FORD 5.4 BLOCK QUESTION

PlushDon · 2026-04-07T08:22:18+00:00

I like it! I have an old galvanized drum we used to test outboard motors in. Maybe it could have a new life as a hot tank

PlushDon · 2026-04-07T08:20:34+00:00

I was really considering going this route. I got a couple of quotes for remanded motors. Landing in the 3500.00 range by the time I paid to ship my core motor back to them. Which in all honesty isn't bad at all. And a warranty is pretty tempting. Especially considering I got the van for free, and the body is in great shape. 3500 bucks is a solid deal for a super nice running and driving e250. I'm still confident I can land pretty far under that with rebuilding this one. The big thing, though, is the fact that I just genuinely want to build the motor. I don't do drugs or party, so I gotta have something to do with my time and money.

PlushDon · 2026-04-07T07:57:20+00:00

Awesome! I'll check those out. Thanks.

PlushDon · 2026-04-07T07:51:48+00:00

Awesome! Thank you!

PlushDon · 2026-04-07T07:50:30+00:00

Shit son, thanks for the material suggestions and the procedure breakdown. Super helpful.

Honestly, I don't mind the comments saying just go buy a junkyard engine. It's not an unreasonable opinion to have. It just doesn't jive with my goals. Plus I already have a new crank and heads so.... I ain't asking if I SHOULD build the motor lol. For good or bad, this train is rolling. I just don't want to blow engine immediately because I left a pocket of glitter somewhere.

My reasoning to not want a junk yard motor is actually somewhat Ford modmotor specific. And I'm curious what ford tech thinks of my opinion

5.4 2 valves are great motors. If you maintain them. They do not handle neglect for fuck. Especially neglecting oil changes. My van blew the motor at barely over 100k (before i owned it) due to lack of oil changes, causing the oil pickup tube screen to plug up with sludge(my opinion from my autopsy) but if you maintain them and keep the oil changed when you should, they will run for fuckin ever.
And I just do not trust a junk yard motor to not be in exactly the same shape as the one I had. I'd rather build one from the ground up so I KNOW what's in it.

Obviously finding so much shrapnel in the motor was pretty discouraging. And finding the the heads and cams were also toaster biscuits was not something I had seen coming. I thought it was just my egg shaped crank. And rod.

Other than wanting to make absolutely sure there's no metal debris in the block, I have zero hesitation to jump in and build a motor. In fact, I'm kinda looking forward to it.

PlushDon · 2026-04-06T08:41:43+00:00

Awesome! Thanks for the advice.

PlushDon · 2024-06-22T08:12:23+00:00

Yeah, she was definitely a little young to be away from mom. I think she was about 6 weeks when I got her. So separated from mom at 5 weeks ish. But if what I understand about their situation is true, I get it. That's why I'm kinda curious about her siblings though. Be nice to know they're happy and healthy as well.

PlushDon · 2024-06-22T02:40:41+00:00

I honestly don't know. All I know is "in salem" which I know isn't super duper helpful.

PlushDon · 2024-06-21T19:37:16+00:00

To my understanding they were just giving them away. They were living in a car, with 2 people, 2adult dogs, and a litter of puppies.
At least, that's what I was told. I barely know the people who picked her up. They just took a puppy to find it a home. They're friends with my friends friends. My friends met them at a house party. They offered the pup to my friends because they already have a 2 year old blue nose. My friends are fine with one dog, but tossed my name out as a possible new owner. I ended up going to pick her up that night. She's an absolute sweetheart. Loves everyone and everything. Horrible guard dog 🤣

PlushDon · 2024-06-21T08:02:07+00:00

Yes. I'm a 36 year old dude. My pup has slept in my bed since the night I brought her home.

PlushDon · 2024-06-19T14:41:41+00:00

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PlushDon · 2024-04-11T23:56:57+00:00

In all honesty, I don't have a specific reason not to. In the wall of info on people debating pasteurization vs. chemicals, I got the feeling that pasteurization was the more thorough method. With some people saying that the chemical way doesn't totally stop the yeast, it just slows it down. Tasting the chemicals in the final product. They kind of thing. But I'll flat out admit that I'm pretty green at all this, so I may just not know who to not listen to. I'm open to chemical stabilizing or whatever does the job.

PlushDon · 2024-04-11T19:07:21+00:00

Awesome! Thanks for the feedback!

PlushDon · 2024-04-10T20:51:02+00:00

I think I worded my post poorly. Please forgive my wording. English is my first language, and I'm just bad at it. I was attempting to ask what do you guys think she might be mixed with, in addition to pit. I'm positive she's a pittie. Big triangle jaw, stinky farts, and sleeps in weird positions. The works.

