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Home-Springfield, MO
I'll lay out the story, but will say that while I am not afraid to ask a question and take a hit over the stupidity of it (I get to learn, that is a win regardless), I am not so much a grand stander and even sometimes lack some documentation as the work flow can get ahead of the documentation of the work and in the end, I will default to the work as being more important, thus not being good at posting process. I will be asking from time to time for direction and opinions, in the end, I usually do it my way. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it only works out that I learn and gain knowledge. I had only made the original post as I had received an email suggesting that I should as new member introduction.
Pretty sure this was the original engine in the truck. Light tapping sounds at highway speeds (2,600 rpm) with warm oil could be heard, even after initial oil change. Could have been rocker, lifter, or rod, but struck me as likely rods. Low oil pressure and high oil consumption. Disassembly also found worn cylinders and valve guides. Having worked at an auto shop in the early 80's where I ran the tear down room and hot tanked the engine parts prior to machine work, I would suspect the truck has at least 200,000 miles on it. Odometer had 5,000 miles showing and seller made no claim as he said he had no idea. I could even believe 300,000 as the clutch ball aluminum receiver was worn out, I mean severely worn. A new one was made using a mill and from 1/2" thick piece of 6061 aluminum. Could not find one anywhere. The thicker one the earlier 351M/302/351W uses I found. Z-bar bushing were beyond worn out and metal bracket on bell housing had stress cracks at various points and had to be welded and reinforced. I also discovered some binding and fitment issues with the aftermarket clutch actuator arm someone had installed during a prior repair. Lots of little tweaks to get the linkage correct.
The front axle pivot bushings, king pin bearings were also shot. The steering box leaked, the power steering pump leaked, door hinge pins on both sides are well worn and various other components also were.
I have generally been around 1/2 ton trucks and when they are worn out, one generally only has to rebuild a trans, an engine, or a rear end, or install a clutch to get more use from it. 1/2 ton trucks are used like cars. I have never owned a "work" truck. I have since learned that a 1 ton would be purchased new only to work with and would be used as much as required to make payments and make profit. I have worked professionally on cars (three years), industrial fork lifts (3 years), and motorcycles, along with doing most of the maintenance on my cars through the years. This truck was/is thoroughly worn out. I mean every piece.... The last guy that owned it was cheap, but I found admiration for how well he was able to wear this thing down to the very last of everything being left, meaning every part was the same distance from end of life. I have never driven a vehicle home that required as much work as this one has. This has been like Vegas, one pays their money and one gets a shot at learning. I am not necessarily a Ford guy, but when talking about 40 year old 1 tons, they are all well used up regardless the brand. I only under estimated the task at hand in the beginning. I was excited about reliving my days of youth when I hauled hay as driving the grunty old manual trans truck brings back fun memories for me.
Other items were front brakes, rotors, all brake lines, booster was sucking brake fluid out of the rear master chamber and into the engine and was rebuilt, new Master cylinder, new brake lines all the way around, rear wheel cylinders (shoes and drums were in very good condition) new park brake cables, new park brake flat pieces that sit at the top of the rear shoes as those had the ears broken off that interacts with the cable arm. Fire wall was cracked around pedal mounts and the parking brake mounts. Weld and reinforce, lower dash support broken multiple pieces, mostly from flex of the parking brake as it attaches at the rear to the lower dash support due to the firewall moving when pedal pushed.... , wiper motor, dim headlights (saw the relay wiring that I need to use last night) replaced the headlight plugs as brass connectors were green, water pump, radiator leaked at both ends so new aluminum three row, alternator died the first week I had it..... Clutch rod from dash down was worn almost all the way through the upper pin and almost all the way through the hole in the rod. I used a straight rod with rod ends to make a new one. Yet I am able to smile in a warped way, as fixing all this, once I accepted where I was on the sliding scale, has been some fun and a bit rewarding, in a mentally ill kind of way.
It still has the seam in front of the windshield/below the vented panel that allows rain water into the right floor board when it rains. I'll get to that eventually and did see posts for repairing that last night. It sits in the garage that I did not have when the engine was rebuilt, so out of the rain for now. I fought with the dash lights since I brought the truck home, to get and keep all of them working, recently resolved. Making things worse, I try my best when I fix something to put it back to factory standard, unless the only parts available are Chinese manufactured, then one can only do what they can do. I am not cheap and I take responsibility for my bad purchase decisions. If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right. Ideally once and done. On the other hand, I am learning and wandering my way through, so making mistakes that cost additional money.
