I can tell you I've had 3 great running rides that started as 351's And a rebuild kit.
I'd say throw an overhaul lit a can and Shorties and enjoy It

 

I have thought about just honing the cylinders put a new crank and rings, gasket kit and let her eat! But I just can't do it....

 

I don't have a problem with jumping in/ hi-jacking. Feel free!

 

i'll tell you from recent experience and it has gone up since then .. grab your wallet , and gag it so when it screams nicholle won't hear it !!!!!!!!!! last sbc i had done for a race car cost me 20 a hole to bore , and turn the crank was what a couple hundred , etc... i'd call around , but remember you get what you pay for , and do not bring it down here to tim wilkersons guys . i've told the story before on how they screwed up one friends 460 and another's flatty . they really don't know much if it isn't the boss's funny caar engines or a chevy . i can't 'member the name now , but if i can locate norm i'll ask him , but there is a shop run by a bunch of old farts in decatur , that he implicitly trusts with his stuff . they just recently done the 390 in his comet cylone gt vert , and prior was the 426 hemi in his 70 challenger 'vert .

 

Jeff, you didn't say what was wrong with the engine that it needs a complete and total rebuild? (or did I just miss it?) The later Ford small blocks, like your 351, have a coating in the cylinders that allow for a very long bore life. That, plus with today's fuel injection not washing the cylinder walls, they do last a long time. I've seen engines with over 100K miles on them and you could still see the hash marks from the factory honing. Until you measure the bore size and taper, you won't know if you need to bore it. Chances are, you won't. You can pick up a crank kit that comes complete with a freshly ground crank and matching bearings pretty inexpensively, if it truly needs that. If it ran without knocking, it still may not need even that. A fresh hone job, some rings, bearings and gaskets, and you could be good to go.

 

Jeff, I feel your pain. The '52 I got had a Chevy 350 in it already that sounded good. Already had a TH350 auto too. My original plan was to buy a new long block 302 and a rebuilt Ford AOD. A friend of mine has his own shop and could get me a HO 302 long block for 1750. I decided to go with the 350 so that I could spend the money on the rest of the truck. Now, 6 months later, I finally got everything plumbed with new water pump, power steering pump, Edelbrock intake and carb, fuel pump, starter, headers, etc. Got it running and smoked like crazy, let it run longer and it stopped smoking but blew a freeze plug. Then I got the bright idea to do a compression test which I should have done long ago. 1,3,5,4, and 6 at 150 and held, 2 and 8 at 140 leaking down, and 7 at 110 and leaking down. Now I have all those parts for the 350 so I am going to buy a new GM long block. I should have bought the 302 long ago, but hindsight is 20/20. While I am at it I am going to buy an auto with overdrive too (700r4). Spending plenty, but changing to the 302 now would be another huge chunk. I really will be using this as my daily driver so I want one that I won't have to work on all the time - that way I can start another! And I hope that I have learned a lot with this one...

 

52 merc , my lil' ol' p.o.s beater bird has somewhere around 300,000 or more on it's 4.6 and doesn't smoke or rattle . the odometer broke a ways back so ...... it is showing some age now but hades i can't complain ....... late model engines do have some advantages over the older stuff and longevity , if they are maintained is a big plus !!!!!!!!

 

Wayne you are exactly right. I DO NOT know about the cylinders yet, but I was simply planning for the worst scenario. I need to get some tools to check the cylinders. Also I already looked into a crank kit and that's around $200
includes the bearings...not bad...I also need to check out the heads, but how far do ya go? LOL maybe I shouldn't check the heads! I tend to lean towards better safe than sorry with engine specs...I guess I CAN be a little **** retentive about some things. Thanks Wayne that does shed a light of hope!

 

I can certainly see where you are with that! I agree, I would have no choice but keep the "Heartbeat". Just so anybody knows...I don't hate Chevy stuff. I have driven them all. And I have worked on many different Ford,Chevy, Dodge,Nissan, Mitsubishi, Etc. NONE of them are better or worse than the other. I just like to see a Ford in a Ford, Chevy in a Chevy, etc.
But in cases like yours? If I bought it with a 350 I would certainly turn the key and see what happens!

 

And btw, I forgot to mention...the oil control rings are weak..not stuck, but no spring left in them, they stay tight in the piston groove...not stuck though.
I went and looked...the cross-hatching can be seen all throughout, so that should suggest that maybe I don't need to bore it? makes sense to me...
No scratches in any of the cylinder walls, but definitely oil/carbon build up at the bottom of each cylinder along the side of the pistons where there is no skirt, or in the cylinders from front to back. That rubs out with carb cleaner and a rag, a little stubborn but...it does come out.
So if the cylinders are coated with(can't remember what it's called) a protective whatever, can I bottle hone without ruining the coating?

 

I'd check the bore first and see if you ned to replace the pistons or not.

The 351 is a good motor and if I hadn't already had a good 289 I would have shopped for a 351.

 

If you've already taken the engine apart, the condition of the rings is no matter. You need to change them, anyway. You mentioned previously that the crank was junk, but never elaborated on what that meant. I'm just trying to figure out how big of a mess you really have, or if you're over-thinking this and perhaps making a bigger and more expensive deal here than necessary. $175 is cheap for a complete, running engine. That's rebuilder core money. But you said you were told it was a good runner. What made you decide it needed an overhaul? From the sounds of things, there was no need to open it up, aside from normal curiosity.

Personally, if it was me, at this point I'd trot the block down to my trust machinist and have him check and measure everything as necessary, and let him give you a professional recommendation on what direction to go. If it checks out, he can give it a good power hone and do a much better job than you can with an autozone-special ball hone in your power drill. You can take it home with all the correct and necessary parts and put it back together. Then you'll know exactly what you have. It could save you a lot of expensive guesswork.

That's my 2c.

 

I had the pan off because the truck pan wasn't going to work. so I figured it was a good opportunity to check the bearings. I pulled the #1 rod cap and the bearings are copper showing and the journal/s have grooves. I was alway taught that if you can catch a groove with you fingernail, it needed work.
These grooves are serious grooves. I will take some pics tomorrow, but you can tell that something went through that bearing. And the rest are pretty similar.

 

Ok. It's a good thing you checked. It sounds like some pretty good wear. A crank kit would be your best way to go there to fix that. But for the rest of it, I'll still stand by my statement in paragraph 2, above, and get a pro to evaluate it.

 

Thank you gentleman! You have been a great asset!