Howdy! If this is the wrong place, please advise me.

The long and short is I have a very skilled brother-in-law who for reasons ended up working on a friends vehicle that had its engine and transmission swapped by a different mechanic who got in way over his head and swapped it with a engine that while similar isn't the exact one that belongs in the truck [which causes its own problems but its currently a farm vehicle so w/e]. To complicate that particular statement, there is a 60% plus chance that said donor engine was actually pulled from a different vehicle prior, meaning that the engine in the truck might have been pulled from a junker that had its engine pulled from another junker. [This is because the engine has junkyard numbers from a unknown junkyard, and the prior mechanic advised that the numbers were already there from the donor vehicle.]


He wants to replace the spark plugs, distributor cap, rotor, and sparkplug wires. He super busy and I want to make this easier on him by buying the items ahead of time for him so its ready. The owner, and myself are unsure of the engine make and while my brother-in-law has a hunch, isn't 100%. I am told there are casting numbers written on the engine, and would like to retrieve said numbers so I can 100% identify the engine---It is still currently inside the truck. Its slathered in grease due to a different problem, and this isn't my skill set so I am seeking help in being able to identify the engine either by being told where the casting number could be located by a noob such as myself, or via whatever magical means you wonderful people have. There are lots of youtube videos but nearly all of them have the engine out of the frame and Im having a hard time visualizing.

I am sure my brother in law could identify it, but his knees are bad and he's so busy--Its my understanding that casting numbers can often be located while under a vehicle--I'm trying to take a lil work off his plate (He wasn't even supposed to volunteer his services, twas just to advise!) and maybe save his knees a bit of pain.


The body frame is a 1994 truck, all 3 parties are [mostly] confident its a 4.9 liter, and likely from another Ford series truck. I personally feel like its a 1987-1991 engine and likely a ?300? series but have no way to confirm. The prior owner isn't sure at all what may be in the truck. Original mechanic doesn't have a vague guess at all. Brother in law doesn't want to commit until he confirms information.

Regardless of the answer, thanks for your time.

Pictures can be found here: https://imgur.com/a/stIAdUy They were taken by my nephew, as I am off site atm.

 

Yeah, a few pictures would help tremendously.

 

One of the least changed Ford truck engines is a 300/4.9

Does it have it's fuel injection intact?

Have split 3-1 exhaust manifolds?

Pull a plug & cross reference it & see if it matches what the emissions label under the hood says it should use.

I'd do a compression check before I got to far into it or worry about year.

 

Added imgur link for pictures to original post--Sorry, was offsite at the time I posted this.

 

4.9L inline six aka The 300. It ever so slightly changed in the late years, nothing worth noting. 1987 first year of EFI. Any idea how long it sat? Injectors can and do seize. Appears to be decently swapped.

You need to add a fan shroud to your order and some new battery cables. Those quick repair terminals are good for a temp, quick repair. SMP makes nice cables for low cost over on Rockauto

Why was it swapped to begin with and does it even run?

 

6 months or so. It was swapped because the prior owner had a problem with the transmission, and the mechanic offered to swap him to a engine with 100,000 less miles to it while swapping the transmission for 1000 dollars more including labor than just the transmission swap. (I think Job cost was roughly 2000 vs 3000 including parts)

 

Yikes, sounds like an entire can of worms opened.

So the truck is in-op currently?

 

Def was before, semi in-op now. Can move, but has a hard time with it currently.

We did some simple stuff with it already. Original goal was to fix the serpentine belts constantly being eaten up or flopping off. Transmission fluid was low, filled that up and added lucas additive. No coolant, resolved that and the cause--Lil concerned but not too much. Power Steering pump pully was misaligned and leaking like a sieve, thats...Mostly resolved. Pump is operable and doesn't leak anymore (Hose and Gaskets) but prob will need replacing soon. Replaced bracket holding the pump with the other motor's bracket and that allowed the pully on the pump to be put in a position where it could be aligned, solving the alignment issue[Before replacing the bracket, the pump was forced far too forward]. AC pully was in the same state but opposite direction from my limited understanding, replacing the bracket with the one going to the old engine resolved. It runs with black smoke, prob rings worn down so its burning some oil--not confirmed though yet. Spark plugs are fouled, but twas unsure if he pulled sparks from the prior engine or used the ones that belonged to this engine--Suspect the former but will be able to confirm now that we I have a year number. Im not good enough to identify, but I think my brother in law said the Distributer cap had a crack in it. Gonna replace the cables while we are at it.


Vehicle starts fine but at any decent RPM it starts to misfire. Hoping the spark/cable/cap/rotor + a lil injector cleaner additive might make for a fix on that front.


Curious--Im learning from him, and hoping to learn from you--How did you identify the motor as a 1987--If you don't mind me asking that is....



And YES, this has been a royal pain in the butt for what was expected....

 

Black smoke is unburned fuel. Check fuel pressure then look at injectors potentially stuck open to begin with. Does it have an O2 sensor, if so is it good? If not, the ECU will read open loop and pour in fuel. CTS could be **** also. Really sounds like the 'mechanic' just swapped in some unknown driveline and overcharged someone in the end. What transmission is behind it? 20 bolt is the E4OD which most all 4.9 had unless it was a manual, I THINK some out there with a C6 and EFI but rare...that is a 17 bolt pan. An AOD will bolt to it and that is a 14 bolt pan.

Need to check the base timing. I would pull No 1 plug, pop in a welding rod to find true TDC (look down oil filler hole to see both No 1 rockers shut), then check distributor base setting. These should be 10*, but you must remove this plug called the SPOUT. Easy would be rotate crank CCW to 10*, then stab dizzy at No 1. Tighten down.

1987 received fuel injection, 1986 and older were carb motors still with the 300/4.9. Cannot tell you the year of the long block, sorry. There might be some casting number, but beyond my knowledge.