budget build

[Guest]

[pa308]

im trying to put together a decent combo with not a whole lot of dough  im ahead already cause i have parts to start with.my question is this.I have a stock roller shortblock.i pulled it from my previous stang it ran good has maybe 80 thousand on it my motor sat for bout 1.5 years what should i do as far as cleaning it up. it had 65psi of oil pressure and no smoke out the tail[pipes.should i clean it up and put it together. im worried bout bearings and rings. i dont want to pull it apart if i dont have to also dumb ass me letb it sit over winter with water in it and it popped a freeze plug will i be ok to put new ones in imean it didnt carck my block thats why they r there right.

[woody]

Hey, well I would highly suggest going through a minor rebuild. I can walk you through taking the shortblock apart and checking bearings and so forth. I think it's best when dealing with a somewhat unkown engine. Would really suck to go thrugh all the effort of getting it running to then hear a slick knock or something stupid that could have been fixed with 30 dollar bearings. The 302's when maintained will live to 175k+ miles.

Is this an efi or carb car, Im assuming a mustang. tell me more about what you got and what you would like to achieve specifically

[pa308]

i know the history it came from my car. it ran strong i pulled it because the car got totalled some ass hit me in the drivers side. i know  its easy to pull the caps and check bearings but i dont have tools to check clearanceslike a micrometer or dial bore gauge it is efi. i just want to clean her up and put my go fast goodies on. ive had this 4 cylinder swap goin on for awhile and i just want another stang.

[woody]

thats understandable, to check clearances you can easily get some plastigauge from an auto parts store for 2 dollars and use that. It's up to you bud

[pa308]

ok how bout this one. i have another motor. its a 308 race prepped block, cp lite weight pistons,total seal gapless rings, eagle i beam rods, and a dss race prepped crank. i was goin wit my first combo caused im iffy to rip one apart but how hard is it realy wahts special tools do i need. same deal wit this engine its been sitting but needs tore down and cleaned i have bearings do i need rings that engine only had 10 thousand on it which would u use

[woody]

I would definately be using the 308. The only issue I would have are the gapless rings, some people like em, others don't. If you were building a race only engine and needed every last pony from the motor then ya I would use em. But the difference between a good moly ring set and the gapless is beyond marginal on a street engine. I am putting together an article that walks you through a shortblock tear down and rebuild. It's in depth and will be posting it in the tech section this weekend.

[pa308]

ok sweet well ilbe lookin forward to checkin it out i looked at ur budget build that was good iwhat do u think my gt40s will hold as for horsepower they r stock but with 5 angle valve job n double springs. will they be good for the 308 im also goin to get a holley and 30 lbers if i go that route i have an z acm and 1.72 rockers what kind of power u think shell make

[woody]

that z cam is a bit much for those heads. For comparison purposes I would suggest something like the E or B 303 cam with the 1.7 rockers and those gt40 heads. The 1.7 rocker will give you more lift as those ford cams are rated using a 1.6 rocker. You could definately get 350hp out of that motor.

[pa308]

ok well im set now im just going to take my time and tear it down dont worry il be posting lots of questions for u along the way thanks woody and b the way every dayur getting new members.

[woody]

No problem man Im here to help the site will be growing by word of mouth

[knucklefux]

i am with woody on this one.  go with the 308.  the only "special" tools you will need are a torque wrench, a motor hoist, and a motor stand.  you can freshen up the bearings without pulling the heads.

also, i have a compulsion to address something.  freeze plugs.  that is a misnomer.  those holes in the side of your block are there so that the foundry can get the sand, that makes up the inner mold, out.  basically, everyhwere that water goes now was originally formed by sand.  the holes ARE NOT there to keep blocks from cracking when the water inside them freezes.  i would have to take that block to the machine shop and have it magnafluxed.  if a "freeze plug" popped out, it is probably because the expansion of the water as it turned to ice deformed the hole instead of just popping the plug.

[woody]

i am with woody on this one.  go with the 308.  the only "special" tools you will need are a torque wrench, a motor hoist, and a motor stand.  you can freshen up the bearings without pulling the heads.

also, i have a compulsion to address something.  freeze plugs.  that is a misnomer.  those holes in the side of your block are there so that the foundry can get the sand, that makes up the inner mold, out.  basically, everyhwere that water goes now was originally formed by sand.  the holes ARE NOT there to keep blocks from cracking when the water inside them freezes.  i would have to take that block to the machine shop and have it magnafluxed.  if a "freeze plug" popped out, it is probably because the expansion of the water as it turned to ice deformed the hole instead of just popping the plug.

bingo

[pa308]

good thinking, dont u need tools to measure clearances i know u can use plastigauge but how bout for the rings. u have to file fit the good ones right. this is my situation guys my brother built the engine  then gave it to me. it sat for a awhile now its time to get er done hahaha somewhere along the line the snout of the crank got fucked up thats why i have new crank also it was never balanced so i need to pull apart to give machine shop the asssembly of what they need to do the job. now i figure new rings cause they were already seated now what exactly do ineed to do the job,  i never did one on my own i was always by my brothers side like glue helping and learning so im goin to put it together on my own sorry for long post but im givin the details

[woody]

Let me finish a few things and we will get ya squared away bud. I just finished a tech article on plastigauge, literally just posted it 1 minute ago. Have a read

[knucklefux]

you do need a set of feeler gauges to measure ring end gap.  if you use file fit rings.  if your cylinder is bored to a normal size, you should be able to get rings that are not file fit.  you should still check the endgap, just to make sure it's not too tight.  so yeah, you need some plastigauge and some feeler gauges.  all stuff that autozone carries.  if az has it, everybody else should too.