Tag F-150

All right, here we go. This is a fun one. Aftermarket parts. Do they suck? Yes. Yes, they do. All right. Now, obviously, not all aftermarket parts suck. This is a hard question. It’s interesting. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve seen several people on Facebook and Reddit ask if aftermarket parts are better. I’m going to approach this from a bullnose angle because the question is so broad that trying to answer it for every vehicle and every type of part is just ridiculous. Even for bullnose, some aftermarket parts are better, and some aren’t. But there are a lot of parts that just aren’t better. That was hard for me to grasp when I first started working on my truck. I got into working on these old bullnose trucks, and I thought, ‘I got this new truck. I’m going to fix it up, make it nice and shiny, and get all the new parts.’ Clearly, a new part should be better than a 40-year-old part, right? At this point, they’re 40 years old, so the new parts have got to be better for a couple of reasons. One, they’re brand new, so they’re not worn out, and two, the world has had 40 years to figure out how to make these parts better. So, if I go to O’Reilly’s, AutoZone, or Napa and get a brand new part, it should be way better. For performance parts like heads, headers, carburetors, and fuel injectors, new aftermarket parts, especially performance ones, are just going to be better. That’s what you’re paying for. What I’m talking about is replacement parts that claim to be OEM but really aren’t. Stuff you buy from AutoZone or O’Reilly’s, like Dorman parts, generally aren’t better. The point of this rant is to tell you that for many parts on your trucks, if you can keep them working or refurbish them, do that. For those doing restorations wanting all original OEM stuff, this isn’t an issue. It’s for guys like me tinkering in their garage who want to keep these trucks on the road. I wish someone had told me when I started that the parts I was replacing might be better fixed instead. When I first got the truck, I’d replace parts with ones from Amazon, thinking they’d be better, but that’s not true. In 40 years, the world hasn’t figured out how to make these parts better because nobody cares about an old F-150 part from ’85. What they care about is selling you something, and higher quality doesn’t sell as well as low price. They’ve figured out how to make these parts cheaper. Where a part used to be a nice, robust metal part, now it’s all plastic. A perfect example is the old school hubcaps. I’ll be doing an episode about how to get those hubcaps on aftermarket wheels. Those aftermarket hubcaps are all plastic, whereas the original ones were solid metal. Are the plastic ones bad? No, they’re not bad quality. They don’t crack or have problems; they’re just plastic, not quite as high quality. Some parts will give you problems. One of the first things I replaced on my F-150 were the side mirrors because one wouldn’t stay put. The connection between the mirror and the mounting was wobbly, so I’d drive, and it would flop around. Rather than fix the mount, I thought I should buy a brand new mirror. I looked at mirrors on Amazon, and they weren’t expensive. I thought a brand new mirror had to be good. So, I bought a couple of mirrors. If I’m replacing one side, I may as well replace both. I spent hours figuring out how to get the old mirrors off and replace them with new ones. The problem was the old mirrors were metal and solid, and the new ones were plastic. The new mirrors would stay in place but shake so much you couldn’t use them to look behind you. The old ones didn’t have that problem; they would flop around but didn’t shake. There’s no way to fix the shake because they’re cheap. They’re made cheaply. They’re not the big, nice, heavy metal mirrors. They are cheap, light plastic mirrors. What’s worse is, to my knowledge, you can’t find a good aftermarket set of side mirrors that aren’t made cheaply. I threw the original mirrors away because I didn’t know any better. Don’t make the mistake I made and assume that aftermarket stuff is just better. Now, obviously, this is a nuanced question because not all aftermarket parts are worse. A lot of aftermarket parts are basically the same. I have a Dorman door striker on my truck for closing the door and keeping it tight. My original one was worn out, so the door wouldn’t stay closed well. I bought a Dorman replacement door striker and had to modify it a bit, but now it works great. Another example is my windshield wiper motor. The new aftermarket one works fantastic, but I had to modify it to fit. In 1985, trucks came off the assembly line with parts made to exactly fit that vehicle. New aftermarket parts are made to fit multiple vehicles, so they often require tweaks to fit properly. It’s normal to buy a part that says it fits your vehicle, but it doesn’t quite fit, and you have to modify it. That’s one of the frustrating things about working on old vehicles. I don’t have a lot of experience with other vehicles besides my ’85 F-150 and ’82 Bronco, but I assume it’s similar with other old cars. If you’re doing period-correct restorations, you have to find original parts, which can be expensive and difficult. Junkyard parts can be a hassle to get. Sometimes you just want to go to AutoZone and get something new, but those doing