engine rebuild
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New User
Joined: Aug 2007
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engine rebuild
I am looking for advice. I came across this site and thought maybe someone would be able to help. I bought a 95 F150 4x4 5.0 5 speed a couple of months ago as a farm truck. It has 178,000 miles. It has a bad oil leak somewhere at the back of the engine. About quart per week. It also smokes when pulling a load. I was thinking about doing an rebuild myself. I have done trans swaps and replace clutchs before. I always do the simple manintance jobs: Oil changes, brakes, etc... I am trying to decide if I want to rebuild this engine myself. I have never done a engine swap or rebuild an engine before. I am afraid I will get in over my head. There is local machine shop that has been in business for 15+ years to do the machine work, if needed. I can also go and ask questions if I run into bad situation. What I am looking for from experinced people is how big of a deal this was for their first time rebuilding an engine. Any advice will be great. Sorry for any misspelling.
Senior User
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 201
Likes: 0
From: Central California
Take it slow, and get yourself a Haynes manual (about $18 at the auto-parts stores that carry them--I got one at AutoZone today). A Chilton's will work if you can't find a Haynes; I strongly prefer the Haynes.
If it's losing about a quart of oil per week, don't drive it unless and until you get the engine rebuilt. Not sure about the smoke while pulling a load--what color is the smoke? My '63 Falcon blew black smoke all the time until I got the heads re-worked. It had bad valve guides or seals if I remember right.
Engine rebuilding is well within the ability of a competent do-it-yourselfer. Just expect it to be a while if it's your first time. Ask questions when you need to, and do it once and do it right.
Good luck with it!
If it's losing about a quart of oil per week, don't drive it unless and until you get the engine rebuilt. Not sure about the smoke while pulling a load--what color is the smoke? My '63 Falcon blew black smoke all the time until I got the heads re-worked. It had bad valve guides or seals if I remember right.
Engine rebuilding is well within the ability of a competent do-it-yourselfer. Just expect it to be a while if it's your first time. Ask questions when you need to, and do it once and do it right.
Good luck with it!
Junior User
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 91
Likes: 0
From: new south wales aust
i,m with navy jet on this one,its a big job first time,but if ya take it slow an easy follow the manuals,dont take shortcuts and above all make sure everything is clean and anybody can do it
Senior User
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 388
Likes: 0
From: CANADA
these trucks are notorious for oil pan leaks and a pain in the *** to fix. But you wont have a problem because you want to pull the engine anyway. Agree with getting the haynes. shouldnt be a problem for the backyard mechanic with decent tool selection. A roll of masking tape and a feltpen can be handy for marking vacume lines and electrical to ease reassembly. A roll of mechanics wire can be handy as well to tie things out of the way. Generally, black smoke is fuel, blue is oil, and white is coolant. Recomend you buy quality gaskets too, like Felpro. these forums are fantastic help, many knowlegable people. No need to worry about spelling here either.
Postmaster
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 2,908
Likes: 2
From: West Mansfield, Ohio
Welcome to the forum! If you have the right tools and resources, you can do this with no problem. You're going to need to consider a few weeks of your time, and money of course. The amount of money you spend depends on what all you want done, and how "right" you want it to be.
It sounds to me at this point that you could probably easily get away with new piston rings, valve stem seals, and gaskets. The smoke (assuming it's blue oil smoke) is usually caused by piston rings or valve stem seals, so that would take care of the smoke. The oil leak of course could be fixed with gaskets and seals.
But here is my advice. I rebuilt my 95 351 with 219,000 miles on it. To be honest, I didn't do as much as I wish I would have done now. But I was in a hurry and money was a small issue at the time. I pulled my engine, and all I did with the heads was the valve stem seals. If I were you, I would definately have new valves installed by a machine shop with new valve springs of course. I didn't do anything with the heads, and it's still a turd (haha).
