No. I got a rebuild kit from Summit & I got forged pistons with mine. They actually upgraded my kit to Keith Black pistons because the Summit ones where still on back order 2 months after I received the rest of the kit. I did my own engine rebuild. I got a stand on craigslist for $20. Then I bought a cheap ring compressor from autozone & some assembly lube. I also bought a "How to rebuild the small block ford" manual there too. It's about $20 too. The rebuild kit came with the plastic gauge to measure the bearing clearances & every thing else was just fallow the step by step instructions & torquing everything to spec. Its not that hard & you will have a huge since of pride when you are done to be able to say "I build that". My rods had all been stamped with the cylinder they came out of. not sure if that is a factory thing or not. the pistons had a little arrow pointing to the font. also make sure you keep the rods & caps together.
If the bores are in good shape you do not need to replace the pistons, clean what you have, upgrade rod bolts, new rings, bearings, oil pump and timing chain...
Why exactly did you take the engine apart?
Are all the parts on it stock?
"Well, you've gone this far......"
Too bad you didn't do a leak-down and compression check before tearing it down. It does look like you have some ridge on the tops of the cylinders, but the cross thatch pattern on the cylinders still looks good.
I know of many people who have done whats called a Refresh where they put in new bearings and rings while they were in there. It works but usually it doesn't last that long. Kind of makes the engine run like new, but the worn parts don't extend the life of the engine much. Refreshing is generally for a newer, less worn motor to keep it at 100%. Many racers I know refresh their engine every year, however these are already rebuilt engines. Not engines with 100K+ miles.
Some go a bit further and ridge ream and re-hone the cylinder bores while doing a refresh, but generally if your cylinder bores need this, it's time for a re-bore and new pistons as well. Often what happens is the re-bore makes the clearances way out, so the piston tends to rock around in the cylinder bore and it doesn't last very long, never gets that good of compression, and well, might as well gone the extra distance and actually rebuilt it.
Many say (this is many machinist and pro-engine builders) if you are going to do it, do it right and do a full rebuild. For these Ford engines, it is way too cheap not to.
I guess it's all about budget and what you intend to do with this car. If you are planning to build any real power or racing it, you might as well start with a good foundation.
all parts are stock. I just removed the engine and popped the heads. The headgaskets, and intake manifold gaskets were still blue and read felpro.
Are your immediate plans to put it back together with performance parts?
Crosshatch is a good sign, but the bores need to be checked for taper, ridge etc...
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