Pressure is on

[Jason]

During lunch break at my regular job, my truck spit a rod. Really makes things interesting now. Customers backed up for one day while I try to track down another truck to use. Plus gotta find another motor. <p>Maybe I could leave the Lazer at home, jam the 21 in the trunk of my car. If I go that route, I'm definetly not wearing my company uniform. :)<p>To top it all off my trimmer is still in the shop. They had to backorder a gasket. Hopefully will be fixed tomorrow. But somehow got to juggle a 2.5 acre job, a 2 acre job and a 10,000 sq ft job. Plus run 80 miles round trip for the trimmer. And pull an engine. <p>And whoever said self-employment isn't a lot of fun? :)

[Alan]

What are you running for a truck? Chevy engines are cheap if that's what it is.

[Guido]

Jason, I can only wish you the best about the truck, cause $hit happens. BUT, as for the trimmer.......this should be a good lesson for you to have a backup!!!!!<p>Hope you get caught up!<p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://communities.msn.com/guidosequipmentpics/&quot;&gt;&quot;Guido&quot;&lt;/a&gt;<br>David M. Famiglietti

[southside]

Jason, Try hiring a ute(truck) and a trimmer<br>from a local rental company.It may not be very cost effective,but at least you won't<br>have to let your customers down.<p>Karl<br>

[Jason]

Feeling a bit better today. A friend of mine is a roofer, he's got a truck for me to use. But parts still not in yet on my trimmer. Been a week waiting on it.<p>I do have a backup trimmer. Just isn't as productive or much fun to run. It's a old homeowner curved shaft Stihl.<p>Nope not a chevy. Truck is a '78 Ford F250. Motor is a '69 460. Really looking forward to pulling it outside. Wish I had a shop.<p>Customers are my first priority, and this is first time I haven't got them done on schedule. I've talked to all of them and they understand, and are fine with being a day or two behind. :)<br><p><font size="1">Edited by: jason

[Evan528]

this exactly why i hust spent all that money on a brand new truck! I am mostly a solo operater... if my truck goes down i cant work. your truck is you most important peice of equipment you have so spending all the money for a new one is well worth all the peice of mind it brings.

[Jason]

Good point Evan. Maybe next year I'll be able to get something newer. I'd love a newer Powerstroke. My old Ford is in pretty good shape. New tranny, new rearend, and hopefully a new engine by tuesday. It's pretty with new paint, tinted glass, aluminum wheels, etc.. But looking pretty does me no good when it's immoblie. :)

[Alan]

Nice that you can find a replacement engine so quickly. 460s are in short supply up here. I just junked one last fall, ran ok but had a bad rear main seal and the truck was falling apart around it. And the geniuses at Ford made it so that the only thing that fits is another 460 or either a 428 or 429, can't remember just which. No matter what else, ya gotta give Gm high marks for making things interchangeable.

[Keith]

Wish I could help ya. I have 302 and 51 stuff out the ass and what I don't have, i know where I can find it. How much are you willing to spend on a short block? Give me some dollar figure and I will see if I can locate you something in your area.

[lawrence stone]

My truck was down for a day this spring due to bad water pump.<p>I just loaded one mower on my trailer and<br>used my girls 1989 Dakota sport 4 x 4 V6 5 speed.<p>The power of that V6 is great. I can't<br>wait for it to blow up so I can get it and<br>install a 318 with a 4 sp auto.<br>

[Jason]

Alan, I thought I had one located. Turns out the motor in question is in fair condition at best. So the hunt is still on. Actually the 351M/400 and 429/460 all share the same bolt pattern. Whereas the 428 is part of the FE family: 332, 352, 360, 390, 406, 410, 427,428 , plus the truck Fe's 361, 391.<br>Ford interchangeability is interesting to say the least. I didn't even go into the windsor family or old Y-blocks etc. I agree GM made things a whole lot simpler.<p>Keith, well I do have a complete 460 back in North Dakota, but that's 1000 miles away. Thinking going for a longblock. Guides in my old heads are shot. If I had more time I'd build my own motor, but think I'll just plunk down the cash so I can get it back on the road faster. Probably going to spend up to 2k.<p>Lawrence: Drop a 340 or 360 in. Thinking how cool it would be to have a 340 six-pack in that dakota. :)