restorations don’t have that option. If you can keep the old stuff going, do it. I wish I had kept those mirrors. I could have figured something out to make them work better. Just because a part is new doesn’t mean it’s better. Old parts were designed by engineers who knew what they were doing. They built them tough back then. Newer vehicles aren’t necessarily bad, but when it comes to parts, the new stuff isn’t always better. Non-OEM replacement parts can be shady. You just don’t know. I replaced my parking brake cable and made a video about it. I installed a parking brake cable, and within two uses, it was ruined because it bound up inside. There was a coating inside that caused it to malfunction. I had to buy a different cable from another brand, which didn’t have that issue and has worked fine since. Aftermarket parts can be a gamble; some are fine, and some are not. You don’t know until you try them. If I buy a part from Amazon and it fails, I leave a review to warn others. I did that for the parking brake cable that broke after two uses. I don’t like leaving negative reviews because someone is trying to make a living, but it’s necessary. Aftermarket parts aren’t always better just because they’re new. Especially with parts from China, they’re made cheaply for us to buy cheaply. People often look at the price before quality, which is why these parts keep being made. My advice is to keep old parts working if possible. If you can’t, keep them around unless they’re beyond repair. You might find you need them later. I have a file cabinet in my garage for old parts because you can’t always buy new ones for old vehicles. It’s not always about whether aftermarket parts are better; sometimes, they’re not even available. So, keep the old parts running if you can. Thanks for watching. If you have questions or comments, leave them below. See you next time.

was about damn time I got started on this thing right. Today I’m finally getting hands on with the classic piece of Ford V8 history, the 351 Windsor. If you’ve been following this channel for a while, you might recall that, uh, years ago I did a deep dive in 351, uh, Windsor engine. Lots of diagrams, historical tidbits, bunch of stats, uh, all that good stuff. But this time I’ve got the real deal sitting right here in front of me, ready for a tear down. Even better, I’m going to take this mild-mannered Windsor and turn it into a 408 stroker that’ll make some serious power. Howdy folks, Ed here. Welcome back to Bullnose Garage. This is going to be the start of a full series where I take a basic 351 stock Windsor, strip it down to the bare bones, check every single component, and then rebuild it from the ground up. By the end, I’ll have a stroker motor that’s ready to rock in just about any Ford project you can dream up. Mine is going to go in my, uh, ’85 F-150. From turning this block down and inspecting the crank journals to picking the right parts for the rotating assembly and finally firing it up, I’m going to cover all the steps, share all the notes, and almost certainly screw up a few things ’cause I’m no pro and that’s bound to happen. Hello! Now before I start ripping into steel and iron, I want to talk about what makes the 351 Windsor so special. Ford introduced this engine in 1969 and it quickly found a home in everything from Mustangs to trucks. The chassis DNA with a 289 and 302 small blocks, but there are a few key differences. The 351 Windsor is built on a taller deck, which translates into more stroke potential. Basically, the block is a bit beefier all around. It’s got bigger main journals, a stronger bottom end, and enough structural integrity to handle the, uh, the kind of power that I’m aiming for in a stroker build. That’s one of the big reasons enthusiasts love turning the Windsor into a 408 or even beyond. It can handle the extra displacement without acting like, uh, it’s about to explode every time you lay into the gas pedal. So let me get specific on some numbers. The original 351 Windsor typically sports a 4-inch bore and a 3.5-inch stroke. Deck height is in the 9.48 to 9.53-inch range depending on the year, which is noticeably taller than the 8.2 inches you’d see in a 289 or 302. Compression ratios vary, uh, they were all over the map depending on the year and emissions. Early on, you might have seen ratios around 10.7 to 1, while later engines dipped into the 8.0 to 9.0 to 1 range, like this one here. It’s a ’95. As for weight, fully dressed with iron heads and intake, you’re looking at about 500 to 520 lbs, so it’s not exactly a featherweight, uh, but you know, if you’re looking for that, get yourself a 289 if weight savings is your ballpark. Now, if you ever find yourself staring at a Ford small block and wondering whether you got a 351 Windsor, a 302, or a 289, here’s how to tell without playing the guessing game. So first off, casting numbers can give you a clue. They’re over here, uh, underneath on the driver’s side, uh, but they don’t spill it out for you. Take the F4TE 615A block that I have here for example. That C number doesn’t straight up scream 351 Windsor, but it does give us some breadcrumbs. The 6015 part, that’s just Ford’s generic block identifier. It doesn’t tell us the displacement, uh, but the F4TE means that it’s a 1994 truck block. Now that means it’s either a 302 or 351 W. So how do we