Hi guys. I've decided to do what I've always wanted to do and build an engine, starting with a bare block. I found a 351W and I've been doing a lot of research, but I want to know what you think...

The engine is described as being:
"BORED and FINISH HONED TO 4.030. IT HAS ALSO BEEN DECKED .010."

Is that a red flag to anyone? I'm still learning, so please enlighten me. I know that when an engine is bored that the size of the cylinder is increased...if I'm right, is 4.030 too much for 351W?
Also, I've been looking into various intake manifolds, and I've found some that are for specific deck heights. I want to get an engine that will be compatible with various intake manifolds.
1. What happens when and engine is "decked"?
2. Is .010 bad?

Lastly, as this is my first engine, should I start out with a block that hasn't been altered?...or would this one be a good start?
(Oh yeah, I'm building it to go into a 1958 F-100...nothing too high perfomance...just a good strong engine.)

Thanks!
TC

 

First question. Why are you rebuilding this engine? If these things have been done then it has already been rebuilt atleast once b4.

 

The block has been bored "30 over", pretty standard. If you havn't bought it yet, ask if it was bored using torque plates. Those keep the block square while boring so there is less chance of out of round. The deck .010 means it was shaved to either clean it of any high points or to increase compression. Probably not a problem but when putting the heads on you will want to make sure there are no valves hitting pistons.
You don't mention the crank and rods. If the crank has been ground you will have 2 numbers. The unders for the mains and the unders for the rods. Anything over .030 is bad, unless you have a reason for it.
If it has the crank rods and pistons, find out if it has been balanced. That is a very nice thing to have done.
The important thing is to go slow, be super clean, use a lot of engine assembly lube. And have fun. After your first engine you will probably go around the neighborhood pulling engines at night just to have some to rebuild.
There is a tremendous amount of info about engine building here and on the 'net. Use it and the various websites and tech support of various companies. They want you to have a good working engine using their parts.
Pam

 

I was in this same position last year. I had no comprehensive engine knowledge, just the basics. If you visited this forum much over the last couple of months, you may have read the posts of my engine project finally coming together. I decided to go with a professionally built shortblock, and assemble the rest of the engine later. I didn't feel confident in my abiliies, i'm under time constraints as it's my daily driver, and honestly, just doing the shortblock project was tough enough. I don't know how much engine experience you've got, but it is a lot more complicated then people might assume (I know it was for me). I suggest you check out some of the books we have in our Motorhaven shop. There is one in particular about rebuilding ford engines that I found to be a good read.

A 351 is fine with a 30 over bore, 40 is pushing it, i've seen as much as 60 over but it should be sonic checked if it's that far. What ends up happening is the material between the cylinder and the water jackets becomes inadequate and problems arise. Having a 30 overbore is ok as long as it was done correctly, mine is 30 overbore. Decking the block is when they shave the top of the block (where the tops of the cylinders are, where the head mounts to...) down to make it perfectly straight. It is usually not done specifically to lower compression, it's done to make the surface straight, but lower compression is a result of the procedure.

I stress getting that book because we couldn't possibly give you all the information the book does...it fills the spaces that us FTE memebers havn't mentioned or have difficulty explaining. It'll help you pick out aftermarket components (like heads, cam, intake, carb...etc etc). It's best to read that as well as use us from FTE, it's what I did and it worked out well for me. It took a lot of dedicated hard work but I taught myself how everything works and what to do (mine is EFI so it is a lot more complicated....but you get the idea).

I would also check out any local engine builders in your area. I would always get a 2nd opinion on a block to make sure it's in good shape and properly setup to be rebuilt.

http://www.motorhaven.com/customer/p...&cat=44&page=1

There is a link to the book I was describing. Also, check out some of the others, you might find one of interest...

 

Thanks for your responses!

Holland501, I'm not REbuilding it, I just want to a bare block and build it. I'm sure someone has rebuilt it, but this will be my first ownership of the engine.

The engine has NO CRANKSHAFT, RODS, or PISTONS. Is it okay to buy a block, then get the "insides" and then have it balanced?

TC

 

Sure you can buy a bare block and then gather all the pieces to put it together. But if this is your first engine rebuild then I'm going to take a guess and say you don't have a lot of spare parts laying around. My personal opinion is that you will come out way ahead financially, if you start with a complete engine. All those little pieces will end up costing you a fortune if you have to buy them one at a time. Also if this is your first rebuild, it really helps getting it back together if you were the one who took it apart in the first place. As I said, just my opinon. Good luck.

 

Yeah, taking one apart first is a big step in learning how to put it together. But yeah you can just take a block and put "stuff" in it....