I have a build thread over in the Bullnose section, but thought this may be up you folk's alley too!

I bought this engine back in August. Never saw it run, but saw videos. It didn't look like it smoked or anything crazy, had a little lifter noise you could hear, but I figured it had to be better than the 300 in the truck that fills the cab with smoke while driving and blew oil out of the valve cover if you put the oil cap on.

So I was just gonna freshen up the gaskets and do some minor work.

Then I changed my mind and decided I would just go ahead and tear it down and see if I could get away with fresh rings, check out the bearings, etc. I started buying some parts and setting money aside for the refresh.

Then Spring rolled around and I got my bonus check from work. It was a little better than I expected, so I decided I would make an investment in the old gal. So I dropped the engine off at my local rebuilder and told them to tear it down and see what it needed. That was back in February and I have been itching to get it back since then.

They called a couple weeks ago and said they tore it down. Had some broken rings, a little cylinder scoring, and probably needed new intake valves. I figured if I were gonna have it redone, it was gonna get redone right. I told them I wanted it to last me 300,000 miles. Do what it would take to make that happen.

So I ended up with: .030" overbore, hypereutectic pistons, .010/.010" ground crank, all new bearings, rings, seals, new intake and exhaust valves, new rockers, Comp Cams timing gear set, Comp 268 Cam and lifters (and valve springs to match), new harmonic balancer, and this beautiful, BEAUTIFUL engine!





I am REALLY excited at this point. I pulled the old engine out this past weekend.


Just an example of how nasty and greasy the old engine was from puking oil out of every possible orifice.


Finally out!

I also grabbed some various new parts to really make this thing shine up!


The very budget stainless steel LT header I grabbed off of Amazon...Only $210! Should hold up better than the Hedman mild steel that's $60 more. As long as it doesn't leak terribly, it seems like a good buy. The flange was straight as an arrow with a straight edge, though, so it should be all good.

The Offenhauser "C" 4 barrel intake.

Edelbrock 500 AVS I picked up lightly used.

Then there's the nasty old accessory brackets. What to do about those?


This is the AC bracket immediately after removing it from the engine. Years of engine grease, road grime, etc everywhere. This simply couldn't go on my nice, new engine like this!

I starter off with a spray down of brake cleaner to get the loose grime.

Then put in some elbow grease with some red show towels. Had to get all the oil and grease off before I broke out the heavy machinery...

Breaking out the big guns to really get these things looking good.

After the media blast. Better! But I want the pretty finish to stay pretty.



The final finished product! This is after wire wheeling/media blasting, removing media with compressed air, wiping down with wax and grease remover, shooting with VHT Engine Primer, and then shooting with several layers of VHT Cast Coat Aluminum. Not too shabby looking!

I've had a couple people comment that my engine isn't the correct factory color for 1983, a fact I am aware of. My factory engine is an ugly gray. I don't care for it much. I highly doubt not having the factory color block/brackets/etc is going to hurt much anyway. For one, I'm building this truck up for me, so I'm doing things the way I want them to be when I proudly drive this old rig around. For another, these trucks aren't bringing $100k at auctions. It doesn't have to be period correct or concours for me to enjoy it.

I have an order in to Summit for Lucas 30WT Break-In Oil. Two jugs. I have 3 Motorcraft FL1A filters sitting here. New water pump that I need to paint. New fan clutch. 1" carb spacer is on the way. New Moroso plug wires. 12 fresh Autolite plugs. PMGR starter.

Next thing I need to do is clean the engine bay very thoroughly and shine-up/paint things. I also want to mock up the header/intake and make sure the brackets clear and look good. Also...I admit I want some good pics with everything installed before I put the engine in the truck lol.

There are some other small things I will need to find/get. I am sure that once the engine goes in, I may need some bracketing to get the throttle cable installed. I also will likely need to go to a cable operated kickdown for the C6. Still need new vacuum hoses. New rotor and cap for the Duraspark. I bought the cap, rotor, and fuel pump at Autozone years ago, so I am going to try to swap them out for fresh parts. Otherwise I will install as-is; those parts were working fine on the old engine, I just wanted to put new stuff on now, if possible.

If you made it this far, cheers

 

Good looking motor
I liked the light blue over the gray also. I don't know what color the 81's were but my motor had gray paint on it after I got it cleaned up.

If you don't mind me asking what was the bill at the machine shop?
I know this can change based on location.

