Engine Assembly: Timing Chain

To install the timing chain, I first brought the number one piston to firing position, or top dead center (TDC). The key on the crankshaft was now pointing directly up. Then I placed the camshaft gear on its key and turned the cam until the small marking dot on the gear was pointing directly down. Now the rotating parts were close to correct.

I removed the cam sprocket again and then slid the crank gear in until it started to contact the key. Then it was time to get the chain. I placed it on the cam gear and positioned it so that the two dots on the gears were pointing at each other. Next I wrapped the chain on the crank and pushed both gears in until the keys held them in position. Before fully installing them, I made sure the dots were still directly opposite of each other. Luckily I got it correct on the first try so I didn't have to remove the gears to try again. By wiggling and tapping the gears with a rubber mallet, I got them almost completely in.

To see that everything moved correctly, I rotated the crank a few turns. No problems found so I also installed the fuel pump cam. Its bolt pulled the cam gear in the rest of the way. I torqued it to 45 ft-lbs and added a little dab of thread locker for good measure. Final piece was placing the oil slinger over the crankshaft extension.

Engine Assembly: Installing The Pistons

Next task on the assembly list was installing the pistons. First they needed to be ringed though. The ring gaps had been inspected so I got on with it. Oil ring assembly was first. They were made from spring steel so installation tools were not needed. I just spread the expansion ring and pushed it in the bottom groove. The side rails followed. I was not worried about the gap positions for now. I'll set them right before installing the pistons.

The compression rings are a bit harder so I bought pliers for them. They were only a few euros and made installing the rings really easy. I just had to make sure the moly faced ring was installed to the top groove and that they were installed the correct side up. This was indicated by a dot on both rings.

Then it was time to insert the pistons to their cylinders. Before the final install, I wanted to check the bearing clearance though. I did that only for the first piston as testing all of them would have been somewhat pointless. First the bearings.

Then pieces of rubber tubing over the bolts to protect the bores.

And installation. I had a cheap ring compressor that I screwed around the piston. I sprayed WD-40 on everything and then tapped the piston in. The compressor unfortunately got stuck a bit and broke as I pulled it out. So much for cheap tools. At least I got the clearance measured with Plastigage again.

As with the main bearings, the result was about 0.002 inches. Acceptable range should be 0.002 - 0.003 inches so I was fine.

I did some reading and apparently the best tool for installing pistons is a tapered aluminium ring that is precision tooled for a single bore size. So I went an bought one by Moroso.

You can only use it for 4.030 inch bore size but I don't think I'll be building another engine any time soon. After pulling the first piston out again, I prepared it and the crankshaft for final install. This meant spreading some assembly lube on the journals and bearings...

...then turning the correct journal to bottom dead center (BDC), oiling the bore, locating the ring gaps and using the tool to tap the piston in. For ring gap positions I used the ones instructed in Millers book.

I have to say that the installation ring was an excellent tool! I did not have a single problem with any of the pistons. They just smoothly slipped in the cylinders. I pushed the piston in until the bearing contacted the journal.

Final step before placing the cap on the rod was checking that the locating tab on all the bearing faced towards the center of the block.

This meant that the rod had been installed correctly on the piston. Everything was OK in that front so I torqued the cap nuts to 24 ft-lbs. And after a few hours of work, all the pistons were in!

Turning the crank was naturally much harder now but everything still moved smoothly so this job was done!

Engine Assembly: Installing The Crankshaft

With the camshaft in place, I could now install the crank. I had already measured the bearing clearances so it was ready to be dropped in. First I wiped the block bearing bores and the bearings one more time with brake cleaner and then installed them.

Next I had to put the rear main seal in. My block still had the old rope style seal before but now I used the split lip seal as it was easier to install. I pushed it in its groove making sure the lip pointed towards the engine and that the ends did not line with the block surface. Finally I lubed the seal so the rotating crank would not tear it apart.

Last step before putting the crank in was lubing the surfaces. The bearings got a pretty red layer of it.

Now there's a comfortable place for the crankshaft to be laying in. Hopefully for many years to come. Then I gave the same treatment for the journals...

...and carefully lifted the crank in the block.

I started to rotate the crankshaft until I noticed that this will spread the lube all over the bearing ends. I wiped them clean so it would not interfere with the main caps. Speaking of main caps, the fifth one needed some attention before installing it. As I mentioned, my engine had a rope rear main seal. There is a small pin inside the cap groove that holds it in place. It has to be removed to use the split lip type seal. This leaves a small hole inside the groove.

I filled the hole with Hylomar sealer to block any oil from leaking through. Then I moved on to prepare the caps for use. Monroe says to very lightly file the mating surfaces to remove any burs. I did that, cleaned the caps and installed the bearings.

The fifth cap required some more work again. I pushed the main seal in and added some more sealer to the rear edges. And after spreading some oil on the seal and lube on the bearing, it was ready to be installed.