[Keith]

Jason, you could have your engine shipped truck freight from ND for probably $200 or a little more. I paid $125 to have a shortblock (Windsor) shipped from Arkansas to Florida and $75 to have a bare SVO 351 block shipped from NC to Florida. So I doubt it would be more than double that.<p>Lawrence, you could buy the Mopar 380 horse 360 complete from pan to intake for $3500 :)

[thelawnguy]

Hmmm, too bad you are not in southern new england, older continentals are to be had dirt cheap, usually the body and front end has given up the ghost but you can yank the 460 from one.<p>Your 78 probably came from the factory with a 360 truck motor, kinda hard to find but a 390 or 428 would bolt right in. If it were mine I would forget all those wheezing smogger gas hogs and swap in a late-model EFI 5.0/5.8 tranny and all, might have to have the driveshaft altered but you will have a modern powertrain that wont cost you 100 a week in fuel.<p>If I need a pickup to use the local uhaul rents them for 19.95 a day plus .40 a mile. Subject to availability. I am in the market for an older s-10 4wd to park behind the garage and use as a backup, in the winter I plan to stuff a driver in it to do my residential driveway plowing.<p>Bill

[Jason]

Bill, actually my truck came with a 351M. The first thing I did when I bought it was shitcan that motor and drop in a 460. I have a '69 F100 with a 360 I rebuilt a few years ago. But that truck is 1000 miles away. A fuelie 5.0 or 5.8 would be nice, but would be way underpowered in my application. My truck has all 1 ton running gear. I have toyed with the idea of swapping in a powerstroke someday. But for now another 429/460 will do.

[Alan]

Sawpping in a newer EFI engine gets into a real beast of a job, doesn't it? You would need the computer and all the sensors. Maybe I'm worng about that, but how do you get the EFI to work without all the computer gear to calibrate and regulate it?

[John DiMartino]

Bill,I 5.0 or 5.8 would be grossly underpowered for the application and fuel economy wouldnt be much better than with the 460 because you'd be to the floor all the time.The only prob. with a PSD swap is the upfront cost(I guess 5-8k)and fact that the truck is already 22 yrs old,so the engine is worth way more than the truck and will outlast the truck easily a couple times over.Ive swapped EFI powertrains into oldercarb. vehicles,but I havent done a Ford,I know from working on them that GM's are much easier and more friendly than Ford.Just put a reman 460 in it,get it back in service ASAP,have em put a RV/tow gring cam in it for a little extra power.I dont know if they are avaiable there,but 4 yrs ago I put an engine in my Mason's truck from discount auto parts,699 bucks for a reman 350 with 2yr commercial warranty,it still runs strong today-just a thought,just make sure than it has all new valvetrain parts-not (checked and speced)reused parts.Good luck<p>----------<br>John D<br>

[Keith]

Ford parts and EFI swaps have become much simpler due to the massive amount of parts the 5.0 Mustang market has demanded. In fact FRPP sells stand alone wiring harnesses made for these swaps, so you don't have to track down and make wiring harnesses.

[Dale]

Love to hear all this Ford engine talk. I too have a motor on the West Coast, but probably could not pry it away from my kid. Got my 300 hp 302 in my 72 Mustang coupe and my kid's 275hp 351W in his Ford F 100. These are toys, well both are daily drivers for him and we still use the newer Ford F series gas models for work trucks. <p>Stay away from the 360 blocks, 429 and 460 Lima blocks are more plentiful.

[Jason]

John, that's exactly what i have in mind. A reman with an Edelbrock performer cam. Was running the performer intake, and a Edelbrock 750 carb (identical to carter AFB), and a Jacobs ignition. It's a good torque combo. Plus don't have time to build my own, gotta get the truck on the road ASAP.<p>Speaking of fuelies. I have a '70 Mustang that is in dire need of a windsor stroked to 427 cubes, topped with some aluminum victor heads, fed by a massively reworked Ford throttle body. Wouldn't hurt to drop in a Richmond six speed. Out back a massaged 9 inch with 35 spline axles, and one of curries trick center sections. Man, now I'm salivating. Then there's my spring-over lifted 72 Jeep.... <p>Getting way off topic, and I apologize.

