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I got myself a newer motor for my 87 F-150. I'm going to swap in a newly rebuilt 351 for my blown up motor thats in the truck right now. I have a few questions though.
Everything seems to be exactly the same on both motors. I have pulled the blown up motor yet to make sure but from a quick eye ball check, it all looks the same except one difference. The spark plugs are pointed toward the rear on the 87 but toward the front on the 83 rebuilt motor. Does this signify anything?
Where do I find the casting numbers on the donor motor to check the specs? I found what the numbers mean but not where they are located.
Obviously, the older rebuilt motor doesn't have any emissions control crap that the blown up motor has. Can I just switch all that from the blown up motor to the older motor and run the newer computer with the older motor or would I just be better off to leave it off?
My crazy dad thinks there might have been some differences internally that might cause me problems if I just swapped all the emissions stuff over to the 79 motor.
> there might have been some differences internally that might cause me problems
Generally speaking on Fords.
If there were it would be in the intake manifolds and heads relating to the EGR passages. On the older motors the EGR passage goes through a carb adapter plate, which feeds into the carb at the base and is open to the intake manifold underneath.
On the Ford EFI manifolds you can find the passages in the heads themselves.
Well, my blown up motor is not EFI even though it says so on the front of the truck. I guess I'll have to pull it and look more closely to see if they're the same.
Everything will swap right over. Spark plug angle? both are the same, they point backward on the driver's side head, frontwards on the passenger side head. Same heads, they're interchangeable from side to side. Your 87's heads should be E7TE's, they're better than a 79's heads. EGR ? The 87 either draws from the passenger side exhaust manifold or the intake, not sure which on that one. Dewfinately not from the heads. Those passages are the thermactor air injection passages and run the length of the head and each exhaust port has a drilled opening into it.
My 87 motor lost all coolant and shut itself off. I haven't pulled it apart to see how bad it is, but I picked up this rebuilt motor really cheap. I guess I could pull the 87 motor, then check the heads and swap them to the 79 block. I just don't know what would be the best setup on my little budget and the least amount of work.
The head swap willl net you some gains. The 79 motor should have 70 cc combustion chambers, the 87 should have E7TE's with 64 cc chambers. Plus the E7's flow better than the 79's. Hog out the exhaust's on the E7's and you'll see even more. At least take a die grinder and remove the Thermactor bumps in the exhaust ports.