bending it too bad, if you find it is clogged solid once it's out, you can do whatever you want with it. Hopefully it's not clogged and not hard to get out for you.

This assemblies cleanliness and ability to flow oil is probably the 223's biggest Achilles heel, this is why I'm really going in depth. If you have any more questions I'll try and look at this thread every day.

The original tube from my first engine was clogged completely solid; the tube from my spare engine was PERFECTLY clean but an absolute PITA to get out of the block. Ya never know what you're gonna get, so be gentle.

If you are resourceful you can try sourcing new end plugs for the rocker shaft, take the originals out and clean it real good.

Good luck.

 

This edited picture shows the feed tube highlighted in red.