As far as the cam, I'm not sure how good the 302 cam is. If it's anything like a 351 cam, it is actually a really good cam for a truck, which is suprising being factory. But, seeing how you have MAF, you could go with whatever cam and lifters you wanted, and the MAF will adjust. I would suggest upgrading the cam with something that suits your needs. If you do a lot of towing, you are going to want a cam that works best from idle-3000 or 3500 RPM's. Otherwise, whatever you plan on doing with the truck depends on what cam you get. You could get one with just a little higher lift for improved airflow, and still keep the same powerband. But that's your decision...
In terms of the crank, I would definitely check the rod and main journals for wear. Chances are it probably has a little wear with that many miles. I didn't have anything done to the crank, and just installed new factory bearings. This was my biggest regret. It carries decent oil pressure, but not enough for my liking. It carries around 18-20 at idle, and 38-40 at 3000 RPM. It doesn't go any higher as RPM's gain, so that's usually why I keep it down below 3 grand. But my suggestion here is to have the crank sent off and polished. If it needs turned, have it turned. The machine shop that turns it will usually supply you with undersized bearings, or at least give you information on the bearings you need.
Now the pistons and rods are again your decision. I reused my pistons/rods. I had no problems with the rod catching on the wrist pin at all, and everything was free moving, so I left the pistons attatched to the rods. The only thing I did here is install new piston rings and of course the rod bearings I kept stock, which again I regret.
Now all that's left is the block. The oil pump you can replace, but that's your decision. I would suggest checking the clearences inside the pump to see if it's still good. If you don't want to screw with it, then spend the 25 or 30 bucks and get a new one. You will want to chech the cylinder bore to see if you need it bored and oversized piston rings. Hopefully you get as lucky as I did. Like I said earlier, my engine had 219,000 miles on it when I pulled it. The cylinder bore for our engines is 4.00 inches. I believe the maximum bore allowed with stock rings was 4.038 (4 and 38 thousandths of an inch.) The biggest cylinder I had was 4.012. I could still see the factory hone marks. If you're going to measure everything yourself, you will need telescoping gauges that go from 3.5-4.5 inches, and a micrometer that will read above 4 inches. When you check each cylinder, you will want to measure the bottom of the cylinder, checking at least two positions (+) for instance. You may want to check them at 3 points (*) to make sure it's not out-of-round. Do this at the bottom, middle, and top of each cylinder. If you have anything that comes out to being close to 4.038, then send it away to have it machined, and probably bored .030 over. But if you send everything to a machine shop (block, crank, and rods,) then you won't have to worry about measuring anything.
If you need anything be sure to come here first! Someone will be here to help!
It sounds to me at this point that you could probably easily get away with new piston rings, valve stem seals, and gaskets. The smoke (assuming it's blue oil smoke) is usually caused by piston rings or valve stem seals, so that would take care of the smoke. The oil leak of course could be fixed with gaskets and seals.
But here is my advice. I rebuilt my 95 351 with 219,000 miles on it. To be honest, I didn't do as much as I wish I would have done now. But I was in a hurry and money was a small issue at the time. I pulled my engine, and all I did with the heads was the valve stem seals. If I were you, I would definately have new valves installed by a machine shop with new valve springs of course. I didn't do anything with the heads, and it's still a turd (haha).
As far as the cam, I'm not sure how good the 302 cam is. If it's anything like a 351 cam, it is actually a really good cam for a truck, which is suprising being factory. But, seeing how you have MAF, you could go with whatever cam and lifters you wanted, and the MAF will adjust. I would suggest upgrading the cam with something that suits your needs. If you do a lot of towing, you are going to want a cam that works best from idle-3000 or 3500 RPM's. Otherwise, whatever you plan on doing with the truck depends on what cam you get. You could get one with just a little higher lift for improved airflow, and still keep the same powerband. But that's your decision...
