A while back we picked up a used 302 V8 engine from a local mechanic that stripped an old Ford truck from the late 70s for a fair price. This engine would be the donor engine that would be set up to go into the 94 F150 truck that we have that was named the FMT or Ford Muscle Truck, paying homage to Roadkill for coming up with this acronym. Anyway, part of prepping the engine was to remove all of the accessory brackets that held the old alternator and power steering pump and other hardware, since the stuff that went on the FMT's original engine are obviously different.
Now we did have to pick up another accessory bracket as we were missing one of them. We did get everything bracket-wise but may still need to replace something like the alternator or what not. By putting the FMT's original hardware back on we can be able to drop the engine into the truck and hook everything back up the way it should be. There were some obvious changes to be made though. The first thing was the intake. The old V8 had a 2bbl carburetor and intake on it, which despite the fuel savings with a 2bbl versus a 4bbl, I pulled all that stuff off. I needed a 4bbl intake but didn't really want to shell out the $150+ to get a new intake. I did the next best thing, borrowing. Since we recently pulled the 289 powertrain from the 65 Mustang, I had its engine sitting on the floor in the garage. This engine has a 4bbl intake on it. So, it was obvious at this point what was going to happen. I pulled the intake off and cleaned it up since it did have rat shit on it. With that, I was able to transfer the intake over to the 302 engine. With the intake installed on the 302 the next thing was the front of the engine. Upon trying to test fit the accessory brackets, I ended up seeing the engine's old water pump would not allow for the newer accessory brackets to be bolted up. I ended up ordering a new water pump intended for use on a 94 F150. Upon trying to install the newer water pump I found that the gasket outline for the newer water pump didn't match up to the old timing cover. Also with the mechanical fuel pump on the timing cover, the accessory bracket on the left that holds the power steering pump and compressor would not fit. Basically the older timing cover had to be swapped out. Luckily I still had the newer timing cover from the FMT's old 302. With a replacement gasket set I was able to get a new front main seal installed in the timing cover and get the gaskets staged so I can install the new cover on the engine. After having to fight with the cover some to get it to set straight, I got bolts installed and went ahead and installed the newer water pump. From there I started installing the accessory brackets. The bracket on the right side holds the alternator and smog pump. In the process of installing this stuff I had to hunt down bolts to fit everything since some of the bolts required were long bolts. I was able to find some salvaged bolts from the FMT's old engine but had to source others from my stock as well. With the accessory brackets bolted up I had to survey what was left to do. I still have to install the harmonic balancer and the crank pulley for the serpentine belt. I also have to install the pulley for the water pump as well. I could re-install the fan clutch, but I have to see if I still have that piece of hardware, otherwise I will have to install a pair of generic electric fans, like the ones on the Dodge, or get a dedicated radiator shroud with a couple of fans installed, or make an assembly as such to use with a couple of generic fans. I also have to install the AC compressor and alternator on their respective bases on the two brackets. The left side bracket has the power steering pump already on it and the right side has the smog pump. Originally I planned on keeping the smog pump since I would need it for its pulley to hold the serpentine belt in place. After doing a quick check I found the smog pump was frozen, never to turn again. I went ahead and removed the part, but immediately started researching the existence of a smog pump bypass or delete pulley, which would be a pulley that has a bracket that can be mounted in place of the smog pump, but hold an idler pulley in the same spot as the smog pump's pulley. I hadn't seen anything yet but had seen how some people just removed the smog pump and got a smaller serpentine belt that allowed them to belt everything up without worrying about the smog pump or a pulley assembly to delete the smog pump from the system. I did find some info from some forums about the smog pump issue with some belt part numbers and reference to the idea that a belt can be safely routed in a way that excludes the smog pump all together. I will have to test that theory out by getting a belt of that part number and doing what some of these guys did to make things work as they said it did for them. If I can succeed at that, then I'll have saved myself some money and headache by not having to get a pulley assembly or even worse, getting a replacement smog pump just to use it for the pulley. It would be nice to have this resolved so when I do get everything put on the engine I can throw the belt on and have that part of the engine build completed, leaving just the clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder, the latter which has to be installed on the transmission's input shaft, which will be blocked when the tranny is installed on the back of the engine. Once that's all done the powertrain will be ready to install into the truck.
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