Pulled the intake manifold off yesterday, and found a pleasant surprise. Either this isn't the original engine or someone else swapped the head, because the head that's on this engine is a d-port head 4 plug. The old intake manifold is a round port, so this is odd. I know the truck body and frame is an 83' but now I have no idea what year the engine or the head is. I'm not to worried though because it ran good when it's not starving for fuel.
We'll see, not I don't have to put a different head on to get d-shaped ports my new manifold will bolt right up. Only problems I see are once I get the new carb and intake up and running, if there is still problems there's a good possibility that it's a shoddy swap job.
Well, the heads do crack from a bit of overheating so it would not surprise me if someone had to replace it at some time...but that is good news for your intake upgrade...less to worry about and more time to enjoy...
So this engine was running recently? If so, your head probably isn't cracked...
They tend to crack around the valves mostly...had my new (to me) head tested before they did any work on it and even that one was a bit rough around the valves...the machine shop managed to smooth it out according to them...since it was minor...
Yeah it was running when I bought it (barely) and I had it running last week by pumping the accelerator pump. I'll probably end up rebuilding the top end sometime with new valves and cams and a little machining. I'll be able to get some pictures next week sometime. The carb I ordered from Jeg's came but they sent a Holley Street Avenger 4 Barrel 750 in a Holley 2300 2 barrel box. IDK what that was but I sold it to my buddy for his 67' GTO, turns out it bolted on and ran perfectly with that carb... weird huh? Anyway he gave me what I paid for the 2300 and I ordered a new one. So as soon as the intake and carb come in I'll be snapping pics of the whole process.
damn, turns out I also now think that I have a 2.0 and not a 2.3 that sucks. I just didn't think that they would EVER put the 2.0 in the 4x4 ugh well this is disappointing. But I'm still not 100% sure, I was looking at flamin's build and my engine looks exactly the same with the oil cap on the rear of the valve cover and not the front. Is there any way to be sure, and like I said I still have the d-port heads so idk what that is about. Starting to think this is a franken motor.
The rear oil cap was on 2.3's as well...early ones....and I doubt Ford put a 2.0 in with a 4x4 motor but I could be wrong...since they dieseled a 2.3 that got an incredible 56 HP...lower even than the 2.0...
The only way to tell is to pull the head and lay the 2.3 gasket on the block...if there is about 1/8" gap between the lip of the gasket and the piston then it's a 2.0...if it fits the cylinder perfectly then it's a 2.3....
If you found a surprise in the head being D-port you may be even more surprised to find they stroked the 2.3 to a 2.5...bonus!
True...I've reused mine three times...heads are still crisp and no slipping...I don't like the TTY head bolts...at $10 a pop a head swap can get very expensive...
The rear oil cap was on 2.3's as well...early ones....and I doubt Ford put a 2.0 in with a 4x4 motor but I could be wrong...since they dieseled a 2.3 that got an incredible 56 HP...lower even than the 2.0...
The only way to tell is to pull the head and lay the 2.3 gasket on the block...if there is about 1/8" gap between the lip of the gasket and the piston then it's a 2.0...if it fits the cylinder perfectly then it's a 2.3....
If you found a surprise in the head being D-port you may be even more surprised to find they stroked the 2.3 to a 2.5...bonus!
Haha that would be awesome. I'm not gonna tear the head off just on a hunch because I still don't believe they would put a 2.0 in a 4x4. Maybe when I'm ready to cam it up and replace the valves then I'll get more definitive answers.
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Hells yeah, definitely can't wait to hear how it all works out for you man. If possible, I would love to see pictures as well!
