I don't know if it's normal to see the bolt head indents on the torque convertor, but I have also seen it. However it wasn't from a running vehicle, so I don't know if it caused operational problems.

For your sake I hope you didn't bust the front pump gear. If you get it started up and the transmission isn't working, then you probably did. The gear on a C4 is notoriously brittle and many have busted it installing the engine with the torque converter seated wrong.

It looks almost like the flex plate was too shallow, allowing the front of the torque converter to hit the crank bolts. If there was damage, it would be inside the front of the TC.

The last time I installed a torque converter, it had 4 distinct engagement steps on the intake shaft (4 speed OD). When it was fully seated, its slop would just scrape the bell housing, but once it's bolted to the flex plate, it would line up properly.

I'll also note that I was able to use just my fingers to join the transmission (on rolling jack) to the engine; there should be no excessive force required. If there were excessive resistance, something is not lined up correctly, and forcing it will damage parts.

Yea, it's happened before. I'm guilty of that on one count.

Times 2 on all this. You could be onto something with the wrong flexplate.

What year 5.0 is that you're tearing down ? The 94-97 pickup/van and Explorer cam will give you what you want.

I cant believe no one has mentioned, but your power goal and whole lot more is going to be cheap and easy to get to. Go grab heads off a 97-01 explorer / mountaineer, and intake manifold off a 96-98? ex / mountaineer. The earlier one is a little bit better, mostly just a better designed casting with thicker ears. The heads alone are 30-40hp over the E7TE's you have on there, intake is another 10-15 probably. The truck cam is pretty decent, but would benefit from 1.7 roller rockers, or you can just get something like a TFS stage 1 cam. With the RR or cam and that top end, you should be close to 275rwhp. I picked up my GT40p heads for $62 at the junkyard. The caveat to the P heads is you will need to buy springs, but you can find cheap ones here, im going to run them on my P heads, lots of fox guys use them.

The holes for the spider are 1/4-20. Comp cams has instructions on how to prepare the block:

Drill a 13/64" hole exactly 3/8" deep.
Use a 1/4-20 taper tap to start cutting the threads into the hole
Then use a 1/4-20 bottoming tap to complete the threads

They also tell you to cover the oil drain holes to prevent drilling debris from falling in. But since you're going to clean out the block anyway, that may not matter as much.

They sell a spider and retainer kit for the roller blocks that did not come prepped for rollers CCA-31-1001. You can probably find these parts in your local junkyard,

Sorry, I left out the first part of the instructions, which was to install the lifters and the dog bones, and then place the spider on them to locate the bolt holes for drilling.

I mentioned the GT40 & GT40P heads in post 27. Don't forget the different headers for the P's.

It's called the F4TE cam. Was used in all pickup/van 5.0's from 94 -96, All Explorer/Mountaineer 5.0's and the roller 351W from 94-97 . Specs are 256/266 advertised duration, .422/.445 lift with 1.6 rockers, 116* LSA. 1.7 rockers increases the lift by .030. Full roller 1.7 rockers netted the 5.0 Cobra engines 15 HP. The stock HO roller is just a step above this one in specs. The Cobra 5.0 cam also works well and similar in specs to these two.

If you are, at least do this: get a set of porting bits and take a die grinder or drill and remove the Thermactor bumps from the exhaust port roofs, if you're getting the heads reworked, also take a header gasket to use as a template and open the walls and port roofs to match the gasket, blending this down into the port. This takes about an hour to do all eight ports and really improves the flow.

Head gasket ? FelPro #9333. I used these on my aluminum headed 331. They sealed for 12 years with all the expansion/contraction you get with aluminum heads on an iron block. I liberally spray them with copper kote before installing them.

You can find them all over the internet, not as cheap perhaps. Especially as you have the engine apart now, i would strongly consider them. E7TE heads are boat anchors, some of the worst castings there were for the small blocks. However, at the end of the day, its your engine and your budget, im just passin along the information.

Look at this way. A stock HO 5.0 makes 225-235 HP with E7 heads & a mild cam with crinkled up stock headers.

Here's my 5.8 build & parts list that I did for right at 3K with me & chapter member turning all the wrenches from crank out & minimal machine work. ( Intake mod not needed for you)

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post16937337

The 512 Comp cam is listed by them to be the most cam for a stock 5.0/speed density truck & is only mildly more aggressive than my stock 5.8 cam.

What's the back story on this truck? Who did the EFI swap?

Those witness marks on the TC are worrisome.

Was there a block plate between trans/engine?

Got it, missed it before.

You can safely get 300 hp by the stock computer & the GT40 heads aren't going to push you past that.

I see you've never actually run a set of ported E7's. They were actually better than the early 351W heads, right outta the box.

I was aware that the E7TE heads were considered much better than the late 70s to mid 80s heads (D8OE etc.) but are they actually as good as, or better than the C9OE heads? They do have the advantage of hardened seats, and pedestal rocker arms.

Well maybe not right outta the box, but Ford did send a set to Jack Roush to have worked and the flowed better than the late 60's GT40 race heads. They used these as a template for designing the new iron GT40 heads.(late 80's) I've run a set of home ported E7's and they worked just as well as the GT40 heads I have on my 96 E150 van. Never dynoed them on the roller 5.0 they were on but with a B303 cam and 1.7 rockers, they pulled up to around 6500. They're hardly "boat anchors"

Now are you comparing ported E7's to ported GT40's? Or are you comparing ported E7's to stock GT40's? Comparing a ported head to a non ported one is like comparing apples to oranges. If a person is on a budget porting the stock heads is the way to go. But if there is a little more budget starting with a better pair of heads is the way to go. You will always see bigger gains starting with better heads. I'm doing it both ways. I'm porting my stock heads on my 96 351W and I'm porting a set of GT40's for my 89 351W. No matter what heads you are using they can always be improved with some porting.

Nice truck!

It's usually easier to paint the parts when they're apart, as you can get at them from all angles for a more thorough coverage. Have them paint the block before installing new brass freeze plugs, so they really stand out, if you care about this little detail.

When I had my heads rebuilt, I also had them remove the AIR bumps, but the tech who did it took so long that they charged so much for that little mod that even the head machinist said I probably could have gotten better aftermarket heads. And I ended up with stock heads that just had the bumps removed. So it depends on who does the work.