Welcome to my Donor Page.  Here you will find information and updates on my donor truck from repairs to the teardown and prep process.  I will be keeping this page in a journal type layout, with the most recent updates at the top.

Dec 31/08

Update

Well, this update is looooong overdue. Well, I got the motor back together and running. Turns out the the motor had been worked on before, because the pistons were stamped .030 so that was a good thing.  We got the motor back together, and while dropping the motor in the truck, the cherry picker broke.  Ended up leaving motor balancing in the truck for a week while we got the lift fixed.  We scratched the crap out of the oil pan putting the motor in while the lift was acting up.  Finally got everything hooked up and running.  Used flex pipe to hook up the exhaust and modified the old y-pipe to hook it all up.  Still have the old Flowmaster on it and it sounds great!  Got it through the break-in period, put some miles on it and everything was running great, right up until the week before Christmas.

Apparently I didn't get the TV (downshift cable) adjusted properly when we put the motor in and possibly burned up the clutch disks for 3rd gear and OD.  So now the truck sits again.  Seems everytime I'm ready to start buying steel for the cage, the truck acts up.  I'd swear it doesn't want to get disassembled.

I've emailed a company about parts for rebuilding the AOD transmission.  I've never done a transmission rebuild before, but based on the cost of the ones I've had rebuilt, and the subsequent failure on all of the a year later, I think I can't do any worse.  LOL

The only difference would be if I can find another parts donor truck with a heavy duty 5 speed cheaper than the AOD rebuild parts, I'll get that and convert the truck to a manual.  We'll see.  All of this will probably happen in February after Tax Return time.

I will try to remember to add pics this weekend to show the motor build, etc.

Hope everyone has a Safe and Happy New Year!!!!

May 7/08

Update

Well I sent the block and heads for cleaning and cam bearing replacement.  My friend Len looked at my crankshaft and recommended I send that as well for at least a polish or grinding, so I did.  Well he was right.  The shop called and they need to turn it down .004" so I will need to get different bearings for that.  My stock bearings will probably be heading to eBay soon.

I am still waiting to hear back from the shop letting me know it's all ready to pick up.  Hopefully this afternoon or tomorrow the phone will ring.

Apr 26/08

Update

I finally got the chance to pull out the motor from the second donor.  My dad came up to help me.  We got the motor out after a few hours and onto my engine stand.  We went through and took everything apart, down to the pistons, valves, camshaft, etc.  What a greasy mess.  I will be cleaning up all the parts before I start the rebuild.  I talked to a friend of mine, Len, and he recommended sending out the block for a 'hot tank' cleaning and having them replace my cam bearings for me.  I'll probably take my heads as well for cleaning.

Here is a quick rundown of the parts I ordered:  I ordered a high torque cam from Crane with lifters. New 328lb valve springs to compliment the cam. Complete rering kit which includes all gaskets, rod and main bearings, piston rings. I ordered a new high flow oil pump, so I don't have to replace the old one later when it would finally fail.  I also got a new perfomance timing chain and gears, which I think is what failed on the 302 (I'll pull that and tear it down for confirmation later).  To top it all off, I went with a set of Flowtech full tube headers for increased torque.  I'll post a couple pics soon.

Apr 18/08

Update

Well, my friend didn't come through with tires.  I just never got a call back.  As far as tires go, when the time comes I'm planning on getting Goodyear Silent Armor A/T's or M/T's from Sam's Club.  The savings on the tires more than makes up for the cost of membership.

Like I said "when the time comes", because since then, I managed to lock up the 5.0 in the pickup.  In retrospect, with the lack of power in the engine, I think that the timing chain had jumped a tooth or two from being old and stretched.  On the highway around the end of March, I thought the fuel tank was running dry and flipped to the rear tank.  As usual, I goosed it a little to make sure it was still running.  Well, just then I hear a bang, then teeth grinding and the engine shuts off.  I coasted to the side of the road, tried to restart it.  The starter turned something, but no starting from the motor.  After getting it home and doing some basic tests recommended by the guys at the FTE website, I've determined that the timing chain jumped at least another tooth, slammed a piston in a valve which locked up the engine and snapped the crank.

I have since bought a "second" donor truck, an 89 F250 2wd, that will be donating it's it's solid running 351W/5.8L heart.  It has a C6 transmission that I won't be using, so I'm going to pull and sell it.  Any takers?  Once I pull the motor, I'll be parting out the truck for scrap.  If anyone needs anything, contact me and I'll work deals on parts.  Here are a couple pics of donor #2.

As I mentioned on my welcome page, I have been extremely busy at work lately.  Those of you that know me, know that I am an IT field technician by trade, and we are opening a new Goodwill Signature Store in Springhill, FL.  Once that settles down, I should have more free time to get the engine ready to pull and put on the engine stand to check over before transplanting it into my beast.