[Keith]

I was going to use a 427 stroker kit in my new 351 SVO block, but decided against it...at least as of now. The big stroker kits tend to be a little questionable for regular use. They are rough on cylinders, pistons and rings due to the low rod ratio and short piston skirt. While probably not as bad as the 347 stroker kit for the 302 block, the lower ring land is getting really close to the pin area. <p>I also considered going with a milder stroker kit, say 377 or so, but I think I might stick with the 351. <p>I use the Edelbrock RPM aluminum heads on my 306 in my &quot;street car&quot;. I was thinking about going with Victor Jr's on my 51, but recently found out TFS will be re-releasing the Street Heat head in about November. <p><br><p><font size="1">Edited by: Keith

[Jason]

Keith, sounds like a fun motor. Acutally 427 isn't the limit anymore for a stroked windsor. I believe with the svo block you can get 435 cubes or more. That's really taking it to the limit though. I'm partial to cleveland heads, really wish somebody would build an aluminum 2v head with the australian closed combustion chambers. Add the 4v heads larger exhaust port, some mild porting and in my opinion the perfect small block ford head. But they've done so much with the old windsor heads now, it's amazing.<p>Well, I finally stuffed my new motor in tonight. Lot's of fun rolling the cherry picker in the uneven dirt driveway. Actually had to pull the picker with my Lazer to get it rolling. What a mess, sheets of plywood on uneven ground for a makeshift floor. God I miss working in a shop! Got to be too late to finish. Still need to bolt up accessories and other little stuff. Should be another 2 hours before firing it up. So after work tomorrow she should be finally rolling again.<p>Pulled the pan on the old motor. A very nicely broken rod with a nasty old bend in it. Pieces of a piston in the pan, with the dome still in the bore. Rod cap splayed apart, etc. Now I need to find myself a good core. Place I bought the longblock from wants $350 if I don't supply them with a rebuildable core.

[Alan]

Unless you punched the block I would think that your core IS rebuildable as it sits. What do they require to consider it rebuildable?

[jason2]

Alan,

Nope, didn't punch a hole through the block. But the outfit is picky about the cores. Some motors they are more picky about than others. And the 429/460 they are quite picky about. Besides one of the cylinders is scored bad. No overboring this motor. And they aren't about to take a core that needs to be sleeved. Just not practical. Wife's uncle owns a wrecking yard. I worked for him as a mechanic last winter. He has a rebuildable core that I can give them. He's going to charge me $50. So no biggie.

Fired up the truck thursday night. Running great. Although I wish I had earlier heads. Heads on this new motor are '73, wish I would have had time to rebuild my "dove heads"(1970 castings). More power with the earlier heads. They have a smaller combustion chamber which results in a higher compression ratio equaling more power. :) But still plenty of snort.

[Keith]

Hey, guess what? I blew a head gasket today. :( My 95 F150 302 overheated the other day. The damn water temp guage didn't work and I guess that is when it happened. It flowed water out of the overflow a few times today. I cracked the cap loose and it was shooting water about 2 feet. No water in the oil, but I know it probably did more damage. This really sucks. I have a fresh 306 sitting on a engine stand. I may have to swap cams and put it in the truck. This is a good reason to have a cheap backup truck.

[jason2]

Keith,

Sorry to hear about your head gasket. Hopefully you didn't crack or warp the head. It'd be a shame to have to put that nice 306 in your truck. You need to save that engine for a cool project, maybe a '64 Falcon or something else light. :)
Let us know what happens.

[bob]

I hear ya! About 3 weeks ago the rear on my truck took a dump to the tune of $1400. I looked into renting a truck from Spallco, but they wanted almost $500 for 6 days. I barrowed a truck from a friend instead.

[Getmow]

Before I had back ups to use I rented a U-Haul Truck. The 2 X 12 ramps were a challenge with a ZTR but it worked.