So my new 45LV has the original 65 F motor as well as everthing attached to it...its all like it was in 65. Motor purs like a kitten, was supposedly rebuilt at 90k(but many years ago)(has 93k on it now)

what are some issues with this early F? what to watch for? what to avoid? what to expect? how to care and feed for an early F, whats a safe RPM for one. That kinda thing. All my other motors are 77+ 2F's(or 3fe or newer) and i have never had an motor problem with any of them. But I know the early F had some issues.

John

Except for the very late F motors they all ave an external oil pressure regulator. It prevents too high of pressure but over time it allows for too low presure. It is located under the exhaust manifold and the external oil lines go to it. I would check the oil pressure and make sure it is correct. You can adjust it with the big nut on the end of the regulator although the spring wears over time and might need to be shimmed or replaced.

The external oil lines leak like all hell. All aftm guys sell SS replacements.

There are 2 O rings that seal the 2 sides of the split rocker shaft at the oil union. They harden over time and leak reducing oil flow to the rocker train.

I would clean it out well and run it. Great motor for what it is.

The early F has a pressed on harmonic balancer, rather than being secured by the big nut. So, you'll need to watch and make sure the balancer doesn't work loose and fall off the end of the crankshaft.

good info guys. FWIW this F motor doesn't leak a drop of oil anyplace or out of any hose :) (but it prolly will)

the harmonic ballancer, mine has a double pully, does that meen anything?, (the block is the original, # match) I'll look to see if its a nut

yeah I noticed the oil presure thing, was wondering WFT that was :rolleyes:

Fiber timing gear let loose on one of mine. At the time I thought it was a mild rod knock and ignored it. Bent valve, and a few push rods. :shaking:

Early, early F doesn't have the O rings for the rocker oiler, nifty spring and cup setup instead, not much to go wrong with that but worth a look when you adjust the valves.

Hoping Mark chimes in here. My new '64 F is running good but I wouldn't mind heading off any surprise.

Even tho dd113 and I don't agree on carbs, he's on the money here.

If you are running a F135, you have a pressed on balancer, and it is a nuisance. I drilled the crank out for a SBC balancer bolt and milled the claw off the balancer to permanently solve that problem.

Like Jim said, gotta watch out for the fibre cam gear. I thought it was just my bad luck that the PO of the motor in my swb45 got his engine rebuilt and reinstalled the used fibre gear, which went out on me a couple of years later. The machine shop I was using at the time told me he could still get the fibre gears new!!!!!!!!!!! I said no way, installed a steel gear instead, and have listened to it thunking away ever since!!!!!!!! Still, it's gotta be better than looking at bent valves, pushrods, or worse! :eek:

F135s also are prone to cylinder head cracks. My DD had a cracked head when I bought it (puff of coolant smelling white smoke at startup) Drove it that way for about 5 years, til I burned a valve! :D I grabbed a rebuilt off the shelf and did an afternoon changeout at the shop (ownership has its priviledges!) and sent the old head out for S&G. Shop called me a couple of days later and said the head had 7 cracks! :eek: Told 'em to keep the valves and toss the rest.

Three weeks into the next head, truck started puffing white smoke at startup again! Moral of the story: heads seem prone to cracking, but don't seem to have any long term consequence other than a VERY SLOW loss of coolant (maybe a pint a month on a DD). No coolant problems with the current engine after 18 months (need a knock-wood smilie here!)

What I find truly amazing about the F135 is the vacuum and low end torque. With the siamesed intakes, it is constantly starved for intake charge, which keeps manifold vacuum between 19-21 inches, for an awesome flame front!
The balanced 135 in my DD comes off the line fast and stays fast up to 3000rpm. (Only minor tinkering with the carb, and factory dist with the copper line still hooked up) Wouldn't want to run an unbalanced 135 over 3000rpm.

To me, THE MOST IMPORTANT THING you can do for any solid-liftered vehicle is install a vacuum guage and monitor it. Valve seats migrate, and it doesn't take long to burn a valve! I run one in every rig I wheel. When I burned the valve on the original 135 head, I had been wheeling, and the needle on the vacuum guage started to flicker when I was about 90 miles from home. I figured it could wait 90 miles. Figured wrong.

Needle was flickering at the end of my 15 mile commute home yesterday. Parked the truck and took wifey's new toy to work today. Guess what I'll be doing in the morning before I go to work tomorrow!

Fiber timing gear let loose on one of mine. At the time I thought it was a mild rod knock and ignored it. Bent valve, and a few push rods. :shaking:

Early, early F doesn't have the O rings for the rocker oiler, nifty spring and cup setup instead, not much to go wrong with that but worth a look when you adjust the valves.

Hoping Mark chimes in here. My new '64 F is running good but I wouldn't mind heading off any surprise.


I have never seen a fiber gear on a F or 2F for that matter. I have seen them as replacements for the older gears and on 3Fs. Were the fiber gears stock for the early Fs?

Tell me more about this ball and spring set up on the valve train oiler. I have never seen it. I "think" the F changed in late 68 was this oiler one of the items that were done away with?

"To me, THE MOST IMPORTANT THING you can do for any solid-liftered vehicle is install a vacuum guage and monitor it. Valve seats migrate, and it doesn't take long to burn a valve
the needle on the vacuum guage started to flicker when I was about 90 miles from home. I figured it could wait 90 miles. Figured wrong.

