I picked up some of the Saleen parts that are floating around. CP pistons and Manley h-beams for a good price.

Decided to go with a new FRPP shortblock, the one with a standard rotating assembly. Tore it down last night. I'll use the block and crank. I was able to get the short block shipped to me for less than a new block and used crank.

I'm not planning on pushing it. My concern was with the stock rods. AFAIK they are the weakest link in the rotating assembly. Lots of pictures of blocks with hole punched in them from a rod letting go.

Next week everything goes off for machining and balancing. I'll have the machine shop fit the rings too. I have a few friends who will help with the assembly.

The stock block will be stored. So far everything I've done to the car can be returned to stock because I've kept all the stock parts.

Here's how it looks so far:

 

thanks for sharing the build process with
us Bruce, i'm sure quite a few of us will
be following along closely.

 

at some point I'll be building the bottom end on my car too for the same reason, don't want to send a rod flying where did you get the bottom end from? how much?

 

Toulsey Ford in MN. $1595 shipped. The Saleen/CP pistons and Manley h-beam rods are going for around $700 on ebay from the company they liquidated to. Deals like that only last for so long.

If I was going for big power I'd do it differently but my self imposed limit on power is it has to remain easy to drive and streetable. The car usually gets used for pleasure trips with me and my wife although the trip to the dragstrip was more fun than I'm used to.

 

Exciting build. Helps a lot to have a good support crew

 

that's a great price for sure. I'm planning on a similar build, nothing too crazy, just enough to support more power safely once it's boosted. it's my DD so I'd rather build the motor first than blow it up then build it

 

Me too. That's the conclusion I've reached is that if I ever do decide 100% on a s/c'er, I won't put one on until the engine has been rebuilt FIRST. These engines stock were not designed to handle a lot of power reliably (just look at the rods!) and I don't want to play russian roulette with it. Or maybe I'll just buy a Shelby instead.

 

Everything is at the machine shop now. They said it would be about a week or so. Then I put it together and start taking parts off my motor, unless I find a set of used heads first.

Thanks for the support.

 

I've gone back and forth on the shelby thing too. even though it's an awesome car it's cheaper in the end to build the GT than to buy the shelby, but you can finance the shelby

 

any updates on the build?

it must be getting close to assembly
time, i hope you are taking lots of
pics for us.