In terms of the crank, I would definitely check the rod and main journals for wear. Chances are it probably has a little wear with that many miles. I didn't have anything done to the crank, and just installed new factory bearings. This was my biggest regret. It carries decent oil pressure, but not enough for my liking. It carries around 18-20 at idle, and 38-40 at 3000 RPM. It doesn't go any higher as RPM's gain, so that's usually why I keep it down below 3 grand. But my suggestion here is to have the crank sent off and polished. If it needs turned, have it turned. The machine shop that turns it will usually supply you with undersized bearings, or at least give you information on the bearings you need.
Now the pistons and rods are again your decision. I reused my pistons/rods. I had no problems with the rod catching on the wrist pin at all, and everything was free moving, so I left the pistons attatched to the rods. The only thing I did here is install new piston rings and of course the rod bearings I kept stock, which again I regret.
Now all that's left is the block. The oil pump you can replace, but that's your decision. I would suggest checking the clearences inside the pump to see if it's still good. If you don't want to screw with it, then spend the 25 or 30 bucks and get a new one. You will want to chech the cylinder bore to see if you need it bored and oversized piston rings. Hopefully you get as lucky as I did. Like I said earlier, my engine had 219,000 miles on it when I pulled it. The cylinder bore for our engines is 4.00 inches. I believe the maximum bore allowed with stock rings was 4.038 (4 and 38 thousandths of an inch.) The biggest cylinder I had was 4.012. I could still see the factory hone marks. If you're going to measure everything yourself, you will need telescoping gauges that go from 3.5-4.5 inches, and a micrometer that will read above 4 inches. When you check each cylinder, you will want to measure the bottom of the cylinder, checking at least two positions (+) for instance. You may want to check them at 3 points (*) to make sure it's not out-of-round. Do this at the bottom, middle, and top of each cylinder. If you have anything that comes out to being close to 4.038, then send it away to have it machined, and probably bored .030 over. But if you send everything to a machine shop (block, crank, and rods,) then you won't have to worry about measuring anything.
If you need anything be sure to come here first! Someone will be here to help!
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,806
Likes: 246
From: Piney Woods of East Texas
Glad to see you jumping into something more challenging. It's not as bad as other may say. Just get your self a good shop manual. Hayes and Shelton have specific manuals for certain popular engines. If your planing on modifying it, cam, lifters, ... you need to do special things during machining, so let the shop know and supply them with need parts for them to do their work correctly.
For the first build I would hunt a round and find a good machine shop to do heads, block, crank, and pistons for you. A good shop will clean up the block then check every thing out like cylinder wear, roundness, valve guides, replacement not knerling. They will also check the crank for wear, rods, crank, heads magna-fluxed..... Then do the need machining and tell you what size journal bearings you will need. Then all you have to do is assemble the pieces. You will need plastigage to check clearances, and assemble. I would recommend the use of engine stand, makes it a lot easier.
You will need the use of special tools in order to assemble an engine correctly. Most can be rented, from some parts house. I would recommend buying a torque wrenchs, you never know if someone dropped it knocking it out of calibration. I would even price a short block if going back stock.
If you have questions Always Ask, don't guess when it comes to engine building, it could be an expensive decision.
Good luck in your new adventure.
Most that have some mechanical ability like doing it. You indicate that you do not mind getting your hands dirty, so you must have some.
For the first build I would hunt a round and find a good machine shop to do heads, block, crank, and pistons for you. A good shop will clean up the block then check every thing out like cylinder wear, roundness, valve guides, replacement not knerling. They will also check the crank for wear, rods, crank, heads magna-fluxed..... Then do the need machining and tell you what size journal bearings you will need. Then all you have to do is assemble the pieces. You will need plastigage to check clearances, and assemble. I would recommend the use of engine stand, makes it a lot easier.
You will need the use of special tools in order to assemble an engine correctly. Most can be rented, from some parts house. I would recommend buying a torque wrenchs, you never know if someone dropped it knocking it out of calibration. I would even price a short block if going back stock.
If you have questions Always Ask, don't guess when it comes to engine building, it could be an expensive decision.
Good luck in your new adventure.
Most that have some mechanical ability like doing it. You indicate that you do not mind getting your hands dirty, so you must have some.
