Piston installation order?

install them left to right or right to left and make sure check for all clearences.

The passenger side, front to back is 1-2-3-4. Driver side is 5-6-7-8. The pistons should have a mark on them which tells you which side faces forward. Don't forget to wash (soap and water) and dry (compressed air) everything very good. The machining process leaves small amounts of metal filings on parts. Check and double check tolerances and use liberal amounts of moly lube when assembling. Good luck

95_5.0_stang said:

Soooo....

REAR OF ENGINE

8
7

6
5

4
3

2
1

FRONT OF ENGINE


????

Should I call the machine shop and see in which order they balanced them?

Click to expand...

Balancing just means they all weigh the same so theres no difference with that, there should be a dot or arrow on top of each piston, they go towards the front of the motor (towards the balancer).

The rods have to be a certain way, theres certain thrust faces on them, one side needs to contact the side of the crank, the other touches the other rod next to it (im 99% sure). The numbers don't matter unless you're reusing the same internals in the same block, I would just put them in the same way they were numbered or came out (especially if you reused the pistons in the same cylinders). As long as the shop put the pistons on the right way and you put the pistons in with the dot or arrow facing the front of the motor you'll be set, and of course plastigauge the bearings for proper clearance.

When I put my motor together I think I put 1 in the front, 2 next, 3 after, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 at the rear, although I bored it out with new pistons and reconditioned the rods n crank so it didn't really matter.

And for the torque I would just call ARP, when I was looking info for my ARP rod bolts I found all different numbers on here and the internet, I think I torqued mine to 25-29 though.....Don't forget to do the initial "stretch" or whatever they ask you to do before you use them for the first time....I just remember torque them to I think 29 lbs 4 times and then you're good to install and final torque. About the Mains, Im not sure, stock is 72ft lbs I believe, in 3 increasing steps