I have noticed on a couple of the truck 5.0's I have rebuilt that they have the screw bosses in the lifter valley to screw down the spider but don't have the taller lifter bores to hold the roller lifters and the tops were not machined for the dog bones. THose blocks had XXX's all over the valley. lol My machinist at the time said the cost to machine the tops of the lifter bores would cost more than another block would. Anybody else run into this? On those blocks the screw holes were not threaded. ONe of those blocks had a machined/threaded boss (unused) for the clutch pivot ball! That was wierd. I think the 5.0 is just like many other things Ford did. Once somebody thinks they know all there is to know about them they will find something else that will throw them for a loop. lol clint
Are they supposed to be? I dont know but I do know I took all the roller stuff off a late model 5.0, bore and tapped two holes on my 302, and put all the roller stuff in it. Its been going strong for 7 years now with no problems.
I verified the firing order and it is the HO pattern. But since I will have to bore this block, the forged pistons wont do me any good. I been thinking of getting a 331 stroker kit anyway.
I've got two roller blocks, one's an 88, the other an 89, both from F series trucks. One has fully formed & drilled retainer bosses ditto for the lifterbore tops, it's ready to go roller. The other has half formed bosses for the spyder bolts, they're tall enough, but not large enough in diameter for 1/4" bolts. The lifter bores are ready to go roller. The way I see it, those blocks with casting defects as pertains to the requirements of a roller cam got bumped into the truck and van assembly as well as some roller ready car blocks, as needed to meet assembly line production requirements. You sure that pivot ball hole is on the drivers side of the block ? I've seen some with a similar hole on the passenger side, maybe for a ground strap bolt ?
My 331 block was from an 89 Lincoln Mark VII. It gets spun up to 7000 with a Z303 roller and Comp Cams O.E. style roller lifters. I've spun em to 7500 with the same lifters and a B303 cam in another roller block
So, a little of a hijack! I was looking at my 93 block, and I can't find any casting numbers, did they change them along the way? I can find them on my 73 and 74 spare blocks, but nothing in the same location on the 93? I find this all very interesting, I think I'm planning the same project as Dennis. I have most of the parts I need, just need to take the block to the machine shop, and get my engine stand back from a friend.
The numbers were moved to the lower rear corner of the block. behind the starter. I think I've seen a few with it on the driver's side too. Yopu'll only find the prefix and date code. Ford eliminated the part number part of the casting numbers.
Its a 71 vintage block, I've never gone over 6500. Tomorrow I will pull the cam and roller stuff out of the 87 block and see what it has.
But you're running a small base circle cam. A full size cam would cause the lifters to stick out too far from the lifter bores and you would lose oil pressure. In a roller block the lifter bores are higher to accomodate the taller roller lifters and they are machined flat to give the dog bone retainers a nice even place to lay.
