> Great/Bad News <

ShAkE N BaKe!! · Mar 22, 2007

Ok, the Great news is that i have enough $$mula$$ to start working on my 351w bar block. The bad news is that I dont know a whole lot about building engines.
-What I have is a "BARE" 351w block. Its kinda dirty so im goin to go get it cleaned up. Someone told me to get it "decked", what does that mean? Anyways, I want to build a 408 stroker. What steps should i follow on building my engine?...is there a diffrence between a stroker kit and rotating kit? If so, what are they? Please fill me up with as much knowledge as possible!! Thankz

ShAkE N BaKe!! · Mar 22, 2007

almost forgot, Im goin for a street/strip and im pretty sure its going to be a daily driver!! and im not tryn to spend a fortian on this!!

geostang351 · Mar 22, 2007

ShAkE N BaKe!! said:
Someone told me to get it "decked", what does that mean? Thankz

Having it decked is when the flat surface that the two heads sit on is milled slightly to provide a flat service. It will increase compression in the engine depending on how much material is removed. Head gaskets comes in different thicknesses so any material taken off can be made up by a thicker head gasket.

ShAkE N BaKe!! · Mar 22, 2007

KOOL!!.. thanks for the info. Is it expensive?

ratio411 · Mar 22, 2007

If you are not out to spend a bunch of dough...
Why not do a 393?
The price difference between 393 and 408 is huge.
The 408 uses many 'custom' parts, while a 393 only requires one custom part.
The rest of the combo is 'off the shelf' parts, so to speak.

The first thing you need to do is find a machinist that you can trust.
He will check the deck surface and tell you if it needs milled or not.
He will also, with your direction, check all the other machined surfaces in your block and let you know what needs attention and what is in acceptable condition.
You can also have it checked for cracks and such. This is considered a good idea because you don't want to build this thing and find out later that it was a 'grenade' waiting to happen.
Things that may need done, or may be a good idea depending on what your machinist finds:
Decking the block for trueness
Line boring
Boring (.030" over bore is safe, but .040" and .060" can be done)
Cam bearings (consider this a must)
Boiling the block and brushing the galleys (consider this a must)
Freeze plugs (a must if you get the block boiled)
Make sure he puts all the galley plugs back too! (this is why you want a good machinist, a hack can mess up alot of important things and make you block worthless in about 3.4 seconds)
You, or the machine shop should also chase ALL threaded passages with a tap.

A really good machine shop will bore your block while it is heated to operating temp, with plates installed and torqued to simulate having heads installed.
A top notch shop will also do all machining in relation to the main webs after line boring, so everying is perfectly square. Many times the blocks come from the factory out of square. They were made fast, not precise. So if you bore and machine by using the squareness of the block, you are just reinforcing the out of square condition.
Dave

ratio411 · Mar 22, 2007

Oh yeah, the weakest link in our engines are the fasteners.
The rod bolts to be sure.
If it is in the budget, use ARP (or similar) main studs, head studs, and rod bolts.
If the main/head studs aren't in the budget, just make sure the rod bolts ARE.

Edit:
Since I brought up rods...
Spend the money to get them resized. It doesn't cost much at all, and will square them up nice. Balancing the rods, then the rotating assembly after that is a good thing too.

86bluecobra · Mar 22, 2007

If i was going to have a 351w built I would contact Rick91gt. Many guys have bought from him. I talked to him over the phone and he is very knowledgeable and very competitive with his prices. here is a link to his web site. http://www.rnhperformance.com/ he will atleast point you in the right direction.

ShAkE N BaKe!! · Mar 23, 2007

Does anyone have any recomondations on getting a good short block?

brianj5600 · Mar 23, 2007

408 is not any more than a 393 from some people. If all he has is a bare block, he will need everything.

ratio411 · Mar 23, 2007

All he needs is the rods.
Stock rods will be alot cheaper to source locally compared to rods required for a 408.
The pistons are off the shelf 302 pistons in the 393. 408 uses custom pistons.
A cast 393 crank purchased by itself is probably the same as a cast 408 crank.
If they price the kits the same, they are ripping folks off on the 393. The 393 is all stock except the crank.

ShAkE N BaKe!! · Mar 24, 2007

ShAkE N BaKe!! said:
Does anyone have any recomondations on getting a good short block?

..and where to get it from?

86bluecobra · Mar 24, 2007

ShAkE N BaKe!! said:
..and where to get it from?

http://www.rnhperformance.com/

danny clemens · Mar 24, 2007

ShAkE N BaKe!! said:
Does anyone have any recomondations on getting a good short block?

If you're talking about a 408 stroked short block then ebay would be a good place to start. If you buy from ebay go with somebody that has a good reputation.

If you mean a good used block to rebuild then search junkyards.

ShAkE N BaKe!! · Mar 24, 2007

what do you think about this.
http://www.treperformance.com/Block/Ford351wStroker9second.html

1967stang302 · Nov 17, 2007

ShAkE N BaKe!! said:
what do you think about this.
http://www.treperformance.com/Block/Ford351wStroker9second.html

NEVER go to TREperformance!!!!

N2O88 · Mar 11, 2008

To anyone who reads this and thinks anything bad due to our ONLY unhappy short/long block customer be sure you check our ebay feedback under tre_performance and our better business bureau record before coming to any conclusions. Please understand that he purchased his item over 5 years ago, got every penny back, and had it build to a basic rebuild specification that was not assembled carefully enough by the person who did that work way back then that does not work for us anymore and hasn't for years. We don't do anything like that anymore either...we sell nothing but fully machined blocks with nothing but brand new parts inside and on it. This customer has had his money for YEARS.
but we still keep seeing these posts after all this time. References available readily if need be by very happy long term customers!

Thanks,

Paul North
treperformance

woodsnake · Mar 11, 2008

I spend a lot of time "reading" over on *******.com.

http://fordstrokers.com/351-windsor-stroker-kits-c60.html

fordstrokers.com has an awful lot of pieces parts, reasonable prices, lots of good feed back.
It's worth looking at.

If you are going to build this engine on your own, do you have all the tools you need? Engine stand, hoist, torque wrench, etc etc...?
Do you have somebody in mind to help you out? Or are you going to have your machinist assemble the short block for you? That isn't a bad way to go, if you trust your machine shop operator.....
I need to find a new one, I had a bad,expensive experience with mine.

classic boost · Mar 11, 2008

have your engine built by a local shop, it'll be less headaches in the long run.

CraigMBA · Mar 11, 2008

Holy Back from the Thread Graveyard Batman!

mrmustangman357 · Mar 11, 2008

coast high performance sells reasonably priced stroker kits. that would be my first stop

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