Neither had I until this year and I thought I might mention a few things that I ran into that might help the next builder. Here is what I have to work with:
1989 351 W production block with a 9.5" deck machined and modified by Stanley Morton here in Broken Arrow. Every piece of the rotating assembly from the harmonic balancer to the flywheel was internally balanced to zero.
Eagle Rotating Assembly with Billit Steel Crank, H-Beam Rods, SRP 10:1 forged Pistons, J& E wrist pins w/ spiral locks, and Clevitte 77 bearings, Perfect Circle file fit rings, Melling M-83HV
oil pump, ARP
oil pump shaft, Comp Cams Dual true roller timing chain, Moroso
oil pan and pick up and a Comp Cams Girdle .
Comp Cams 571 lift, 242/258 Dur, 108° (I think) w Ford Racing Roller Lifters, Comp Retrofit spider and dog bones, smith push rods. Scorpion roller rockers (1.72). Stanley had to machine the areas around the lifters to accept the roller rocker dog bones as well as clearance the bottom of the cylinders for the additional stroke of the rods. Plus, a few other little things he likes to do to a race prepared STREET/STRIP engine.
Keith Craft worked his magic on a set of Pro Comp Alum Heads he built with Edelbrock Guides, SS Valves, Comp Cams Dual Springs, a multi angle valve job, and SS valve seats and a few other things.
Everything will be held together with ARP bolts and studs and Fel-Pro Gaskets.
That is the Basic parts list but here is where the fun starts. All the true mastery came from the work of Keith Craft and Stanley Morton so I am basically just assembling the pieces. So after a thurough cleaning of all surfaces I began and here are a few notes to consider.
1.
All Fords thrust bearing is on the number 3 bearing (Chevrolet uses the last bearing #5 for their thrust bearing).
2. The basic Fel-Pro Racing engine gasket kit does not include the CORRECT rear one piece seal for the 351. The Eagle Crank uses a bigger diameter one piece gasket (Ford PN # M 6701)
3. The oil HV pump must be clearanced (scary to be grinding away at such an important part of the engines livelyhood). Remeber .050" clearance
4. If you are using a girdle you MUST mill out the area of the girdle to recess the bolt where the right side front main bolt interfers with the oil pump about .100". Do this before you even begin assembly (Saves time).
5. Installing the wrist pins in the rods with spiral lock retainers will make your fingers sore. Install your oil rings first with the your upper and lower ring ends at 180° from each other and 90° from the end of the end of the wavey oil ring. The second ring goes on next and should be positioned 90° from either oil ring and the top rings goes on next at 180° from the second ring. Ring Gaps were filed to fit and checked before assembly for each cylinder and set at .026°. Use plenty of engine assembly lube (I used Redline assembly lube but Perma Gasket makes a Red Ultra Slick assembly lube that is very good as well). All moving parts get a liberal amount of assembly lube and I like to coat the cylinder walls with a little as well for that initial start up.
6. The oil pump pick up may interfere with your rods and in my case they did so you will need to grind away about 3/8" of material where the rod bolts hit the oil pump pick up brace. Check rotation clearances everywhere with a minimum clearance of .050". Before you put on your oil pan rotate the engine again and check clearances. Make sure nothing fixed touches anything that moves. Then double check you pickup depth for proper clearances and oil pan position.
7. If you thought you would use your original cam bolt that holds your timing gear on, think again; because the cam I chose from Comp Cams requires a much larger diameter bolt 7/16" X 20 X 1 1/2 ".
8. And last but certainly not least be sure and use the correct gear on your distributor. In my case I went with a hydraulic roller cam w/ roller lifters which requires the use of a STEEL distributor gear (brass if you don't mind changing it out ocassionally) on a MSD distributor. Assembly lube on the cam and distributor gear as well.
9. One other thing take your time check your clearances and plan your next move before you do it.
This is certainly not all there is but it will get thru some of the areas you may not have delt with before in a normal engine build. Good luck.
Pictures and a dyno session in a few weeks.
Clois Harlan
Have you ever built a 408 Stroker?
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