Finally Ive been able to save up enough to rebuild my truck. In fact ive got it on the stand right now. My heads are done alerady. I have measured the rod bearings. The wear on them isnt to bad. Pretty much all of them were worn between .2000 and .3000. The mains are not the same story. They are all coming in at .5000 and .6000 wear which explains the low oil pressure, and also the edges of them are very worn. Both the rods and mains bearings have a lot of pitting and scoring and scratching on them, like maybe its been run out of oil before. Here is my planned buildup.

Crane 343901 cam
Edelbrock peformer RPM
Holley 600 vacum secondary
Hedman headers
stock dizzy

In hoping for around 300HP from this setup.
This is very exciting for me as I have been waiting for months to rebuild it and lay some rubber down. My question is: Will I need standard or oversize or undersize bearings for the mains? The rods can get stanard bearings since there not worn out. Also I did not get a rebuild kit just buying the parts as I go along will I need to get replacement pistons? The rings are worn pretty good too. I plan to just use this thread as I make progress and have questions instead of using 100 different threads for different questions.

Thanks for the info in advance

 

Measure the amount of wear and taper on your main and rod crank journals. If you have to have to get the crank turned .010" under, you get that size bearings. Not a big deal.

 

Do I need to get replacement pistons?

 

if youve got a big ridge around the piston wall at the top youll probably need to bore and hone the cylinders in which it would need new pistons and rings. if its not that bad you may just get away with new rings and maybe a light hone job to get a good crosshatching. if youre using the stock dizzy i highly recommend the pertronix ignitor. i like mine and it was a breeze to install. hope this helps.

 

I just finished rebuilding the 352 in my 66. I kept it all original. My motor was worn but not damaged. It had the original FOMOCO bearings in it and all I had to do was buy a STD. set.I was really impressed with the quality of the "stuff", they made those things out of. Just the sheer weight of the intake is amazing! I don't know what it is putting out for HP but I gotta believe it is close to the 208 it was originally rated for. The tires will chirp if I want them to. Sound like the mods you have in mind will jaz it up quite a bit. I was glad to have this forum for questions as I went along!

 

Yes the 352 is my personal favorite engine. I too have the orginainl Ford bearings in it too, they say FoMoCo on the back of them. They were built to last. Truth is I could have run my truck for another 100,000 if I wanted too there just wasant that much worn out. If you want to mantain stock apperance and driveabilty then what you can do is find a 4b intake from another FE and it will fit the same and will virtually be identical to yours, exceopt of course youll be feeding it some more cfm which means more power. DSC has cast iron FE 4b intakes for 50 bucks cant go wrong with that. I am excited about getting it strated for the first time. I wish I could work on it every day but ya know how life is. The FEs were not huge HP engines. They were high torqe engines, something the chevy competiors lacked. I beleve stock with 2b it had 208HP and 350lbs. Put that 4barrel intake in I was talking about and it goes up to 255HP. I love the rumble and reliabilty they make.

 

You are right about the torque. The way the rear ends are geared, you can almost drive up a wall with a full load on the back! When Ford built these trucks they were truly intended for work, not just something for someone to run around in and feel good because they are driving a truck!

 

I know, last summer I had 4000 lbs of gravel in the back of my F100, didn't slow it down a bit.

 

I have been hauling quite a bit of gravel lately and the limiting factor is the tires! These trucks are great!

 

Okay got another problem. Just started working on it again today and I cant get the crank out. All rods and pistons are out, timing gears are off. All mains are of course off. The crank will lift up maybe half an inch but wont come out any further. Should I just put the cherry picker on it and yank it off?

 

I really dont see what could be holding it down. If you have the timing set off, all the main caps off, and the timing cover off, it should lift right off. Which end is being held down?

 

Well thats the confusing part. Im not sure. Ill lift one end and itll lift up a little. Then ill go to the other end and the same thing happens. ITs like its being held down in the midlle but I cant til how or why.

 

Well, grab one end with each hand and lift straight up. HARD. It should come off. Thrust bearing perhapse?

 

That center main (thrust bearing), can really be stubborn. A little spray of blaster won't hurt anything. Be patient, you will get it out of there!

 

Thanks a bunch spurredon! You have been a big help to me. I will pull the crank out tommorow. Please keep up the help. I will have many more questions on this thread as the rebuild continues. Thanks.