Has anybody here built a 347 themselves and trimmed he cylinder walls to clear the rods? I am about to order my kit soon, but I have to install this kit myself (I am a mechanic). I have heard that you have to clearance the bottom of the cylinder walls and was just wondering about the difficulty of this task. Any input?

 

I didn't do mine but it is very easy. You can do it with a dremel or a high speed grinder. You just need to grind the bottom of the cylinder wall to allow clearance for your rods.
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Here is mine.
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[IMG]local://upfiles/21693/6F1D46C8C81345BD98AC7B4CEA968F1D.jpg[/IMG]

 

Thanks for the pics! That helps alot! It looks really nice in there with those hefty H beam rods!

 

i believe coast high sells a template you can use to accomplish this but dont quote me on this i remember seeing it somewhere?

 

Yeah, some company sells a jig on ebay for 30 bucks I think, but that seems kinda steep to use one time. I will probably just put the crank in with one rod and just mark them all and grind them and just keep checking them until I have adequate clearance. But then again, that will take a long time and be a lot of extra work. The $30 is starting to sound better.

 

plus it keep you nice new parts from getting contaminated with metal shavings

 

Since I am a machinist at an engine shop I will tell you how we do it. Install a main bearing in the first, middle and last mains just the block side. Take your crank and set it in the block. Take 1 rod and install one piston on it without rings. take the rod cap and and bolt that will hit the cylinder and screw that bolt in to the using the cap to find the right height slide the rod into each cylinder and rotate the crank until the bolt hits the clyinder take a sharpe and draw a line around the bolt that is what you will grind out. after you mark all 8 cylinders remove the crank and main bearing then grind all 8 spots then put them back it to check your work.

 

Yeah, that is what I had in mind. Doesn't seem like too much work. I alos discovered that they want $17 to ship that template, for a total of $47. Screw that! Im not wasteing 50 bucks on a piece of sheetmetal that I don't need.

 

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