Just got home from the machine shop. Everything is unloaded and in the garage. I'm waiting for my neighbor to get home before I start. He has a personally owned torque wrench that his employer certifies for him. We compared his to mine when I did the sc install and there wasn't any difference but I think the torque value on the main caps and rods is more critical and I would rather err on the side of caution.

The machine shop guys were great, gave me some assembly tips. They even called CP to verify piston to bore clearence was correct during the hone operation (they thought the cp specs were too tight for a supercharged motor). It's nice to know they were looking out for me and concerned about the work they were doing.

I'll put some pictures up as soon as I get the block assembled. Hopefully that will be in a few hours.

Bruce

 

man i wish i were there to watch....putting a
block together like you are doing, has been a
dream of mine.

i look forward to the pics and also to more of
your comments, about the whole build
process in general.

 

A few pics:

Main bearings in and lubed



Crank laid in



Measuring total indicated runout. There wasn't any, just a tiny blip on the gauge less than .0001 that was probably from my turning of the crank. Also measured endplay. It came in at .008".



The machine shop had numbered each piston to a bore





Time to call it quits for the evening. Tomorrow I'll put the other 4 pistons and rods in and finish the shortblock.

 

looking good!

 

Awesome stuff Bruce! So what is the horsepower number that you're limiting yourself too? I imagine with the Whipple and a built motor you could hit 550 - 600rwhp...?

 

Shortblock is done. Only thing I could still do is put the rear seal on. It would be difficult to do while the block is on the motor stand. A few more pics:

Last 4 ready to go in



All the rods are torqued at this point. Had my only panic moment here. Side clearances are barely .006". Manleys instructions said they should be .010-.020. Later found the Ford spec to be .0059-.017. For about a half hour I thought it all had to go back for clearancing and rebalance.

EDIT: I was measuring incorrectly. Actual side clearances are .011, .010, .010, .011" respectively.




And this is it. Windage tray back on. It's now bagged. Won't work on it until the new countertop work is done this week as there will be dust from cutting the granite (I was ahead of things on this, took my wife shopping for a new countertop before I started the motor project, everyone is happy). Might get to start disassembling my motor and putting parts on this one next weekend.

 

500 will be the max, probably 460-470. My reasons for doing this are to prevent a rod failure and maybe make a little more power. I've been fairly conservative with power so far and don't really plan on going crazy. The line I won't cross is making the car hard to drive in traffic. So far everything I've done hasn't affected the stock feel unless I put my foot into it.

 

So why did you build a new motor? I may have missed that somewhere along the line, but you could easily make 460-470 with the stock motor. Just curious..

 

Yes I could. The big question is for how long?

I came to this decision after doing 12 runs down the quarter at a test and tune. WOT at my current power level of 436 has got to be hard on the little 281 ci motor. There are plenty of blocks with holes in them from a rod letting go. It usually comes as a shock to the owner. Just because a motor handles the power at the dyno and a few passes doesn't mean it is going to take it forever.

 

hey bruce i can see why you were a little
worried, about the side clearances. seems
pretty important for oil flow, out of the
rod bearings.

do you plan to install oil pressure and
oil temperature gauges to keep an eye
on things?