do yourself a favor and buy this book , it is consider the bible of rebuilding an FE
Amazon.com: How To Rebuild BIG-BLOCK FORD ENGINES (0075478000708): Steve Christ: Books
read it cover to cover then reread the sections as your rebuild progress i

 

Cheapest way to do it. Remember to have it line honed, and FE motors about MUST be bored and honed with a torque plate.

 

if the motor was running and had no bearing issues the line boring/honing may not be required. you may be able to do a cheap and quick freshen up. the most bang for the buck is that 390 crank and rods keeping the pistons from the 360 (as long as they are stamped 390 4v) if they are real 360 pistons the wrist pin height will not work.

 

Many machine shops will not tell you that you don't need it line bored or even a need to check it. They like $$ just like everyone. Also If your block had thrown a rod and patched the block back up then yes have it checked. Now you take a block in that has 75,000 100,000+- mile on it. Don't this tell you that their is no issues for it to get this kind of mileage if it was not running true, so really no need to check the line bored. Not for a 5500 rpm motor.. my 2cent orich

 

However deck height and a bunch of other stuff is set off of your main bearing bore, so if you're planning on any kind of performance work for this motor, I consider it a must. Also, when you have it decked, setting the deck to zero usually gives you a little more compression, IIRC most of these motors are factory with the pistons just a little under the deck height.

 

Keep the 2 cents rolling because the I'm suppose to go in and talk to the mechanic next weekend.
Can you explain the piston thing again?

 

If you listen to this guy (nobearsyet) you'll really screw up your block. To zero deck your block to the top of the pistons Means milling off off 0.104 this is over 1/10th'= 0.100 on each side of the block YOUR intake manifold will not fit. So intake will also need milling..
Not good advice at all, just bore and change to 390 crank & pistons. If Pumping the compression up so high to 11-12 ratio you will have troubles finding pump gas to run it over in that 100+ desert days. Gas cost will always keep going up and it hurts paying to fill these up with high octane gas. But if your building a race truck to just race with aviation fuel then that's one thing by itself.
Talk is cheap and many people here have never built any motors.
I'd just get the block squared, Squaring the block will help assure your intake manifold lines up good on each end of the block. If your going to do the assembling yourself, Great for wanting to jump in over your head. But you should buy a book by Steve Christ.. BIG-BLOCK FORD ENGINES be for you go off the deep end. A great book for guys who want to know just about everything on ford motors. Some great tips on how to do's and build these fe beast motors. Read these book over & over until you finally understand it. Then go see your machine shop man and you'll both be talking on the same level so your not lost or un-sure..Good luck.. My 2cents
orich

 

My 416 was built at zero deck, and with 390 truck pistons from like a 76 model (the engin etech pistons I was reffering to) it runs just fine on the 91-92 octane fulel they call premium down here.

 

Is the replacement of the pistons relatively expensive?

 

You can do a search for what you want. many vendor sell them. Best to let a shop choose the brand and type for what your building the motor for if you don't know. But don't go over kill on the build if you don't have the money to feed it the higher octane gas. I hated having to buy the high octane gas for 28 yrs. Now the new motor, I can put in the cheap 87 when it's 4.50+ a gallon. If you ever do any towing you'll find the cheap gas don't cut it. Also when the out doors temp up pass 100* cheap low octane stat pinging and that's not good as it lights up the carbon on the of top of the pistons like a cinder red hot which if not corrected in time it will burn a hole through the pistons.. Check out the link below orich..
Sportsman Racing Products 261496-8 - SRP Ford FE 390/428 Flat Top and Inverted Dome Pistons - Application - SummitRacing.com

 

Thank you for the link.
For parts like that should I just let the shop purchase them or get them myself?

 

Let the shop get the pistons because they know which brand they have the less troubles with. Also theirs a floating pin & a press in pin. Pressed in was what was used in the early days of fe motors, Floating piston wrist-pins were an upgrade, easier to install to. Learn all you can before you commit to what your going to have built. Like I say before you start your build, order some books here another good one (High Performance Ford engine parts interchange) more great info to know..You can find these used that sell cheaper amazon & eBay..
orich

 

"Floating piston wrist-pins"
what exactly is a wrist pin? same thing as a floating?
How much do you think a quality performance build would cost because I do have a second job to help out the bills.

 

May be this will help you understand, if not then do a search on floating piston wrist pins..A engine build. This all depends how much work you do on the motor. $3-4 grand... My heads I've got at least a grand in. I supplied all new intake & exh ss-valves.The hardened seats, springs & retainers,& guiles & seals, shop charged $800 labor. So about $4,500 in my motor. And my son and, I did all the assembly work at this home in Henderson nv.
orich..
Connecting Rods Machine Shop Video-Engine Building DVD - YouTube

 

A common street engine or a performance engine, there is a lot of difference in what you need to get done. I have rebuilt a lot of them stock to put back in a stock farm/ranch truck and never lined bored one and I seriously doubt they used a torque plate to bore them. I do believe in spending the extra money to get a V8 balanced. I also never like reconditioned rods because the center to center distance changes when they recon them.