Traded my car for a 96 F150 with a 351 in it, and it a high mileage truck and I'd like to slowly buy parts over time to rebuild it, and when I have everything put them all in at once, so money isn't really an issue.

I've rebuilt a ton of two stroke engines, but rebuilding something like this is totally new to me as to what I should get for parts. I'd like to get top of the line stuff, as I'd be buying it slowly.

That being said, what do you guy suggest? I'd like to do new pistons, rings, rod bearings, main bearings, connecting rods, wrist pins, seals, etc. and probably put a set of headers on it while I'm at it.

 

Its hard to say until the block comes apart... You will need to know if and what needs machined to get the right sizes.

I personally found the best prices, by a long shot, on summit. I ordered rings, bearings, pistons and such separately rather than a kit though.

 

You can save money to buy the rotating assembly stuff but until machine work is done don't buy anything for the bottom end.

 

My hopes are to become a machinist myself after highschool, so hopefully I can get a good price on the machine work if I can't do it myself.

That being said, would it be a good idea to bore out a bit, something like .030?

 

Yeah.. I personally wouldn't go out further than .040..

But yeah on any rebuild it's good to bore out the cyl so it's round and true again..
Makes a correct ring to cyl seal all up and down cyl wall..

 

On an American motor, .030 is pretty much a standard overbore. I would not go any farther than that.

On grinding the crank....I'm not a Ford guy and I don't know the answer to this. But, on some vehicles, the cranks are heat-treated (H-A-R-D) and if you grind it, you remove the hardness. Therefore, I'm not a fan of grinding a crank...unless it needs it. Then, by all means.

But, if a crank mikes out OK, you are IMO, moving backwards by grinding it. Some people grind a crank as a general matter....010 under is pretty much a standard grind.

What I would do, is have the crank miked, and if it is w/in specs, and not egg-shaped, I wouldn't mess w/it.

As previously mentioned, hold off on the bearings until you find out what you need. You may even find that you do not want to bore the thing (which I doubt). Many folks do a red-neck rebuild by just honing the beast and put the same pistons back in. I suppose that is OK...assuming that there is no taper to the cylinders. If there is any taper...bore it. A machinist can tell you if it has taper.

 

0.030 is very common overbore but unless you have a specific performance package you are building generally, removing the least amount of material possible to true it up is what you would want to do. This will allow for more reconditioning in the future.

 

How much should I remove then, .010?

 

I don't think pistons are available in 0.010" overbore. Common sizes are 0.020", 0.030", 0.040", 0.060".

Oddly, it is getting harder to find the 0.020" oversize nowadays, although modern engines exhibit a lot less cylinder wear than engines from the old days.

I would try for the 0.020" size since then you will probably get one more rebuild of 0.040" later.

I also agree with the comments about avoiding crankshaft regrinding. A lot of machine shops don't adhere to the specifications and regrind a little too much, resulting in excessive bearing clearance.

Consult the Ford shop manuals for specifications.

 

I know you want a technical answer here but leave it to the machine shop. I would consider verifying the parts availability ahead of time so they dont bore to an unavailable piston size. As others have mentioned, 0.020, 0.030, 0.040 are common with 0.030 the most common if not a standard. This takes a bit of homework.

 

As long as the cylinder taper is within spec and the cylinders are not out of round, there is nothing at all wrong with honing the cylinders using your old pistons and re ringing it. I recently did this to my 5.4 2V as long as you follow the workshop manual for specs and such it will be fine.
Now a performance build I don't know because all I've ever done was a stock build

And my 5.4 had nearly 300,000 miles also

 

I always think it should be bored the least amount. There really is no point in going larger. I don't think its worth gaining the couple extra cubes. I doubt anybody would be able to tell the difference. The larger the bore the warmer they run, less strength etc.

 

Save your money until your have decided the entire scope of what you want engine to do and are seriously ready to do the job. There are so many interelated factors dependent on what you want your truck to do and how much you want to spend and the rest of the combination of parts on the truck.

 

Well said...I second the motion.

 

A good machinist will know if the block needs to be bored over and how much. The connecting rods can be resized cheaper than buying new ones. You cant buy rod or crank bearings until you know how or if the crank needs to be turned. The same with pistons.