Needle was flickering at the end of my 15 mile commute home yesterday. Parked the truck and took wifey's new toy to work today. Guess what I'll be doing in the morning before I go to work tomorrow!
"
oK.. I'll be the dumb one here but if the vacuum guage is flickering it means leaking valve stem seals? ANd your going to replace them? I'm basically just sitting back reading on these threads as Pimp's about a month ahead of me.. Brakes are first on my list then I"ll start touching the engine on the 63.

Any tips on the oil line that runs up to the rocker arms? Is that an issue to watch?

Bummed. Readjusted the valves (4 had tightened) and the vacuum guage was still flickering. Retrieved a comp tester from the shop last night and confirmed it: 20psi on #2. Wet test: no improvement. Guess what I'll be doing this weekend!

So I thought I'd jump in the 40, since I got used to driving the 45 topless the last few weeks. Wrong. Carb's gone funky one me. Think she's jealous of the attention? Hopefully, I can squeeze in the carb overhaul today, cause it would be a total bummer to have to drive the swb all weekend! :grinpimp:

Still, I guess I'd rather find out now than at the Con!

I don't think your going to have to watch for these problems as much as most. How many miles are you going to put on this truck? I'm guessing maybe 10 miles a year by the looks of the pics! Yeah the oil pumps are good to watch because over time as they wear down less oil is sent to the #5 and 6 rod bearings. And if the pump ever fails usually the #6 bearing is the first to go...trust me. But if you have a rebuilt engine you should be good for quite a while.

sense it showed up last saturday........I have put 250 miles on it :) I don't plan on beating it but I do plan on using and driving it more that most would think....I meen whats the point of having it if I don't drive it? (I actually have blankets over the seats as I don't want to bugger em up :shaking: )

funny I drove the 82 fj40 yesterday for the 1st time sense the 45 showed up.....I damn near put my left foot thru the firewall......the clutch is just a "bit" lighter on the 40......all the way to the office.....SLAM SLAM SLAM up agiast the firewall.........felt like the master or slave was toast......of course it wasn't ;)



I don't think your going to have to watch for these problems as much as most. How many miles are you going to put on this truck? I'm guessing maybe 10 miles a year by the looks of the pics! Yeah the oil pumps are good to watch because over time as they wear down less oil is sent to the #5 and 6 rod bearings. And if the pump ever fails usually the #6 bearing is the first to go...trust me. But if you have a rebuilt engine you should be good for quite a while.

........ But if you have a rebuilt engine you should be good for quite a while.

So much for that theory! 8k on my fully balanced rebuild and I shoot a piece out of the exhaust valve! :eek:

"Any tips on the oil line that runs up to the rocker arms? Is that an issue to watch?"-tornadoalleycruiser

The tube crosses over 2 pushrods from the cam oiler feed to the galley where it ascends to the rockers. Because of the tight clearance inside the side galley cover, sometimes the tube ends up against one of the pushrods, which cuts its way thru the tube. If the gasket on your side cover is less than perfect, it's cheap insurance to pull the cover and check the tube while you're replacing the gasket. :)

So much for that theory! 8k on my fully balanced rebuild and I shoot a piece out of the exhaust valve! :eek:

"Any tips on the oil line that runs up to the rocker arms? Is that an issue to watch?"-tornadoalleycruiser

The tube crosses over 2 pushrods from the cam oiler feed to the galley where it ascends to the rockers. Because of the tight clearance inside the side galley cover, sometimes the tube ends up against one of the pushrods, which cuts its way thru the tube. If the gasket on your side cover is less than perfect, it's cheap insurance to pull the cover and check the tube while you're replacing the gasket. :)

Ah ha that explains the piece of copper tube that I found in my oil pan! Hopefully it won't be to hard to replace.

Ah ha that explains the piece of copper tube that I found in my oil pan! Hopefully it won't be to hard to replace.

:eek: :eek: :eek: In addition to getting on that new copper line RIGHT AWAY---RIGHT AWAY---RIGHT AWAY. (did I mention right away) you should pull the rocker shafts out, get a bottle brush and clean out the inside of the rockers. No doubt you will find some metal shavings in there for the time you have run the motor without sufficient topside oiling. While the rockers are off (are you off your rockers!), you should also try sliding them sideways a little bit to see how deeply scored the shaft is underneath the bushings. This plays hell with valve adjustments, as does the grooves in the rocker tips over top of the valves.

[QUOTE=tornadoalleycruiser]
"
oK.. I'll be the dumb one here but if the vacuum guage is flickering it means leaking valve stem seals? QUOTE]

Sorry it took so long to get back to this Erik, but the answer is no. Flickering vacuum needle on a solid-lifter-ed engine like the cruisers is usually a sign that one or more of the valves is not sealing the cylinder completely. Typically, when an intake valve does not close all the way, it pushes part of the intake charge back into the intake manifold, lessening the demand from the carb. Since the vacuum guage measures the amount of demand on the carb, the momentary drops (flickering) equal the lessened demand from the returning air.

The goal is the highest steady reading you can achieve. IMO, 17" is a bare minimum to get all the circuits in an Aisan carb to work properly. My '68 is currently pulling about 18" and the lwb with the hand-lapped valve is close to 20". As with many other things in life, the chase for the last couple of inches will cost you dearly! :D