And naturally the other caps needed some lube too.

I had installed the caps many times already while measuring the bearing clearances so it had become a routine. Place the cap in its register, thread one of the oiled bolts in a bit, tap the side so it seats in and torque the bolts in three steps; 50 ft. lbs, 60 ft. lbs and finally 70 ft. lbs. Repeat five times and the crankshaft was in!

I turned the crank and it rotated really easily. Only one more check to do: measuring the end-play. I did not have a dial indicator so I had to use a feeler gauge. I pushed the crank forward and got 0,15 mm (0.006 inches). The acceptable range is 0.004 to 0.008 inches so I was right on the money.

Engine Assembly: Installing The Camshaft

After months of preparations I finally got to the best part: actually putting the engine back together. First order of business was installing the camshaft. I dreaded this part as doing it wrong could destroy the engine during break in. I checked all the instructions many times and tried to be really careful.

The cam lobes must have lubrication immediately when the engine is first cranked so they have to be greased. I talked with an experienced engine builder and he used Schneider Extreme Pressure Cam Lube so I bought it too. It was a really thick paste that would stay on the lobes even if it will take a long time to build the engine.

I used my finger to spread the lube on the lobes.

There was just enough lube for the camshaft and the lifter bottoms that I'll grease later. Next I needed to lube the journals and bearings. For that I used Red Line Assembly Lube. It was also much thicker than normal oil so it would stay on the surface of the parts.

I placed the timing gear on the cam to use as handle and carefully started feeding it to the block. Before setting it in completely, I spread the assembly lube on the journals. The cam seemed to turn without much effort so I removed the gear and installed the thrust plate.

My rebuild book mentions that the thrust plate should have an groove that feeds oil to the distributor shaft passage but mine didn't. The passage seemed to leave directly through the front bearing so I guess it did not matter which way the plate was installed. I placed it on the block and torqued the bolts in.

Engine Assembly: Final Cleaning

Before starting the actual assembly, I needed to clean the parts one more time. To get to the oil passages, I first had to remove the small core plugs from the front of the block. The book by Tom Monroe suggests that you drill a small hole to the plug, install a small screw in it and use it to pull the plug out. Unfortunately this only ripped the face of the plug apart. In the end I had to drill the whole plug out.

I spent a few hours going through all the oil passages with brake cleaner and WD-40 and a small brush from a gun cleaning kit. There was a surprising amount of dirt in there but I got them spotless. Then I went through the cylinders and insides of the block one more time.

Finally I installed new plugs to the block and was ready to start putting the engine back together.

Engine Assembly: Paint And Core Plugs

Time to give the block a small facelift. Before paint I noticed that there was some loose rust and dirt still on the block so I cleaned it with a wire brush. This naturally created a lot of dust that found its way everywhere and would have to be cleaned later. I did not install the core plugs before paint so cleaning would be easier.

Next I masked all the gasket surfaces with some tape and started brushing. I was rewarded with a pretty nice looking block but some metal was still showing through. After letting the paint to dry for 24 hours, I applied another layer and let it dry again. Then I removed the tapes and cleaned the edges.

After paint I poured some water through the coolant passages to get the dirt out. Then I could install the core plugs. I applied some Hylomar sealant to both surfaces and let it dry for few minutes. By placing a suitable sized socket on the plug, it was easy to hammer them in. I will add some pain on the plugs later.

Engine Assembly: Main Bearing Clearance

My crank was just machined but I still wanted to check all the bearing clearances just in case. I do not own micrometers or bore gauges so I had to settle for Plastigage. I've read that it is not that accurate but should be enough in my case as the machinist should have measured everything.

Before installing the bearings, I cleaned them and their bores. Then I cleaned the crank journals and finally pushed the bearings in place. After carefully setting the crankshaft to the block, I installed and torqued all but number one cap. For some reason Tom Monroes book says that before doing the measurements, all other caps must be installed. They should not touch the crank and so should not make any difference but I followed the instructions anyway.

I had a strip of green Plastigage that measures clearances from 0.001 to 0.003 inches. I cut a piece of it and carefully set in on the first journal.

Then I installed the main cap, tapped it in its groove and torqued the lubricated bolts to 65 ft-lbs. After removing the cap again, I checked how much the Plastigage had deformed with the supplied scale.

Bearing 1 clearance

Result was about 0.002 inches. Finally I cleaned the bearing surfaces and installed the cap again. Then it was time to repeat all the steps four more times.

Bearing 2 clearance

Bearing 3 clearance

Bearing 4 clearance

Bearing 5 clearance

Every bearing had maybe a bit under 0.002 inches of clearance. The acceptable range is 0.0005 to 0.0024 inches so I should be fine.

Engine Assembly: Piston Ring Gaps

After the first few visual checks it was time to get serious. The Sealed Power piston rings that I had bought were pre gapped but I was following "How to Rebuild Small-Block Ford Engines" book by Tom Monroe and it instructed to check everything. So I got busy.