Not happy with the engine at all. Exceedingly disappointed. Couple of issues played in. I can assemble and choose parts with the best for Japanese motorcycle engines, four or two stroke. Have built both dirt and street all my life. 59 years old now. Have stepped away from the motorcycles a few years ago. just saying. I did countless research as to how to make this truck have power, get the best fuel mileage ("improve efficiency") and felt strongly that I selected the correct parts and that the rebuild was done properly. That said, there were two cooks in the kitchen, due to some things in my life moving around at the time. While I selected the parts, a friend who builds race Chevrolet engines and is retired but still very active, offered to assemble the engine and verify machine work. The machine shop that I had chosen failed to correct the alignment of the crank bore. They also have a worn cam bearing driver that hair lipped the bearings when they installed them. The bores were loose and tapered. Tim's pistons were $479 to my door, if I recall. Tim figured if we barely shaved heads and block only to straighten the surfaces, we might be around 9.2-9.3:1. He was concerned about some ping rattle taking off from a stop light with a heavy load on. After the bad machine work, a set of .040" pistons were ordered and my friend took the stuff to the machine shop he uses. I currently have a set of new Tim Meyer .030" pistons (Keith Black Claimer type) that I was unable to use on this engine. Those may go into a second engine that I have an itchy finger to build. I know, just "drop the tools and walk away" LOL! He and I both saw/measured the second machine work to verify it when it left his machine shop.
I had also started with a lightly rusted 400 virgin crank. First machine shop had turned it .010"/.010". When my friend checked it, the rod journals were turned too small (too much clearance) so crank stayed .010" on mains, but was machined to accept .020" bearings on rods. Funny thing about a machine shop. Their only responsibility is to restore specification to parts. If they can't do that.... Learned a fairly expensive lesson.
My friend was moving and trying to finish the engine at his house that he had sold and was up against it to get out. I think his work was good, but one big thing that we failed (I take responsibility for this as I knew we would be close) to do was to "cc" the engine assembled to know what we had for compression volume. Heads had had valve seats adjusted to make them all 72-73cc chambers. Not sure deck height on pistons. Close to level, maybe down a tick since we barely touched the deck? Queston's that have to be answered if one wants to know. No short cuts. If it was easy, every one would be doing it. Stupid on my part.
I bought new rocker arms (factory type), pivots, and cam chain from Comp Cams. It is said in catalog listings and they stated that these gears are "straight up" and correct for the factory retard.
When I told Comp that this was a box stock engine, stock two barrel, stock intake, stock manifolds, single exhaust they recommended two cam options, and felt the one I purchased would be "better". It is a #32-241-4. Tim seems to also think this is a good cam. Also bought their retainers and springs and lifters. Engine was assembled, push rod length required was measured. Shims were used under pedestals to "just" load the lifter piston and maintain center of valve contact. I have looked at everyone's cam specs online. For an RV cam or torque cam, the numbers for this Comp cam are well within the range that everyone else offers. Unless it was the wrong cam in the box.... Can't say that I verified that. Cam card and box say that's what I was sent.
I have had some communication with Tim that has not been helpful. Maybe it is the way I ask the questions, maybe he is only half in business, I don't know. I tried to get stainless valves from him at one time early in the rebuild. He told me he could get them, then dropped the ball. I asked twice, but the process had begun to get the engine out of my buddies garage.... I have also called for questions or sent maybe four emails that did not get responded to to Tim. This was during the original rebuild. Recently I ordered three one piece rear mains from Tim online. He shows one in stock. On the order I asked for it to be sent and that the other two could be sent later. It has been a week and a half and I have not received a seal, any response to the order beyond the automated response that came immediately after placing the order. Not trashing him as I should know enough to work past what I thought I needed him for, just saying there were questions that landed and died. Customer support was a bit light. One piece main will be for the second engine that I am more or less staging.
This engine has used about 1 quart of oil since it was assembled every 600 or so miles. Rings never seated. 6,500 miles on it now. One of the questions that I had asked Tim was what was required for bore finish. Never got an answer. I have since figured out the rings he uses and found bore finish information on the Total Seal website. This engine was already together by the time I completed the circle. We broke it in with Comp Cams break in oil.
Rough stuff was ground out of the cylinder head ports. No major opening up. I did not even remove the Thermactor bumps on them. I am currently working on a second set and thermactor bumps are gone and plugged on them. We reassembled this engine with no EGR and blocked the holes in the heads and the EGR hole in the intake under the carburetor. I used dykem and laid a head gasket on the heads using the dowels and scribed the circles of the combustion rings (not really circles, somewhat elliptical). Ground edges out to within .010" of gasket and gently hit sharp corners to knock them off. Engine is not particularly bad to ping, contrary to what many say.
Some won't agree with these mods and that is fine, just laying it out. I know the way I do things makes some people heads hurt. That is fine. This truck owes me an education as to why the engine doesn't work as it should.
I am very good with carburetion and have worked with a reman factory carb that I installed when we first installed the engine. I have also installed two stock "soft" advance springs with the distributor. And opened mechanical up so it is all in by 2700 rpm. Factory vacuum advance was not adjustable as this was an emissions evolutionary time even for the F350, so a Factory Motorcraft was found from a 1977 F150 and bought via Ebay and it is adjustable. We are around 36 degrees total mechanical and initial then around 14 degrees vacuum. The coffee can was retained to keep vacuum fluctuations to a minimum. The best the truck ever ran was when I bumped the timing to where I have stated. But then it pings a tick under light load. I can probably back the vacuum advance down. I run 91 octane fuel. Best fuel mileage it ever saw has been 10.3mpg. I feel 12 should be there when unloaded as I gently drive it.
