The Engine Bay (Part 1) - Ford FE 352 Valve Covers

I begin to clean up the engine bay as I can see by peering under the hood that many wires are going nowhere, fragments of upgrades past that have been removed for one reason or another (Uncle Ken once had cruise control on Old Blue!), Oil and other fluids have splashed on the various components and a fine rust permeates across the Fender wells, firewall, radiator and most of the electrical component boxes.

I will NOT do a restoration but I would like to get an idea of what wires are being used, what is causing the various leaks and see what I can do to eliminate fluid loss and rusting of the engine bay.

It does not take long to see the valve covers are oozing oil ... Reading up on the FE Forum first step is to check valve covers and gaskets. This seems to be a common problem with these old trucks but I will need to get a Torque wrench to perform the maintenance.

After cleaning the oil off all the parts I can reach, I ran the truck for a few days and took another look under the hood. I notice there is also just a little oil now on the front of the oil filter .. touching around the various pieces I think I feel dampness on the bottom of the oil pressure sending unit. hmmm ... maybe it needs tightening or something I will also read up on this little piece of mechanical mastery....

Next Steps:
1. Buy Torque wrench - I checked out what Sears, Napa and the usual suspects had in stock and chose one of the Napa offerings. I got the analog version as I did not read anything that said the digital was any better. It cost about $50

2. Find out what Torque to apply to bolts - I posted this question on the Ford Enthusiasts forum and was told to get a copy of the old 1966 Ford Truck shop manuals off of EBAY. When I looked around, I found they were being offered as digital copies on DVD (around $25) or the old printed versions for between $60 - $150 for the set of four books. I found one offering for Vols 1,  3, 4 for $11 and Uncle Ken sent me Volume 2 and the Preliminary so I got the complete set for $11.

I spent all my spare time for the next week reading through the manuals and found on page 8-248 of Vol 2 a table showing the Ft-Lbs for the Valve Rocker Arm Cover for the 352 to be 10-12. OK!

3. Find replacement valve cover bolts (one is broke).  I notice that on the passenger side nearest the carburetor one of the bolt heads has snapped off and the bolt will need to be replaced. I asked at Napa if they had anything and they did not. The man at the counter said that the bolts need to come with the lock washer already on it and to get a size 5/16"-18 x 5/8"  hex-head bolts with the split washers. He said from the factory the correct markings on the bolt head would be AMK428. I found some New Old Stock (NOS) on EBAY for $8 for a set of 10 and bought them. I also picked up a stud puller since I will have to remove the bit of bolt now stuck in the engine block.

4. Find replacement gaskets. Easy as a trip to Napa. I decided on the rubber cork type since many people said they seat the often misaligned cylinder head covers well. Minimizing the potential for vacuum leaks. 

5. Repaint Covers? -- YES! I will try to find someplace in town to bead blast the covers and then paint them OLD FORD BLUE (Duplicolor). I read a ton of forum threads on the appropriate color of the 1966 352 valve covers and after all kinds of analysis by many people much smarter than me about such things they determine that in 1966 Ford sold the F-250's with BLUE engine blocks and BLUE Valve covers. Either the Ditzler paint code 22362 or the Duplicolor 'Old Ford Blue' will work. I found the Duplicolor at the local Napa store for $5 and picked up some VHT high build primer at the same time.

6. Removing Valve Covers - pulling broken stud.
7. Stripping
8. Painting
9. Replacing Gaskets
10. Mounting Valve Covers with new bolts

Should be a fun little project!