papa tiger

Take pictures, publish them with us and ask questions as you proceed with your project.

papa tiger

Remember to take a compression test before you start disassembly and have pulled your spark plugs.

sodacraft

IMHO why don't you just pull the engine and have a local machine shop
blueprint it. I don't know how many miles you have on it but it would be a great time to get rings, check valve seats, valve stretch, timing chain etc. In essence you would have a new motor, maybe run a thinner head gasket for better compression? The real question is wether you plan on keeping it for another 100k. I was a tech for a very long time and have doubts that anyone who has not worked in a machine shop to be able to measure and test clearances correctly.I've seen people who use same tools of a different manufacturer mis-read the gauges. I'm not insulting you or your attempts at a possibly arduous rebuild. In fact I think thats a great perspective to come from. I've just seen a lot of people forget the smallest thing and
spend twice as much money and labor (pulling motor twice etc.) for really simple mis understandings or not lining marks correctly. A v8 engine is not exactly the easiest motor to work on. Anyways, just a some advice. If you do decide to repair it yourself make a list and test and re-test everything. Check timing 50 times. Good luck, let us know how it works out.

Rfjeff9

I took this recommendation seriously, but realized that I had already made the same arguments to myself.

There are several reasons why I decided to do this on my own...

1. Cost. It will cost me either around $2000 to get a known working used engine swapped out for the broke one or $4000 to get a rebuilt one with a warranty. Somewhere in between for my own to be rebuilt to a guaranteed level. Now something you don't know about me is that I am the cheapest SOB in the world. So I am not cool with the idea that I can get an equivalent engine put in my vehicle for 2 grand, but it may break later this year. But I CAN spend less than 2 grand for the additional tools needed to do this myself. And I have the time to do it as well. This is not a daily driver.

2. Quality time with the kids. I have a 11 year old boy that told me a few weeks ago that one of his favorite things to do was work on my truck with me. That hit me between the eyes, especially since, at that time, I was contemplating shelling out $2000 for a quick fix on it. But now, I think "Why not?" I never got to do this type thing when I was young, and I still want to. Which leads me to 3.

3. I always wanted my own DIY garage. I have always been a car nut without legit space or means to do it myself. But I have it now. And if I can gather the needed tools for what it would cost me to have it done, then I can provision my own personal shop in the corner of the garage and realize my goal to fix my own stuff.

4. I am not coming into this COMPLETELY blind. I have rebuilt large machinery before, and an auto engine once. Now I am not saying it will be a piece of cake, but I AM saying that I think I will be up to the challenge. I had to follow mechanical drawings and had to set tolerances and ensure moving parts, while the writing was in Japanese. Sure, I will forget and have to go back and redo, but I feel pretty confident that once I put it back in the truck, it will run fine. Or rather, I will not bother to put it back into the truck until I think it will run fine. Which leads me to 5.

5. If I completely muck it up, well, at least I had a go at it and didn't break anything that was working in the first place. We will see what's what once I remove the heads. I will most certainly draw upon everyone's knowledge here if I need help, and I expect everyone will be glad to pitch in with instruction.

So in short, I hope to provision my garage with tools and in the meantime, have some fun with my kids as my cheap self has a go at something I have always wanted to do. I expect this to turn out well, but if it doesn't, then at least Me and the kids will have some kicks tinkering with something that was broke in the first place. And push come to shove, I can buy the used engine myself and put it in - free labor.

Now if I can only find some good instructions. Anybody have recommendations? Other than You Tube?

Manuellabour247

Sounds like a good plan. You can pull the torque specs from Google as well as the torque sequences for everything. I would suggest some quality instruments such as Starret. Do not buy Enco measurement tools. They work fine once, but they are cheap for a reason. I'm talking about calipers, torque wrenches, and micrometers. As far as sockets, make sure you have impact rated sockets. The chromium plated sockets are not truly meant for accurate torque specs. They can be used, but why risk it?

If you have a digital camera and external hard drive for a computer, start a picture or video log so that you have some reference when you go back to assembling the motor. Years ago it was Polaroid. Lol. Take your time and enjoy the quality time with the kiddos doing something together. It's rare that these times happen. Trust me. I grew up taking advantage of every chance to work with my grandfather. Hence why I spent 7 summers with him working in the machine shop.

sodacraft

Well that sounds logical to me especially working with the kids. Your oem ford manual is gonna be your best friend. Put a wtb on the classifieds, maybe someone might give you one. I like to have a book in my hands, working with cars. iPads and tablets are too fragile when you spill oil or drop it. Anyways, get the manual and a few empty fishing boxes
And a hundred quart and gallon freezer bags. Grab a sharpie and as you work your way down from the head remove all bolts for a certain section ... Like head bolts or cam cover bolts. That way you know what they are and if there's still one bolt remaining you can look where It was supposed to go.
Work methodically take lots of pics and think of small priced parts that would cost you a fortune to install. Like front and rear main bearings/seals. Piston rings and going with a better head gasket are Good ideas. Have fun! Let us know how goes it.

cardinexile

Also, I would buy a Haynes Manual from your local parts store~$20 and a Chilton's .. same price. They have different write-ups and pictures. I prefer the Haynes, but sometimes the Chiltons has a better write-up. And if you have the money, the Ford Repair Manual and Service Manual.

Mamushka

Get a book and start reading before you turn the first bolt. Something like this:

This should give you an idea if you are in over your head or not. Note: I have not read that particular book just picked the first one I saw so there might be a better one out there.

Manuellabour247

I had forgot about this thread. Did you end up getting any more tools for your garage? Have you started on the tear down and fix yet?

Rfjeff9

Two years later....

I seriously underestimated how much spare time I was going to have. I got too tied down with kids sports, events, school, and everything else. Suffice it to say that sometimes life throws a curve ball and you have to deal with some things first before you can do what you wanted. I am swamped even now and can only work on it occasionally. Which has a lot to do with why I had not started yet, just not enough time all at once.

But I finally decided to just do it as I can while the truck is not a complete lemon. If I had been of this mind two years ago, it would have long been fixed. But I guess better late than never, so off we go.

I just started this tear down this week and will be chipping away at it as time permits. The engine is still in the truck, but I have pulled off everything needed up to the front cover to have a look at what might have been the problem. One valve cover loosened and one off. Plus the oil pan is loosened.

Once I got the first valve covers off, I saw immediately the problem. On bank 1, I had 1 broken roller arm and one roller arm lying on the edge of the head. On bank 2, I can see that 3 valves do not have a roller on them, I didn't bother to look what happened to them.

Not knowing the extent beforehand, I wanted to just look at what was wrong first before getting in deeper. Now it's obvious I have to pull Engine, remove both heads like I originally suspected. There was always the possibility that it was something simple, but I seriously doubted it. Whatever the root cause, I will know more once I am deeper into the tear down.

I can only guess that the piston hit the valve, breaking the roller. No idea how the other one just fell off, unless it;s valve is bent and could not retract as it should when the cam rotated away from it. And I didn't expect it to be both banks either, I wonder how that happened. However it skipped, it did it to both sides at the same time? I ran out of light and couldn't see the notches on the cam gears to see how far they had jumped, but I guess it is irrelevant at this point. Got to tear it down anyway. But when I turned the crank I could hear a hissing of air out of the bank 1 head. Where I don't know, but it certainly doesn't hold compression. I'd say the valve is bent for sure. It'll be cool to see the other side of the heads.

Now, information request on pulling the engine. Just how much stuff do I need to remove to get this thing out, and can I leave the transmission in the truck? I think removing the oilpan and intake manifold should be enough, yes?