Oh my, how life gets. Often times we find ourselves focusing on different matters each day.

These past few months I have been back in a truck and driving, well I stacked up some hometime and I took a few weeks off. Saturday I was able to attend an event for a freind of mine in town. That evening I recruited the girlfreind to help me pull my donor engine out. I had sold some parts off of it while over the road, with the help of my father, and I have recouped the purchase price of the truck and made some back. So the donor truck is not only providing the 74 a free engine, but also some other needed items to boot!


Here in this picture, you can see the 351W sitting tall in the shop, with the M5R2 right behind it.

Another shot of the same thing.

The lifter valley is clean of debris and sludge, looks pretty normal for a used motor.

The rockers and head look exceptionally clean, very minimal sludge.

Not very much buildup on the inside of this valve cover. You can tell this engine was decently maintained.

Sunday rolled around (yesterday) and i went to praise the lord and had a nice smoked brisket and some macaroni cheese at grandma's. Came back home and recruited my girlfreind and a cousin. Together, the 3 of us got the engine from the 74 and the M5R2 from the 97 truck.



Here is the M5R2 sitting in the shop.

Here you can see my new slave cylinder and throwout bearing. One thing i despise about the M5R2 is that the slave cylinder is built into throwout bearing on the housing. But when youre on a tight budget, you use what youve got. And currently, I have chosen not to spend the time and extra money looking for the AOD I want.

I also found my 302 engine perches with brand new engine mounts that I took off my first truck, a 76 f100, when I did the crown vic suspension swap. That was a very lucky find.


I purchased this new precision clutch for my 97 f150. Turns out, it bolts to the 351W and is an 11 inch clutch. This clutch has not been used at all, so it should be just fine for daily driving and some spirited fun.

I also ordered a new flywheel with the correct balance.

I cant recall if i updated this thread, but I have this intake I bought off marketplace for 120 bucks. I had it sandblasted and it cleaned up really nice. No warping, hardly used. So I saved a few hundred bucks here.


Here it is in my bedroom, taped up to protect it from ambient air.

So clean, it passes for a cool dinner plate!

Intake ports look really good, no signs of gasket matching or home porting.

The water jackets are ever so barely pitted, they look superb.

The engine I pulled out of the 74 turned out to be a 352 from a 65 t bird. As i suspected, and had been told, the original dealer installed 390 PI was robbed. Unfortunate, but its makes me feel less bad about ripping the "390" from a factory H code 390 truck. Plus, the Windsor is lighter, smaller, and stronger with a few basic modifications, plus a better aftermarket support and more options for transmissions in the future.

I also have this Carbuerator that came from a mid 80's truck or Bronco with a 351W. It is a 600 cfm holley 4180. I was worried about a carbuerator, because i didn't want to run a large carbuerator such as a 750, and finding one smaller in my area in decent shape seems to be impossible. Fortunately for me, somebody tried to use this carb on the 352. I will be taking it apart and rebuilding it to use on my engine.



Here is the carbuerator, i beleive it was installed on an automatic truck with an AOD. If true, this will come in handy with the potential AOD swap in the future.

The bottom of the carb is a bit rusty, but nothing I cant clean up. It should still be reusable.

The Data tag reads "E5TE ZA A 5C4"

I also found factory cam specs for the 351, and found that the cam was ground 2 degrees retarded. I was worried, because the timing set I have only has adjustments for -4, 0, and +4 cam timing. This will set me with a 114 ICL (factory truck cam is 116 LSA / 118 ICL), plenty of PTV room while still waking up the lower rpm range a little bit more. Basically, 2 degrees advanced cam timing, which is where I wanted to aim it at.


Here is my unused comp cams magnum double roller timing set. The adjustments are in the crank gear. I am still going to use a degree wheel to verify true ICL, but PTV shouldnt be a huge issue with the stock truck cam still installed.

As far as life goes, i will be back on the road in a few weeks. Until then, i am riding on built up cash and vacation time to keep the bills paid and fund this project.