Maybe we will hear it run before the weekend is over
Dave ----

 

I don’t mind at all. It was $1880 something. Higher than I expected, but in all fairness, I gave it to them and gave them free reign to handle things. I just wanted a nice, clean, good running engine. I’m 1/3 of the way there...

 

You are doing a great job! And, it is your truck to make as you want it to be!

 

I don't think that is a bad price.
If I had to do it and was under 2k I would call that good.
Dave ----

 

Quick update while sitting at Sonic waiting for my food.

Don’t know if I’ll be done by Dave’s deadline, but it’s coming along nicely, albeit slowly. Waiting for a couple of the brackets to be done and safe to handle. A few pics in the meantime.


Just mocking things up to check fitment. If there are issues, I want to know before the engine goes back in the truck.

I knocked a good chunk out of this bracket with a die grinder and hacksaw. Not my best work, but just looking in the engine bay, I doubt anyone notices.

Old and new...much happier with the new

 

Finally got all the brackets and accessories installed. Hoping to have the engine in the truck first thing in the AM.

I need to figure out how I’m gonna prime the oiling system. I used a socket taped to an old oil pump drive shaft (to ensure it didn’t fall off into the pan). I tried using a speed handle, but ironically, I don’t think it was fast enough. I also tried using an air ratchet. I never saw oil at the top of the rockers when looking at two rocker arms through the oil cap. I did hear some gurgling, but never saw it come to the top. I’ll run to Harbor Freight tomorrow to grab some drill/socket adapters and try with the air drill.

Anyways, more photos!

 

I have found that not all rockers / push rods get oil when at TDC.
Prim it again turn crank 1/4 turn and prim keep doing this till you have 2 turns of the crank to put you back at TDC on #1 compression stroke.
You should see oil at them rocker then.
Dave ----

 

A 460 V8 oil pump hex shaft is the same size as a 300 and a few inches longer. One works good for priming a six in a drill motor. But a hand held speed wrench should do it too. Keep cranking until you feel the resistance of the oil flowing.

Did the shop recondition/replace the valve guides?

Sonic makes the best milk shakes.

Very nice build. Good luck with it.

 

I can feel your excitement. I have a 300 at the machinist now for my first build. What years is your ac compressor bracket from? I'm adding ac when I do my build.
Thanks. john

 

Gotcha! That was my plan to do a full turn over, but I didn't see any oil and I thought I should see some at least.

I ended up using an air drill. $5 at Harbor Freight got me a 1/4" adapter. Which went onto a long 1/4" drive extension. And a socket on the end. Oil pump drive went into socket, then everything was taped together with electrical tape. It worked great.

By the way, finally got those lines pulled off this weekend. Will ship them all off tomorrow.

I believe so on the valve guides...they replaced all the valves and were asked to completely redo the heads.

Thank you!

1983 F-100 XLT w/factory AC

 

 

Wow!!!

 

Looking good
Seeing your last few pictures I see I don't have 1 main AC bracket
I never gave it much thought how does the compressor stay in place to keep the belt tight?
Yep that large curved bracket. Looks like to bolts to the motor with 2 bolts but don't know if it goes under the compressor more or not?
I knew I was missing the hose support on the back side. How is that held in place? What bolts des it use, compressor or bracket bolts?
Dave ----
just looked over a motor picture of my truck and I may have that adjuster bracket

 

I haven't posted in this thread here lately, but thought I would give a quick update. Longer update is in the main thread in the Bullnose Forum.

I didn't work on the truck for a couple months. Was too busy working on my Mustang and doing track/AutoX days. The problem with "race cars" is that they like to suck up all your time and money breaking things every time you use them (or maybe that's just me not being a good mechanic? I dunno).

Anyways, got the new radiator, auxiliary trans cooler, and hoses in and plumbed up (finished after these photos were taken lol).





All the fluids are in and my buddy and I are planning for the first start and break-in tonight.

Still can't drive it until I get a throttle linkage fabbed up and new fluid in the rear end. It all leaked out the pinion seal while at the shop. I need to install a kickdown cable too, but I don't have to have that just to take it on a test drive.

I'll try to get a video on YouTube tomorrow, unless the engine blows up during the break-in, in which case I'll roll it off a cliff and you guys will never hear from me again. If that's the case, it's been real, gents. So long and thanks for all the fish.

That's all I can say now, I am about to dart out the door at work to head to the shop and get started...I'm pretty excited!