Looking for some help on my 84. I picked it up this summer not running, they started swapping a 351w which I recently finished. The truck has a electric fuel pump and they blocked off the mechanical pump. I noticed when running it leaking from there and assumed the block off plate needed a new gasket. But after removing the block off plate noticed the timing cover was cracked at the fuel pump flange. So I am planning on replacing the timing cover with one without the mechanical fuel pump to just eliminate a leak point in the future. From what I can gather it looks like the RTCF-302D cover is the one I want to use when I change the cover. Just wanted to get some input to make sure I am ordering the right cover before diving into this.

 

Welcome to the forum. The number you listed looks like the correct one to do away with the fuel pump opening.

Be careful splicing the gasket at the oil pan. The timing cover has dowel pins to align with the face of the block. This makes it tricky to get the timing cover installed without bunching up the spliced piece of oil pan gasket. If splicing in a new piece, I suggest trimming the old one first and then loosening the pan bolts to let it drop down slightly. Now you've got a little room to maneuver the timing cover onto the dowels. Use a little RTV at the splice seam. Take your time and do it right, as the timing chain slings a lot of oil right there.

For your electric pump installation, please take a look here for some VERY important safety considerations:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...tallation.html

I've lost track how many times I've seen a pump wired with a simple on/off switch, or none at all.

 

Thanks for the response. I figured it was the right one just figured I'd confirm before spending the money on the wrong one.

Appreciate the tips, that's what I've been seeing when doing my research. I'm just not looking forward to pulling the accessory drive apart lol. I figured it would be a good time to check the timing chain and replace the water pump while its all apart.

I have the fuel pump wired in with a relay and an inertia switch before the pump. The truck had an 300 with CFI originally in it and whoever did the swap butchered the wiring so I started over. Everything is wired in now with relays for the choke, fuel pump, HEI distributor.

 

Not sure if anybody even makes them anymore, but watch out for timing chain sets with nylon gear teeth. They were a little bit quieter, but far less durable. Nylon would flake off the gear teeth and clog the oil pickup screen. Go with all steel, in a quality name brand.

For the water pump and new timing cover, be careful with any female threaded holes. When built, I think standard SAE bolts were used to retain the various brackets on the front of the engine. But with later configurations, some of those bolts were metric. A new component may come with all metric threaded holes, but there's no hard and fast rule. Just be aware you might remove an SAE fastener from the original timing cover or water pump, but then find it won't go back into the replacement. Since you'll be working in tight quarters when re-installing those brackets, do yourself a yuge favor and test fit the fasteners from the comfort of your workbench. If needed, it's easy enough to switch over to a metric fastener, but not so obvious if working at arm's length under the hood.

While you have the crankshaft pulley removed, inspect it for a worn surface where the seal rides. It's very common to find a groove there. This is easily fixed with a repair sleeve. This is a cost-effective repair and I've done this on several vehicles with excellent results:

 

I personally would have ordered the correct cover for your engine, fuel pump opening and all. There is a danger that you will not have the timing pointer in the correct position and the dowel pins may need to be drilled out or adapted.

 

Call me Mr. Vegas, but I'm willing to bet his hard-earned money this other timing cover will fit.

I doubt the position and size of the dowel pins were changed. That would have required corresponding changes to the engine block, which Ford was probably hesitant to make. I call it industrial inertia. I wonder if there is a real term for that.

The timing pointer? On my 351W, it is a separate piece secured by the timing cover mount bolts. If he has a similar arrangement, I likewise doubt the fasteners were relocated.

 

I haven't ordered it yet. As far as I can tell from my research the biggest differences between the covers is whether they have a oil dipstick tube in the timing cover which was more for cars with the 351w. Crankcase shaft sensor hole. And the reverse water pump with serpentines belts that was on the later years of the 351w in the 90s. It doesn't seem to be differences in the alignment dowels or the timing pointer bolting location from what I determine. I'm not opposed to having the mechanical fuel pump opening just wanting to try to eliminate leak points if possible.

All good points. Definitely good to try to do as much troubleshooting on the bench as possible.

 

When I put a earlier timing cover with the fuel pump opening, on a later fuel injected block, I had to drill the older timing cover out. The later block had very large dowel pins and the cover would not fit. I simply took a 1/2's drill and drilled them out, but not sure what would be required to go the other way.

 

My 351W has the timing pointer as a separate piece as well.

I know that some early 351W had smaller dowel pins for the cover. I'm not sure what the cut off is for what is considered early. I pulled the year from the engine at its a 83 so I'm not sure if that qualifies as early. If the newer cover has the bigger dowel holes then the dowels wouldn't be providing any alignment. But Ford also use to not use the dowels on 289 so I'm not sure if theres a huge risk to not having them/using them.

 

Ford quit using dowels on several engines, and then more and more as the newer engines came out. It is a real hassle, you need a special tool to align the cover so the front seal is concentric with the harmonic balancer. Otherwise you get a oil leak. Ford and the other OEM's get cheaper and cheaper in building their engines.