[history] I married into a family of (lovingly referred to) gearheads. My dad's idea of working on a car was washing the windows at the gas station.

I bought a 66 mustang, and worked at restoring it. I have learned a TON... and have really enjoyed it.

When I bought it, the motor was junk, so I bought a long block 302 from my brother-in-law's uncle ... and my father-in-law and I put it together. It's always been a dog.

I liked the look of a dual quad carb, so I bought a setup and put it on my motor ... and it still was a dog (maybe even worse than before). I changed rear-end gears ... and nothing.

So I got a bug up my butt two weekends ago, and pulled the motor and brought it to an engine shop. Here's the message I got from the guy:

------------------
OK... The block is bored .040 over and the cylinders are all glazed and the rings are not seated. The pistons are a std type cast piston in +.040 but two of them have collapsed skirts. The crank is ground .020/.020 and is full of nicks, not round and needs grinding. Nothing is balanced on the motor. The cam is OK but is for a heavy vehicle for towing. Timing chain is a dual roller and is in good shape. Heads have bad guides and are nothing special. Rods have some low grade bolts in them but have been reconditioned. All in all you really do not have much.
-------------------

What I want is something streetable, but since it has dual quads on it and looks like it has power, I should be able to break the tires loose if I want. So I gave him that direction and asked him to come back with an estimate.

It came back at $4,751. And is described as a dyno tuned 348 aluminum headed dual quad stroker SBF

I'm looking for thoughts. Since pretty much everything but my block is junk. Should I start over? Should I get a crate motor? Is $4,751 a good price for this motor?

My in-laws think it's a waste of money to get aluminum heads. I also think they think it is too much motor ... but, since I'm not a car guy by nature, I WANT something that is powerful. But I can't break the bank either.

Any advise?

Here is the estimate (if I did this right).

 

Do you have suspension and a transmission that will hold the power a 347 is going to make?

 

I have a rebuilt C4 tranny. I have traction bars welded on.

 

He seems pretty up and up but, is he pulling the engine from the car and putting it back in? I'm a little leary as to why he's charging you for a long block (Engine plus heads and pistons) when your heads are reusable, according to him, then is proceeding to charge you for the labor for everything. Is he planning on getting a used long block and tearing it down for your build while scrapping the old existing block heads and all??

Find that out and it will clear up some doubt.

 

your engine is worthless. scrap it. you might be able to get away with a re-hone on the block, but maybe not. it depends on when the bore glazed over and if the skirts took part of the cylinder walls with them.

i'd sell the dual quads while you're at it. more trouble than it's worth on your engine.

with that said, aluminum heads are probably about the best way to wake up an engine. ford's castings aren't very good, even with quite a bit of work. IMO, it's completely pointless to build a stroker with ford heads.

 

No, I pulled the engine and will put it back in.

I'm confused with your question. Pretty much, the only thing he'd be reusing is my block. He's listed Strike Force Aluminum Heads as one of the new parts.

 

I'd spend more money on better parts, but that's just me. I'd at least use Scat or Eagle rotating parts(or better) and a head that's made in America.

 

Everything sounds about right to me. I would definitely replace the cracked pistons though- even if you don't plan on rebuilding it.

For the cost of rebuilding a set of stock iron heads- tanking, valve grinding and guides, you could probably buy a nice set of the performance heads. Aluminum is very nice, but not necessary. You will save weight and your back when installing, but iron is better at keeping the heat inside the combustion chamber. If money is tight, a set of iron heads will work fine.

How much power you want is completely up to you. While 500hp to some will seem like plenty, that's only a basic street power level for me.

One last note, for the amount of money you will spend finding another usable block (more than .040 and the walls get thin), and crank (since .020 is getting thin too), I would just buy a used or rebuilt 302 5.0L roller engine. You can always get a set of GT40 heads later on.

 

just looking at that estimate i can say you shouldn't need the block line honed unless it had spun a bearing or something so they are just stealing money from you there. you also shouldn't be getting charged 150 bucks for disassembly and inspection unless you weren't getting the motor rebuilt and that was their sole job to perform. lastly, 650.00 seems pretty steep for assembly, since they'll have it put together in a couple hours tops.

All that aside, you don't need a stroker with aftermarket heads to make big power - but it certainly helps. a 302 with a decent cam and some gt40 heads would run great and be alot cheaper, but wouldn't make the same power as a 331 or 347.

I agree that you should just scrap the block and find a std bore so that they can bore it to .020 or .030 and have it decked (which they had you wrote up for and is a good thing).

btw, how big are each of those 4bbl's you have on there? even on a 347 a pair of 390's would be pretty fat - i know they look cool but you really are better off with a 600-650 for whatever setup you end up going with (provided we're talking 289-351 cubic inches here)

 

I was planning on doing the same thing as you almost a year and half ago and here is what I got from getting estimates and information from people For that price you could get a better build or motor I would think. If I was you I would just get an old 351 that is solid and rebuild it well. Bigger is better.

Just to put it in perspective around here a rebuilt 302 like that into a 347 would probably cost around $3,200 give or take a few hundred, depending on what type of parts you got and the stroker kit. Assembly and Dismantle should be like $400-500 max from the estimates I got when I was shopping around. Also at already a .04 bore its kind of pointless to rebuild if they are going to try and bore it further it would be too thin. From the advice I got on here awhile ago .04 was the highest people recommended and .03 was the recommended.