As I mentioned, if you need body, suspension, transmission, etc. parts, let me know.  I'll be parting this truck out to help finance my build.

Everyone take care and God Bless!

Tires

Feb 18/08

I can't win for losing sometimes.  Last week you saw I couldn't get a decent motor.  This weekend I tried finding tires.  A local tire store had a sale going and I was gonna get 35" BFG A/T's for $100 off normal, or $25 per tire.  Well, turns out they couldn't find 4 tires anywhere.  They are only one of the most popular tires around here.  You'd think they'd keep at least one set around the county.  But no.  Strike two for me.  I have a friend that is married to a tire store sales manager.  They think they may be able to help me out here.  If so that will be great.  I'll get them listed on my Sponsor page with a link.  I'll keep you posted.  Short of that I'm going to get busy on the cage building, so I'll get that page going soon.

Motor

Feb 9/08

I have been looking for a 351W motor to put in my truck.  The lack of lowend torque on the 302, with 3.73 gears and 36" tires has been too tough on the drivetrain.  Going over small hills and overpasses on highways makes the truck downshift out of OD repeatedly just to maintain speed.  So I found 2 motors on Craigslist.  One was holding the motor til I got the money together.  I called Friday to let him know I'd be coming today to pick it up.  Turns out he sold it on Thursday.  Strike one for me. 

Well I had a second lined up, like I said.  So I go today to look at it.  It has been disassembled, laying in the guys yard.  He had said on the phone that it was complete and that he has been keeping it oiled to avoid too much rust building up.  I get there and he has rinsed it off with a hose to "clean the oil and grease off" so I don't get greasy putting it in my truck.  It's also not complete.  There are fuel injectors missing.  The pistons are rusted to the block.  He tells me that the day before he could turn the crank and the pistons would move.  Today they are solid locked up.  I couldn't believe what this guy was trying to pass off.

Oh well, guess it's not time for a motor yet.  I can take a hint.  Next weekend, I am planning on getting my new tires so they will be ready when I finally, down the road get the cage built and am ready to fit it on the frame.

Update

Jan 11/08

The beginning entry below is from my Tagged.com page where I was originally going to document my build.  Since then I've juggled with getting a website going, which is what you have found here.  I have also done many repairs on my donor which I will list here in more in detail as well as post pictures.

Rims and Tires

Dec 15/07

I found rims for the truck.  As you've seen in the original pics they are white spokes and rusty and flaking.  I found a near new black set of American Racing rims.  As a bonus, they came with 2/3 worn out 36" Super Swampers.  They make the truck look so much more agressive.  I will get pictures sometime in the near future.

Tune Up

Oct 20/07

It is finally time to get the truck running properly.  After bringing the truck home, I found out that the previous owner was covering up a problem with the truck.  Funny that each time I went to look at it, and when I finally picked it up, that he always had it running and warmed up.  Well it turns out that there is a split tube on the back of the motor that comes from the air pump that pumps air into the heads for the exhaust for emissions.  Well, where this splits from one line to the two tubes to the heads was broken open.  This also explained the exhaust smell that I was getting in the cab.  Go figure.  Well with my father's help, as he loves helping me work on my vehicles with me (no wonder I grew up a gearhead, LOL), we removed the tubes and JB Welded it all back together.  While we were under the hood, well I was under the hood literally (as seen in the pics below) we replaced the spark plugs, wires, rotor, flushed the coolant, and did a complete oil change.  After all that was done, the truck started and ran great!  The mileage isn't turned out to not be good, but that's because as you can see in the first pictures, it has 33" tires on it, and it has a 3.73ls differential in it.  That equates to the engine rpm's being below the torque range of the engine.  Well I'll tackle that at a later time.  I can't allow myself to bite off too much in one shot.

Speaking of the spark plugs, when we went to replace them, it turned out the ones we bought for it, based on the truck and engine, they were wrong.  So we went back to the store to swap them, and brought one that came out of the truck.  Mike at Advanced Auto Parts was great!  He took the time to research through the books to find out what 5.0 took those plugs, because most of them all took the same plugs, not what is in my truck.  After much searching, we found out that the only 5.0 that took the plugs I had were in a Crown Victoria motor.  Well, go figure!  I knew my truck would be a Frankenstein before it was done, but I didn't expect to be already.  So we have deduced a couple scenarios.  1) Since the truck was originally DOT, they may have swapped the engine when it had problems, and of course they have plenty of Crown Vics around for city and police cars so they grabbed what they had.  2) Since the truck was originally DOT, they may have just replaced the heads on the engine with, what else? Crown Vic heads, since there are probably plenty laying around.  3) Possibly this truck was one of Ford's nasty secrets where they had too many Crown Vic motors around (due to Police depts ordering them in droves) and were short on one for the truck and "slipped one in".  One may never know.  Anyway it runs great now so I'll just put it through the ringer and see what else needs to be fixed.