know for sure? Well, here’s where the physical differences between those two different blocks come in. One of the easiest ways to spot a 351 over a 302 is the deck height. Uh, the 351 is noticeably taller, measuring 9.53 inches compared to the 302’s 8.26. It’s a solid 1.3-inch difference, which spreads the heads further apart and it makes the engine physically larger. Now you can’t, uh, fiddle with it to get it right where 9 and a half is, but yeah, you can see it’s pretty close right there. Uh, now if you turn to the bottom end, uh, Ford gave the 351 Windsor a much beefier foundation compared to the 302. I don’t have this apart so I can’t show you, uh, but one of the quickest tells is the main cap bolts. They’re 1/2-inch bolts on 351 versus the smaller 7/16-inch bolts on a 302. Uh, the extra strength is one of the reasons that the 351 Windsor can handle stroker builds and, uh, big power without turning into a, yeah, pile of metal shavings. I mean, not that the 302 can do that, but 351 is more robust. Uh, speaking of beefy internals, the crankshaft main journal is another great big difference. The 351 Windsor uses a hefty 3-inch main journal compared to the 302’s 2.5 inches. You know, so there you go versus there you go, right? Uh, if you got the crank out, a quick measurement will tell you exactly what you’re working with. One more subtle clue is the oil filter boss, uh, location on 351 Windsor. The oil filter mount sits slightly higher on the block than it does on the 302. Now this is not super easy to spot, especially when the engine is inside of a bay, uh, unless you got them both side by side sitting out. But if you want to look for that, it’s just another piece of the puzzle. Uh, so you know, the next time you’re thinking through a swap met or picking through a junkyard, uh, keep those checks in mind. Uh, now if you’re looking at a small block Ford, uh, installed in an engine bay from the front and trying to decide if it’s a 351 Windsor or just another 302, my go-to way, what I think is the easiest, uh, and it’s a quick way to tell at a glance is to check the area around the distributor mount. Um, I’ll get you a closeup here in a second, but, uh, on a 289 or 302, the pad the distributor mounts, uh, is almost flush with the block. On a 351, there’s almost an extra inch of, uh, material here. Uh, it’s much visibly taller. It’s due to the deck height and the taller deck is what gives the 351 Windsor its extra stroke and displacement. So it’s the quick visual indicator, this deck height here around the distributor, uh, to tell if you’re looking at, uh, a 351 or a 302 if the engine is sitting inside of a, of an engine bay, especially if it’s fully dressed. So, uh, while I got the engine still together, although it won’t be for long, there’s a few other things that, uh, I want to point out here before I start tearing this thing down completely. First off, we’ll take a look at the oil pan. Now I’ll be sure to show you the pickup tube and discuss how it affects oil delivery once I’ve got all this stuff here off. Still so much grime. So another thing I want to show you real quick while the engine’s still together is that I still have the, uh, stock exhaust manifolds on. Now they’re fine for a stock build for the most part, but, uh, you know, they’re definitely not going to be okay for a 408 stroker. Now I’ve left these on here because I didn’t want critters and stuff getting in the open holes while I was sitting outside, but now that it’s in my garage, I can, uh, take those off. I’m not doing that right now, but I am going to show you what I’m replacing them with to give you an idea of the difference. So to do that, let me turn this thing back around. Now this thing is definitely top-heavy, so, uh, and it is a beast, so I got to have a little bit of a cheater bar here to, uh, see if I can get this thing turned around. Here we go. H! All right, so here you can see the, uh, stock exhaust header. Let me, uh, try you down a little bit so you can get a better, a little bit clearer shot. And here is the new one that’s going to go on. These are long tube headers. I got them, uh, actually I got them for free from, uh, DynoX, so they provided those for me. I’ve got a video on these, um, where I’ll show you what these are all about. But yeah, man, that’s going to, that’s going to look pretty sweet and sound pretty sweet. Yeah, we can look forward to getting those on. And lastly, while we’re here and this thing is still together, you can take a look at the stock intake manifold up here. Uh, you know what? Actually, let me get, uh, this plate off the top here and I’ll show you what I’m talking about. All right, now that I’ve got the, uh, plate off the top, we could talk about this, uh, stock intake manifold. Now there’s a couple things going on here, um, that need to be addressed as far as my build is concerned. First, you know, these documents are okay for low-end grunt, um, and stock applications, but for a 408 stroker build, uh, they just don’t flow enough air. So I’ll be definitely looking at some aftermarket intakes for this. And, uh, also because this one is a fuel injected intake, not a carbureted intake, um, I will be swapping this to a carbureted engine. Uh, and you guys may go, oh my God, carbureted engine, why would you ever do that? Fuel injection is so much better and more reliable and