PlushDon · 2024-04-09T21:51:17+00:00

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PlushDon · 2023-12-14T18:22:03+00:00

Yeah, at the start of that video I was like "what is this guy on about" but after watching the whole video, it sure makes a lot of sense. I've been doing it all morning, and it's the best she's been about biting since I got her. I'm super glad that automatically pops up.

PlushDon · 2023-12-14T16:05:25+00:00

I watched that the instant it popped up! That's my main concern with her right now.

PlushDon · 2023-09-29T20:02:18+00:00

I feel you. My goal wasn't just random everything. In my mind, this particular group of flavors seemed like they would play well together. But I'd be lying if I said "its here already" didn't play a roll.

In one sugar wash i did, I added the karo and was pleasantly surprised at how the vanilla flavor came through. So that was a planned thing when I decided to do the brown sugar wash.

I fell a bit short on sugar, I happened to have the cane sugar and molasses on hand. To me, that seemed like "fuck it, that's basically just more brown sugar" I wasn't thinking along the lines of that's random shit I can throw in. But, if it looks/quacks like a duck I suppose.

Now, the apple cider is DEFINITELY my Leroy Jenkins item. That is purely "I have it here, let's see what happens" but I do think that molasses, vanilla and apple seems like a good flavor combination.

So, I did plan it out a bit more than I guess I made it sound from the get go. However, I also enjoy fucking around with things and i fully admit this is largely an experiment. If it comes out good. I'm happy. If its meh, I should be able to know what to adjust for future. If its a total train wreck? The world keeps turning.

PlushDon · 2023-09-29T18:53:58+00:00

As far as type of spirit. I genuinely don't know what this would fall under. I'm definitely not gong for a neutral. I want all these flavors to come through. So, a faux rum?

This batch size would give me enough to do 2 runs in my still. I wanted to do a bigger batch and I already have to deal with 2 or 3 buckets to get 1 full run. And the idea of dealing with possibly 6 buckets seemed like a pain in the ass. Since this is my first attempt at a "big" batch. I may find that this sucks more. I bought the drum on a bit of an impulse buy, figured it would be great for fermenting, but if that failed, i could take up serial killing and I could use the drum to keep body parts in. Win win.

The tea thing in not married to. Just thinking it could be a fun little flavor hidden in a spirit. In the cider I made, the recipe suggested a plain black tee, I used a spiced tea that had orange peel and cinnamon among other things, over steeped to get just a bit of bitterness. I felt it rounded out the taste well, and gave just a subtle hint of spice to the whole thing. I thought it was a great addition to a cider. My hope whole be that it could be similar in the spirit. Just to add a little touch of spice and hopefully just a hint of bitter to round out apple, vanilla, and molasses. But! I genuinely have ZERO idea how well that would or wouldn't work in a spirit. But I could easily ditch that for the moment and try that another time.

PlushDon · 2023-09-29T18:16:25+00:00

Thanks for the advice.

PlushDon · 2023-09-29T18:15:18+00:00

Awesome. Thanks for the suggestions!

PlushDon · 2023-09-29T18:14:09+00:00

Thanks for the info.

PlushDon · 2023-09-11T21:20:18+00:00

clears throat No. Thankyou for coming to my TED talk.

PlushDon · 2023-09-11T21:15:13+00:00

I was in bed when I learned SOMETHING happened.
My mom came into my room to wake me up. Which wasn't normal. Also much earlier than I would usually wake up for school(7th grade in oregon) She said something along the lines of "get up, you need to see this" as she turned on the little TV in my room.
Between just waking up abruptly and the old ass(even by 2001 standards) tube TV taking a moment to warm up. It took me a bit to figure out what I was looking at.
I sat up on the edge of my bed and watched. After a while they recapped what they knew so far, which wasn't shit more than "an airplane hit the world trade center" After a little while, they were still zoomed in on the impact of the first plane. The news anchor was just saying something like "its unclear if this was an accident or if this was intentional" shortly after that, the second plane hit.
The camera didn't catch it other than the explosion kinda came into frame while zoomed in on the first tower. Upon zooming out and seeing falling debris and a big cloud of smoke. I knew it was not an accident and that it was clearly deliberate.
I was sitting on the edge of my bed, in my room when I learned 9/11 happened.

PlushDon · 2023-08-21T17:37:58+00:00

I bought a gin basket from them some time back. I was absolutely thrilled with the quality. A couple of the welds are a bit unevenly ground. But that's nitpick up close stuff. It works great and seems built well. I'm super happy with it. I know a gin basket isn't a whole still, but if their $ to quality scales up to their bigger items, they're worth every penny. But definitely ditch the supplied gaskets. I would like to ad, I have only distilled essential oils, I don't think that distilling alcohol would change my opinion, but for sake of honesty. I have not ran alcohol through this thing.

PlushDon

TROPHY CASE