Twins huh, Nick? Mine turn 9 this fall. And yeah, those candles get bright quick... :-X15

I'll try to get the specs friday. I got them from a friend. He did his apprenticeship at a local engine builder and took care of all the clearances. As for the piston to bore that was spec'd by the machinist to the 7.3 manual. He took the pistons to make sure the clearances were right. I had my ring gaps all written down for future reference but spilled a can of oil on it so it's now useless. Doesn't matter though as they were all within a thou difference and within the tighter half of the range.

I was thinking about this this morning. Having twins is as much of a curse as a blessing. All the milestones happen within a few days of each other. I'll only get to see one seventh birthday. There won't be another in 2 years. :(. Oh well. I'll still enjoy what I have ;)

Thanks for the info don't worry about the piston to cyl clearance I have the manual so I have the same info he used I'm sure. Were your ring gaps good or did you have to file them?

they were good

Thats good news!! Hopefully mine are too. My block is supposed to be finished by the end of the week so I will know soon enough. Another question was your timing cover scored?

Do you mean inside by the timing gears. I'd have to take another look. I don't think so. If you have scoring there either something gone for a ride in there of your timing gears may have been walking. Were the thrust plate bolts on the cam tight.

No, sorry I should have explained different. Where the LPOP bolts to the timing cover. mine must have gotten trash in the oil. I am thinking of having .010" machined off to clean it up seems like that wouldn't hurt anything? She is in pretty rough shape for 124k miles.

Yeah mine does have some light scoring there. I don't know if it would hurt anything though. I guess it could hinder oil pressure a bit. I hadn't really put much thought to it. I should check the sd front cover and see if it's the same way. Maybe someone else has insight

Seems pretty common and I was thinking this would be a good time to address it. Hopefully someone has some idea? Looking at the cover I can't see why taking a little meat off that raised area where the oil pump mounts would effect anything?

It all depends on where it sits on the crank

True but it will just move the oil pump back the amount removed from the timing cover I think I will just look to see where the seal was riding on my harmonic balancer and if I have room on the sealing surface I'm going to go for it. I am pretty sure the engine would have to come back out to fix it later and I don't want to do that?

K fellas. I made a bit more progress it today. Slapped a little paint on it
http://i1333.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0zpdppyt.jpg
Then I thought to myself. Gee did I torque the oil pickup bolts??????? $#/+. So off with the pan and while at it I removed the front cover as well to get the one intake bolt in that is behind the hpop res. oh well. Could be worse. I could have put it together without torquing it and pooched my motor. For the record it was torqued.


I also got a bit creative with the oil cooler. I don't have the luxury of a press so I made do. It worked well
http://i1333.photobucket.com/albums/...psfwitimkp.jpg
Yes that's a ratchet strap. And yes I used it to pull the peices together.

Rolled the motor over an started to put some stuff on top
http://i1333.photobucket.com/albums/...psc7oxurk9.jpg
http://i1333.photobucket.com/albums/...psxcwoc1vm.jpg
I put the intakes on, the T-500, and got the injectors in. It was a good day.

Looking pretty good man!

Very nice!! Those kinds of little things (like the oil pickup bolts) will absolutely drive you nuts if you don't follow up on them. You did the only thing you could do by pulling it apart to check. Looking good!