Now, I have to figure out the transmission crossmember and driveshaft, as well as an ignition system and it should be able to move under its own power for the first time in about 30 years. Once the brakes are rebuilt, and all the fluids are checked, a new radiator, and make sure the old wiring doesnt turn the truck into a candle, she should be a decent runner to just get around in for a little while. Eventually I'm going to fix A/C and heat, and then work out any other kinks such as suspension, or any issues that arise, and hopefully by the end of the year she will be up to a couple hundred miles road trip through the mountains. If I can complete it soon enough, get some carpet and sound deadening in and get new seals in the windows by September, I may even make a push up to rod run. Although I would prefer an AOD in pigeon forge traffic. I would also prefer it because I know if the wimpy M5R2 let's out at any point, it will probably be due to the driver error most call "showing off". The only question now is "what will the point of failure be?".

Thats all for today. Tomorrow I'm going to get it on an engine stand and get some gaskets ordered to reseal the bottom end. Oil pan, valve covers, front and rear main seal gaskets for now, and i may even go ahead and order some long tube headers so that they are ready. If I have time, I am going to tear the carb apart tomorrow and let it soak in a bucket of carb cleaner overnight, but I do have some errands to run so that may end up not happening.

Look for another update by the end of this week, if I havent posted one by lunchtime friday, then the project has gone south, or my youthful memory has failed me.

Should also mention, I have revised my plan for potentially CV swapping this truck. After some consideration, I will be keeping this truck with the I beam setup. It rides very smooth, and its durable. I plan to tow some with this truck, not a whole lot but I want to be able to hook up to my pontoon and take it to the lake, or haul an engine and transmission in the bed for another future project without bottoming out the suspension. Likely, I will end up running the djm 3/6 drop, which consists of drop beams up front, and a flip kit out back. I have found that the older springs in this truck have some sag, and I am hoping that the reduced nose weight with my drivetrain swap will set my camber in a correct position. If not, I will replace the front springs with some springs designed for the lighter small block, as well as some heavier duty F150 springs for the rear, which should help out with towing while also maintaining the smooth ride these half tons were known for.

 

Also need to stop and update here.

Total project cost:
74: Free
Donor truck: $1200
​​​​​​Parts sold from donor truck: -$1850
Intake Manifold: -$120
Transmission: Free
Clutch: Free
Flywheel: $75
Intake gaskets: $20
carb: free
Carb rebuild kit: Traded EFI crap for the kit
engine perches: Free
motor mounts: Free
Trans crossmember: Free
clutch hudraulics: Free

Total project cost: -$435

Yes, right now technically I have pocketed 435 bucks. If you want to get technical, I havent, because the transmission and clutch stuff came from a truck that I lost 2 grand in. But I'm not counting it, because that would snowball into every single project and how much money I've lost on them all. I dont even want to imagine that number.

 

awesome

 

hey, nice to see you pop back in on my build thread! I remember you said something in here a few months ago but I'm having a hard time loading the previous replies to my thread.

 

An early update:

The carb kit didn't come in at the parts store today. Oh well

I went ahead and took the liberty to pick the engine up with my tractor and put it on the engine stand.


This boom was custom made by my grandfather back in the day just for this sort of work. This is my dads tractor, a 38 horse kubota. Its very stout, I even used the bucket to lift the entire front end of my 97 in order to remove the transmission.

Here is another angle I pictured.

I also went ahead and mocked the intake and carb on the engine.

Heres the engine on the stand.

That edlebrock intake looks beautiful compared to the greasy valve covers.

The holley 4180 fits like a glove, and it will pair nicely with this mild 351W.

I also popped the oil pan off to check the condition of the rotating assembly. The pan looks good, but i noticed a missing bolt. Also, all the bolts installed had 2 washers on them, which leads me to beleive this engine has been apart at some point, or atleast it was resealed. Also missing were 3 UIM bolts, and the valve cover bolts were loose too. It seems the previous owner did their best to take care of the engine before they wrecked it.


Here is the inside of the pan.

This is a close up of the rear sump. Not alot of sludge there at all, and the plug is clearly visible.

The rotating assembly looks great. No buildup, nothing stuck in the pickup tube screen.

Now with the engine being this clean, I suspected that this was a reman engine of some sort potentially. But I found the OE part number on the oil pump, so I am led to beleive this is the original engine to the 96, either well taken care of or rebuilt at some point. But I do not beleive its a reman. Usually, reman engine companies, such as Jasper will use the cheapest shelf parts available in order to increase profit margins per engine.


