i have a 1992 f-250 with 351 windsor. The engine has 213,000 miles on it, it has not blown up or anything i just bought it off of my work as they retired it. The engine is getting week and i was planning on making it a hunting/farm truck. I would like to pull the engine and rebuild it this winter. I would like to get some horse power out of it but not spend a whole lot. I have rebuilt a 350 before with a friend. The thing is i don't know that much about what i need to do as in machining wise. The best piston, rod, and crank combination. I also would like to use the same heads just have them machined, but to what specs, and a new cam and lifters, but what cam, lifter, and rocker setup. I would really like to keep the rebuild under $1000, any suggestions would be great.

 

First, go around and talk to a few machine shops. Tell them you want to do a rebuild at minimal cost and keep talking until you find a shop that's friendly to you. Avoid shops that do mostly Chevys because they are used to machineing everything on the block and will probably not want to do a partial job. The older Chev blocks were very poor quality and often need all the machine work, but the Fords use better materials and are machined much straighter from the factory.

If the rototating assembly is in good shape the crank journals may only need polishing. Have the rods checked for trueness and resized if necessary. You can then use stock bearings on the bottom end and save some $$ on unnecessary machine work. It's likely the bores will need to machined, target 30 thou over because there are more pistons available at cheaper prices. Have the shop do the machine work and maybe install the cam bearings, the rest you can do yourself and save assembly costs. Select pistons for a 9-9.5:1 compression ratio, much more will require more octane or computer tweaking. The Comp Cams 35-255-5 and Crane 444232 are both good upgrades that will work with the stock computer. Disassemble the heads and fully port the exhaust, see the pics Hemieater has for an idea of what should be done, a dremmel and carbide bit is all you need. Also remove any sharp edges from the combustion chamber, this will significantly improve detonation sensitivity. Clean up any flashing and imprefections on the intake runners, but otherwise leave them alone. Bigger valves are not worth the $$ on these heads IMO. Even doing as much as possible yourself you will have trouble keeping the rebuild under a grand. I did a very similar build on my 351 and it cost more like $1500. The motor has about 100K on it now and runs strong.

 

hey thanks a lot for all of the input. I have a local welding machine shop in my small town and i am not sure if he has the equipment to do the machining like that. I am going to start out talking to him, thanks a lot.

 

Get the align bore in the block checked, the connecting rod bores checked too, cylinder bores, deck for straightness as well. If the heads need much work it probably would be cheeper to exchange them. Don't take anything for granted, you make your own luck in engine building.