Truck pulls best from 1,000-2,000 (not "good", just "best"). More RPM than that and it slows on rev gain. after 3,000 it really slows. Getting 4,000 rpm out of it would have to be down a long steep hill. Jetting is close, plugs are good. In fact, a tick rich. I also tried it with the entire factory air filter assembly removed (open carb/paved road). Exhaust is more or less rotted out so I find it tough to think there is a restriction in it. Gearing is 2,600 at 70 mph. On a two lane road if one had to pass a slightly slower car, would need a good bit of straightaway. Virtually no power. Even from 1,000-2,000 rpm, it has little power, it's just that the most it will do is in that range. Gets worse after that, even in second gear.
High volume water pump with corresponding high flow180 degree thermostat. Thermostat is correct style and utilizes the "hat" under. Engine runs very cool, yet after running for around 8 miles or more there is notable "heat" coming from it. Maybe another supporter the cam is off on time. I don't know what a 400 Chevrolet would feel like in a 7400 lb truck, but in a 5600 lb truck, they run much better than this engine does. May just be the heat soaked cast pieces.
My friend says he degreed the cam as the card stated. I will check it this summer. If cam is a tooth off, that could sure move me to a better place. Wouldn't be a mistake I would expect from him, but there is only one way to know. Would go some distance to explain the high compression and lack of top end.
I intend to install an SP2P intake and retain the 2 barrel carburetor to see if there are any low rpm gains. I see these engines making power, but it is over 4,000 rpm. If I build engine/gear truck to use at 4,000 rpm there will be no fuel mileage. I hope to actually use this a few times a year for highway travel up to three states away.
Truck went over the scales at the local metal yard at 7400lbs empty. Rear gear is 3.73:1 as it left the factory. Honestly, to get better fuel mileage on the highway, long term, I would like to find enough low end power to be able to drop to the highest gear which is 3.50:1 as that would help, provided there is power to pull it. That is way out there on future plans, just saying a direction. Like I said in the prior post, the truck will never be done as there will always be something to do that I can learn while doing.
So while tuning engine after it had 3,000 miles on it, I hit a long steep hill near town. 18 wheeler's hit it at 70 mph, but are lucky to clear it at 45 mph. Truck pinged half way up, throttle load was heavy. Within 15-30 seconds the light ping escalated and went strongly. Still makes me cringe as to how fast it escalated. I have since compression and leak down tested each cylinder. 175-185 on all cylinders. Leak down showed different story. 8% leak down on best cylinders, 37 % on #3 most through the exhaust valve. I had figured as fast as the ping escalated that the thin edge of the exhaust valve was the most likely part to have gained heat that fast. Valve is cracked, chipped, whatever. I keep it started and drive the back roads once in a while. Power and rpm complaints stated earlier were there prior to this event.
Air filter lower half was split in many places when I bought the truck. When the aluminum is stamped, with a lifetime of sucking and letting go and sucking and letting go, it split along the stamp creased seams. So I had bought a factory air filter from a Ford car that is the same size and uses the taller air filter element that this truck came with. I have the hot air system working. What I missed is, I thought the temp sensors in the lids all worked the same, just at different temperatures, so I kept the car lid that came with the assembly on it as I didn't expect the temperature to matter much. I verified it held vacuum and that it completed the vacuum loop after the temperature was met. What I completely missed was the temperature sensor in the car lid works completely opposite the one that came for the truck. I am guessing the vacuum plumbing for the car uses a coolant temperature switch in the routing. Mine is routed direct. So the car lid allows cold air to pass into the air filter when engine is cold. Then when it applies vacuum it closes the heater door, only allowing hot air to reach the air filter. So going up the steep hill loaded and only supplying hot air helped damage the valve. Other issue is, there is simply too much compression. I have corrected the air filter lid. Was exceedingly stupid for me to have not caught, but I didn't.
I will prepare this second set of heads so they can be swapped. When doing so it will get the SP2P intake. This truck will never turn more than 3,000 rpm while I own it. 2,600 at 70 mph now. I further have an Edlebrock Performer that I can try if I prove the SP2P doesn't suit me. Will have to find a four barrel for that experiment.
When heads come off, I will turn one backwards and cc it to see what a couple of cylinders are so that information can be gained. I knew what the heads were, just not the entire assembly.
Plan is to get a good set of heads on it again, learn the current CC's and adjust with a thicker head gasket as needed, different intake. Pull front and check cam timing and degree to see what I have for a cam.
Second project is to prep the second bottom end over time, then swap heads back on, or fix existing heads and resolve the oil consumption. For the choices and effort placed, it has been pretty disappointing. There is no shortage of detractors for 351M/400 Fords. I tend to favor the under dogs and see no real reason why the 400 should not run better than mine does. In fact, all the points that made he engine "bad" have been addressed. I am not even sure this engine will out run the 351M we took out, which could lean towards an exhaust issue, but it is so loud due to the muffler being rotted inside..... Fuel mileage is not all that far from what should be expected, either.
Anyway, there's some entertainment at my expense....
Thanks
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