Pictured here is the stamped part number in the oil pump. It reads "D9AE-6604-AA"

Currently, I am searching for the block and head casting numbers. I am going to head to town in a little bit, in order to degrease and clean the oil pan and valve covers. Once the oil pan and valve covers are back on, I will degrease the block and heads here in the shop.

So far its coming along nicely, peice by peice. Im excited to see the old girl driving once again.

 

Also forgot to mention.

I separated the driveshaft yoke from the shaft today. The 97 shaft measures pretty close to the shaft that I beleive I need for the 74, so likely I will drop the engine and transmission in, and send the truck off to the driveshaft shop in order to properly size it. The aluminum shaft is very beefy and stout. I have not ever modified a driveshaft before, and I do not plan on messing it up any time soon. It is a budget build, but there are some things that you just dont cheap on. For me, my list includes gaskets, suspension and brake parts, tires, and driveline parts. Im also likely going to have to replace the yoke, because the NVH damper has a very rotted seal. Although, some basic research tells me that cutting it off and getting the shaft balanced with the yoke does absolutely fine. Im going to consult some professionals, so if there are any driveshaft guys in here, I appreciate input.


The rubber bonding ring is dry rotted

Even worse here. I dont want to travel too far like this and risk tearing up a tailhousing or driveshaft

The yoke itself looked good

The shaft is about 75 inches excluding the loops for the u joint.

Here is my beefy shaft

Or if anybody has a long bed 2wd at roughly stock height, if you could tell me your overall driveshaft length measured inside the caps, that would be great! I dont have a driveshaft from a 2wd truck. I would imagine any 3 speed auto will be similar in the length I need to connect the rear end up into the 5 speed manual.

 

One more update before I go to sleep this morning.

I pulled the manifolds, acessories, and timing cover from this engine. Everything looked clean and in order, so i took the time to install my new timing set. The old one had a little play in it, nothing major about half to three quarter inch.

The new set I am installing will advance the cam 4 degrees, which will give me a 116 ICL since the cam is ground with 2 degrees retard in it factory.


I started verifying cam timing by laying the original timing set down with the dots aligned, as if it were installed.

Then, I laid the new timing set over it and lined it up perfectly, in the straight up position. Here you can see the teeth match perfectly.

Here you can see all the links match. Time to advance it! The small block ford rotates clockwise, so the cam gear should appear to be further clockwise relative to the crank gear.

Here I advanced the timing set, lining up the cam gears first.

I then checked to verify the cam teeth line up. I then centered both crank gears to verify that the keyway was behind the original.

I then lined the keyways up on the new set.

And the cam gear has advanced further clockwise.

Here is the engine, sitting a little naked right now.

Im going to stick the timing set on, clean up shop and head home. Later today when I awake I will go pick up my car kit, disassemble and rebuild it. Then, I will clean up the oil pan, valve cover, timing cover, water pump, and any other surfaces that need to be cleaned in order to make a proper seal to the gaskets, which I will be ordering later from rock auto. For this build, I have chosen Fel-Pro gaskets, the same as many in the past.

 

Well today was shop cleanup day. After organizing the proverbial bomb explosion, I decided to tackle the carbuerator.

The kit came in today, I had my dad pick it up on his way home from town. I took the bowls off, and found that the carbuerator has been resealed at some point with a new power valve, needles and seats, floats, etc.


Here are some of the parts I removed.


And then it all cane crashing down, thanks to emissions.

I wont really have to explain this to the older guys here that wrenched on cars back in the day. But some of the younger guys in here may not know this. So here I will learn ya something.

Back in the day, when emissions and smog were a huge deal and out engines were neutered, uncle sam and the EPA decided that they didnt want us improving the factory performance of our cars, in turn increasing emissions. So alot of the 80's factory carbuerators had rivets holding various adjustment items in place, and aluminum plugs covering mixture screws and such.

Well, in my particular case, ford and holley decided together that they REALLY didnt want you to mess with your car, and they pressed in HARDENED STEEL PLUGS over the mixture screws.


Pictured here are the hardened steel plugs, over the mixture screws. Unlike a 4160, which has the mixture screws in the metering block, the 4180 has them in the base plate.


