pastfast125

I'm picking up a 351 that I'm gonna rebuild. It will be my first motor I'm actually tearing into. I do know a decent bit about motors, but theres a few things I need some info on. IF you know of a good book or site, or just want to tell me anythign helps. I want to check this whole thing over, so I wanna know how to measure and what not to find out if my bearings are all still in good shape and what not, besides plastigauge. My uncle used to build race motors, and said the real race motor building guys use micrometers and what not, but I have no clue how they actually go about doing it. Also, I'm probably gonna put new pistons and rings in, what is ring end gap supposed to be at, and how do I check for that?

Any other little tricks that could help me get this project going would be great.

aode08

your getting into a deep transformation.


Id consult with the machine shop that is balancing your new pistons, rods, crank, flywheel and dampner.

tinman

Ok, Amazon.com can sell you a book called' Rebuilding the small block Ford' Published by HP books.
It will show you how to measure everything and how put things togather.
It will not show you how to increase HP or anything as they are interested in the standard rebuilding of the engine........

pastfast125

yea HP increasing I'm not worried about, that I have a basic grasp on. IT's just the real technical getting into tearin stuff apart, and puttin it back together so it will stay together down the road.

5.8FoxBody

to know how to increase power you have to know the basics of a motor, you can't just make all kinds of power from bolt ons, if your building a race motor or a daily driving grocery getter you always need to mic everything, you need to know how to use the tools and how to read them, you need a dial bore guage micrometers and so on, if i were you i would just take everything apart make sure you number which rod and pistons came out of what cylinder and take it to a machine shop and have him check if everything is in spec, by the way anytime you take a motor apart you need to replace all the bearings, you may get away with re-use the cam bearings if they are already new but on and old motor they are trash, just find a local machine shop and ask him for some help

Li0nHart

get he HP book (I have it...easy to read ) and build a stock 351...well maybe use a 4 bbl intake......the stock 351 will have plenty of power.

pastfast125

Thanks for the info. That's what I'm sayin though. I wanna learn how to do this stuff, not have somebody do it for me. That's why I'm asking.

pastfast125

Stock 351 wouldn't have much over my 302 I have now if any, and it's probably heavier, so why would I do that?

LTnone

You keeping the stock rotating assy or no?

Nice sig tinman...

67mustang302

Building an engine requires specialized tools and knowledge, a good book definately helps, but you need to know how to use a micrometer, dial bore guage, dial indicator etc etc. They also cost. I'm currently getting ready for final assembly on a 302 for daily driving, and even though I know how to build an engine and use the tools, I don't own any myself, and it was cheaper to have some stuff done rather than buy the various tools I didn't have, mainly micrometers. There's quite a bit that goes into building an engine right, and often little stuff is left unchecked and turns out ok. But when you don't do something, like don't check your deck clearance, cam thrust, crank thrust etc, you can have some major problems. Don't be afraid to have certainmachining done by a competant professional with the right equipment.