all this other kind of stuff that people end up doing. Uh, so a couple things. One, uh, I’ve never messed with carburetors before, and so I don’t have that, that little bit of jadedness that some of the carburetor guys have. Uh, and I need to get that. I really need to, to figure out, I need to internalize why carburetors are so horrible, right? So I want to build my engine with a carburetor. I also really like the old school feel of that, and I like the old school look. So if I do get tired of the carburetor, uh, even though I’ve got a carbureted intake, I’ll just get myself like a sniper EFI or something like that that looks like a carburetor, uh, still gives you that old school look, but you, it will work with the intake that I’ve got, but still gives me the, uh, the modern sort of drivability and reliability of an EFI setup. So that’s my plan there. So once I got everything taken apart, disassembled, I’m going to dedicate an entire episode to walking through each of these parts so I can show you exactly what it does and why it’s important. I’ll lay out the crank, rods, pistons, heads, and anything else that I’ve yanked off this block right here, uh, and I’ll put them on a bench and I’ll give you a crash course on small block Ford anatomy. Honestly, it’s going to help me brush up on my own knowledge too because, you know, there’s nothing like pointing at each component and telling you exactly what it does and figuring out how it all comes together to, uh, keep your mind on track. That’ll be good for me before I, uh, build the new engine too, so we’re going to do that. Uh, I mean, Lord knows I need as much help as I can get. If you’re wondering why I picked a 351 Windsor for a project like this, one, you’re obviously not a subscriber to the channel, and two, let me sum it up. Uh, there’s a ton of them out there, it’s durable, and the aftermarket part support is insane. You know, there’s a lot of options for intakes, exhausts, uh, man, all kinds of different stroker kits and just pretty much whatever you’re looking for. So as I’m going along, I’m also going to chat about the history of the Windsor, uh, ’cause it’s really interesting and that’s part of the fun for me. I really like digging into that stuff. So now here’s the part that I’m going to get yelled at for in the next episode. I’m going to start tearing this thing down. Oh my God, Ed, all you ever do is flap your gums! I know, right? I’ve been waiting on this for four years, but I want to do it right and take it slow, so I’m taking it one episode at a time. Next time, I promise I talk to you about this engine, I will be taking it apart. I’m going to show you exactly how I pull the heads, yank the cam, and see if there’s any hidden damage lurking down into this block, right? I’m going to measure the bores to see how much I need to overbore for my stroker pistons. Now hopefully I’ll get lucky and this thing is basically still stock. I think it is, and if it is, then I should probably only have to go 30 over, but you never know. Maybe I won’t, and that’s part of the adventure. So once I know the status, I’ll pick out a nice stroker kit that matches my goal, something that’ll give me a nice bump in torque and horsepower, get me up to 408, and, uh, you know, something that won’t turn this engine into a ticking time bomb. Excuse me, uh, so that’s the plan and I can’t wait to get my hands dirty. If you love classic small block Fords or just enjoy watching some dude in his garage try not to drop a cylinder.

Head on his foot then, uh, this series is definitely going to be for you. I, I, I, I’m designing this series so that some guy like me, who’s never done this before, can start from episode one and work all the way through. By the end, should know everything they got to know to build the same kind of engine that I’m building here. And that’s, guys, that’s why I’m taking it slow. I know that, uh, you four guys that have built before probably look at this going, oh my gosh, this guy is so slow, it’s like watching molasses go uphill. But you’re probably not who this series is for. But you might find it interesting, so I hope that you do.

So guys, do myself and yourself a favor and make sure that you’re subscribed and have those notifications turned on because next time, I swear to you that you see this engine, I will be tearing it apart to see what’s salvageable and set the stage for the 408 stroker build. Um, it’s going to be a lot of work. It’s going to be a lot of head scratching for me ’cause I’ve never done it before. Um, it’s a big, uh, big task and, uh, I’m sure there’ll be a little bit more than just a little bit of cussing under my breath. Um, but I’m looking forward to it.

You know, let me know if you guys have done a stroker engine yourself and how it went. What was a dream come true or a frustrating odyssey of stripped bolts and missing gaskets? Because it is intimidating for a first timer, uh, but I want to hear about it. If you have any other questions, comments, concerns, gripes, internet ramblings, as always, stick them below. Thanks again for watching and we will see you next time.

She’s rough around the edges but she’s doing fine, tinkering away, getting things to shine. No garage, she’s considered divine. Thanks again for watching, we will see you next time. Thanks again for watching, we will see you next time.