I pushed each ring in its respective cylinder and then squared it with one of the old pistons. I removed the top ring from it and then just pushed the new ring in with it.

Then it was time to check the gap with feeler gauges. After going through every ring, they all seemed to have 0,40 mm (0.0157 inch) gap. I did some reading and it was maybe a little tight. Also, I found more modern suggestions that the bottom ring gap should be a bit larger so any pressure that goes through the top ring is not trapped between the rings.

I clamped a fine toothed file to my table and went through the rings once more. I filed a tiny amount at a time and measured again many times until all top rings had 0,45 mm (0.0177 inch) gaps and bottom rings 0,50 mm (0.0197 inch). Finally I removed the sharp edges from the filed end with 600 grit sandpaper.

I will install the rings to the pistons later when it's time to put them in the cylinders.

Engine Assembly: Parts And Price

While waiting for the machinists, I've been collecting the parts that would become my new engine. I think I should now have almost everything covered. Here's most of them.

Let's see what I've got.

Block

Block	Original, bored 0.030 oversized	450 € (block and piston work)
Core plugs	Dorman	10 €
Fuel pump	Carter M6588	40 €
Oil pump	Ford Racing M-6600-M50	49 €
Oil pump shaft	Melling SP224-61118	13 €
Oil pressure sender	Standard PS60	28 €
Oil filter	Motorcraft FL-1A	8 €

Rotating Assembly

Crankshaft	Original, machined 0.010 undersized	300 € (machining)
Timing set	Sealed Power KT3-358S	34 €
Main bearings	Clevite MS-590 P-10	51 €
Rod bearings	Clevite CL-634 P-10	46 €
Pistons	Sealed Power H273CP .030	165 €
Piston rings	Sealed Power E-215K 30	58 €

Valve train

Camshaft	Comp Cams XE250H - 31-230-3	50 € (used)
Cam bearings	Clevite	?
Lifters	Comp Cams 832-16	89 €
Push rods	Sealed Power RP-3165	45 €

Misc

Gasgets	Fel-Pro	?
Head gasgets	Fel-Pro 1011-2	-
Assembly lube	Red Line	15 €
Assembly lube	Comp Cams 104	10 €
Gasget sealant	Hylomar	10 €

The list is still missing some stuff like the parts that I will need for the heads and I've forgotten to write down some prices. I will be updating this post as the build continues.

Piston Weights

As I had to install new pistons, I was a bit worried that it would ruin the balance of the moving parts. So, before taking the old pistons to the machinist, I weighted them. After getting them back, I did a comparison. These weights contain the piston, pin, rings and connecting rods.

Piston	1:	2:	3:	4:	5:	6:	7:	8:
Old	1374 g	1370 g	1379 g	1376 g	1377 g	1370 g	1374 g	1373 g
New	1377 g	1375 g	1381 g	1378 g	1378 g	1372 g	1378 g	1375 g
Difference	3 g	5 g	2 g	2 g	1 g	2 g	4 g	2 g

Wow, only a few gram difference in each piston. I think I'll call a professional and ask if that makes any difference. Most likely not as, according what I've read, they didn't even balance the moving parts in the factory and my engine would not see high RPMs.

And just in case someone is interested, I also weighted just the new Sealed Power hypereutectic pistons and pins. They were between 750 and 753 grams. And for the new piston rings:

1st pressure ring	2nd pressure ring	Oil ring
17 g	20 g	22 g

Block Party

It took a bit longer than expected but I got the block back from the machinist yesterday. I drove to Koneistamo Aaltonen in Mäntsälä and we went through the work that had been done. They had bored and honed the cylinders, cleaned the block, replaced the cam bearings, checked the head surfaces for straightness and checked the crank line for straightness. In addition to the work with the block, they inspected the connecting rods and replaced the pistons.

I also brought my new Comp Cams XE250H camshaft with me so they could check that it fit correctly. The cam was installed in the block but rotating it was harder than expected. The cam was inspected and found to be a few hundredths twisted. They straightened it and got it turning properly.

After getting all the parts to the garage, I checked the basic stuff. The block itself looked fine and just needed some paint.

The piston rings that I had bought were molybdenum faced and the cylinders had been honed appropriately. With moly rings the honing stone must be much finer as they do not need the coarse walls to hold the oil. Everything was good in that front.

Then I made sure that all the cam bearings had been installed correctly. Their surface was nice and you could see their oil hole through the main bearing channel.

Next came the pistons. I measured their weight and visually inspected all of them. I did notice that the wrist pin clips had not been installed. I'll have to make sure they are needed and then squeeze them in.

My crank had already been machined earlier. All the bearing surfaces seemed perfect. I'll just have to measure the clearances later.

After these basic checks I can start planning the actual assembly.