Why is this such a big deal? Well, a regular HSS drill bit will get eaten alive 10 times before it scratches the surface. The holley book reccomends you to drill a 3/32" pilot hole so that you can use an EZ-out to extract the plug, revealing the Allen head mixture screws adjustment. So you need a carbide bit, low speed, and decent pressure to drill the plug for removal.

Well, you probably skipped over all of that and are about to ask me "why dont you just buy an aftermarket carbuerator?" And to that I tell you that I am broke. Well, I'm not broke. But I am very budget constrained, to the point 200 dollars will go a long way here. So if I can help from buying somebody's f'ed up quick fuel off marketplace for 100 bucks, then by God I'm going to save that money for something else.

Fortunately, my father works at a place that has a machine shop, so I will be sending the base plate with him tomorrow to drill and extract the plugs, since I do not have a small carbide bit in my shop.

however, I do have an ultrasonic cleaner that I am using to clean the other parts of the carbuerator tonight.



Here she sits in the ultrasonic cleaner. I will run this side for 40 minutes, flip, and another 40 minutes. Its almost like cooking a ham!

Here in a bit, I am going to re torque my rocker arms, pull a rod and check the thrust bearing, and go from there.

 

Pulled a rod cap to check the bearing. Looks very typical for a used engine, actually a little less wear than I would expect for the mileage.

Here is the rod bearing. I dont see any major hot spots or odd wear, just some very small speckles and very very light scratches i can hardly feel with my fingernail.

Here is the top rod bearing. It honesyly feels smoother and looks better than the lower bearing from what I can tell.

And here is the crank journal. No grooves at all and it measures in above minimum spec.

This is an original ford bearing, verifying 100% that this engine is not a reman as I had started to suspect yesterday.

I will update once I check the thrust bearing

The plans are to put it back together as is. Again, budget is tight. I just want to check the engine out so I can sort of gauge how long I have with it before she needs a refresh.

A problem I have had in the past with my projects is "while I am here" and then I end up with a truck or car in 1,000 peices for 2 years before I finally junk it or get the motivation to finish it. This truck is not going to get that teardown. This is simply an inspection, because if I start saying "while I am here" eventually I'm going to have a $7,000 motor in a truck worth exactly that.

No typical internet build here today, sorry. Im poor And these decent and normally worn bearings make me happy.

 

Well, I've actually decided against pulling the thrust bearing for 2 reasons. My 2 reasons are 2 measurements I took, which is crank end play and rotating force. I oiled the cylinders and spun the engine for a little bit, and measured 6-8 lbs of rotating force. Which honestly surprised me, I expected 20 - 30 for this old engine. Also, I checked crank end play and it is 0.005" which is very well within spec. At this point, I see no point in digging further into the engine. This will finish my disassembly on the engine. From here out, the whole project is in assembly mode until its moving on its own power again. I feel confident in the bottom end on this donor engine and I would honestly think this engine is closer to 160k miles if I didn't know what the odometer read.

 

About a week later, its been rough.

The machine shop guy messed my carbuerator up. it happens. He drilled through and the bit caught the screw and put it through the base plate.


Yipeeee!

The carbuerator issue is resolved however. I managed to find two holley 4160 600 cfm carbs (one was rebuilt a couple years ago). Got them off marketplace for 120 bucks.


I will be using the one closest to the camera.

Looks pretty clean in here

A better view of the damaged 4180 base plate

my gasket kit also came in today. Front & rear main seal, oil pan gasket, valve cover gaskets, timing kit, and water pump gasket.


Oil pan is ready to go on!

Pickup tube looks clean. Forgot to check this earlier.

New fel pro gaskets for the timing cover and water pump

Couldnt roll the engine over all the wag unfortunately.

This picture was from earlier

Camshaft looks normal. You can see the cylinders still have lots of cross hatching left. The pistons also have the ribs still on the sides, a good indicator that this engine doesnt have much piston slap.

im going to replace the bolts in the engine stand one by one tomorrow, so that i can finish rolling the engine over in order to install the pan. I also need to buy a cbuild bolts as this engine had 2 missing oil pan bolts, and I have managed to lose one of the large pan bolts as well.

thats all for tonight.

 

looking good!