Does your 86 300 use a 240 carburetor head or EFI head?
What do the tops of new 60 over pistons look like?

 

I'm using a 240 head.

The pistons have a D-shaped recess, .029" deep according to Silvolite - ~19 cc by my calculation.

 

Oy, got word back that the pistons won't ship for another week or two. Had the shop check to see if they could get the pistons locally and they got the same answer - one to two weeks.

On the plus side I don't have to pay until it's done so the money stays in my pocket. March is usually a real nice time of year for working outdoors in Texas anyway.

Everything else is in hand save a new flywheel and clutch kit. Waiting on Silv-O-Lite...

 

Woot, got the pistons and rings today. Back to the shop tomorrow to drop off everything.

 

Alright, I'd been estimating the compression ratio by working backwards from the CR silv-o-lite lists in their catalog for each piston. No cc listings for 300 pistons, so I used their listed CR with the stock 300 specs to get a 19cc dish for 3171h piston.

Just busted out a graduated cylinder and the ccing plexiglass and measured the dish at 22-23cc.

Instead of 9.8:1 at zero deck the CR works out to 9.55:1. Which is just a wee bit over what I'd initially figured when planning the engine. So woot again.

 

Dropped off everything to finish up the short block this a.m. and finally got down to estimating the price after checking everything out. He figured $800 - 1,100 for the labor and whatever for bearings, valve seals and studs, etc. Woot again, a little less than I'd assumed coming into the project.

He's going to spin balance the crank, balancer and flywheel then balance the pistons and get everything together this week.

 

Excellent!

My 318 was $1400 being bored, line honed, decked, magnafluxed, heads shaved and valve job, edelbrock cam and lifters, hv oil pump with hd shaft, pressing pistons to rods and ARP rod bolts, and hyper rebuild kit from summit...that was probably 10 years ago, so that's good prices haven't took a mighty jump lol.

I need to do a compression test on my 137k mile 300, then at least get the head shaved and ported until I have the dolla bills for the block.

Anyways, thanks for the cost!!

 

Last time I was in the shop I'd asked whether they do any head porting. As far as amateur jobs go I think I did okay but it never hurts to have a pro look it over. Honestly the only spot I fell iffy about is the short turn radii. I didn't touch on it much and wanted another set of professional eyes.

The other guy (the one not at the shop Saturday) does porting and I was able to speak with him today. He checked out the short sides and said they could indeed be improved. He also talked about polishing the exhaust ports to a mirror finish. I told him I'm okay with the exhaust but 300s are intake poor so let's focus there.

Quote was $250-300 to tidy up the short sides on the intake side and bowls on both. I told him to get busy. Probably unnecessary but since I've managed to save a few bucks along the way and will be selling off some SBF and other parts I've got sitting around, why not?

He also mentioned new valve seats to keep the valves from sinking too far in the chamber and give some flexibility on backcutting the valves. In for a penny in for a pound, I always say.

 

In for a pound, in for larger valves, I always say. Cheers.

 

The head guy finished the porting and I went by to check it out and square up for that part of the job. The ports look very nice. He went ahead and did a little clean up on the exhaust runners since he was already hitting the bowls and they do look more uniform. The short turns on the intakes feel much better and are much more uniform. My amateur hands left something to be desired there. I'm very pleased with his work.

Finally broke down and ordered a today, which probably won't be here for a couple weeks. Like molasses in February the build marches on...

 

BVA--

I was just wondering if I missed something. What is with the Ram clutch.

 

Figured that since the engine is coming out there's no better time to replace the clutch and slave. The Ram kit should be a step up from the cheapo Zoom kit that came along with the ZF when I bought it.

 

The shop building my engine doesn't have a dyno so I've been calling around to find a nearby shop that does just to see if I can swallow the price tag.

As much as I'm interested in seeing how much she actually puts out it's the idea of breaking in the engine and checking everywhere for leaks, funny noises, etc that appeals the most. If there's a SNAFU I'd rather not have to yank the engine back out of the truck, eh?

I spoke with a gentleman at Wayne Calvert Engines in Denton TX and I will be taking a day off from work once everything is buttoned up and heading their way for at least a half day of dyno testing. He quoted $75/hr, minimum $300. Seems totally fair by me and they have a great reputation. To be continued...

 

Have you looked at the crane 192 cam? I'm doing that and I'm undecided on a 240 or 300 head with work. Also a bore since I blew my rings in number 1 and the twin 32/36 carb setup

 

Honestly, the only cams I really considered were from Comp or Iskenderian. I chose the 268h to keep the compression ratio a little more tolerable.

Since you're replacing the pistons I would shy away from a 240 head and use the piston dish/valve reliefs and deck height to get the CR where you want it. My engine will end up ~9.6:1 with a 240 head and would have been ~9:1 with a 300 head. It will probably need premium fuel to stay happy.