Good luck with that, these guys here ought to be able to help you out...

 

Jason one thing that I haven't seen is how to do a quick cleaning of the engine itself. Grab a couple of cans of easy off oven cleaner and spray the block down. Let is soak on built up sludge and oil. Hose it off and be prepared to be amazed at home clean it is. Next hit it with a lot of air to dry it off then spray it down with WD-40 to keep it from flash rusting.

After everything is home cleaned I would suggest going through the block and getting rid of all the casting sand and flash. In other words any cast seams or build up of uneven globs of metal. There is a lot of hiding places for the stuff to be left from the factory. Remove any sharp edges from the block as well. This will reduce any possible stress risers that can crack or let go down the road that will kill the internals. Not only that but the engine will have a nice clean look to it as well. Remember it is easier to do all of this before any machine work or painting has been done to the block.

One other thing you may want to concider is coating the inside of the engine lifter valley with starter winding paint, glyptol. This will keep oil and sludge from building up for years to come. Spraying it on other surfaces is optional but will keep the noncoated parts from rusting if you have to let it sit for a while. And if you need to clean it off use brake cleaner. Nothing else will really take the stuff off. I found this out by accident after I did the timing cover area and was trying to clean the block off for paint. Take a look at my gallery to see what it looks like.

 

I'll probably just have it hot tanked to clean it. Seems like it would do a better job and get to areas I couldn't (such as the water jackets around the cylinders)

But thanks for the painting idea for the lifter valley!

 

I would still hot tank it. Cleaning it at home only allows for you to keep the engine in your hands to do some work on it before it leaves and stays at the shop for a while. I know from personal experiance that machine shops that I have dealt with were more willing to help on little things with the engine since I wasn't dropping a greasy turd on the door step. LOL Great visual huh?

 

lol, I've had worse visuals. (imagine a hyper-active dog eating freshly-fallen green walnuts, and the resulting runny guacamoley he leaves everywhere)

By the way, I've asked this before, but I'm gonna ask it again because I won't be able to sleep if I don't confirm it. Are all of you guys absolutely positive that only the front two oil galley plugs are supposed to be tapered, and the rear two not tapered? I don't want an expensive ruined engine because of improper plugs, lol. Also, how far should they be screwed into the block?

Thanks again for all of your guy's help!

 

A couple nights ago I checked on those marks inside the cylinder wall. It's not gunk after all, it's metal =(

But we compared them to a .030 gap measurment tool, and they should come out during the boring. If not, then I guess we can either re-sleeve it, or bore it over .040. How many cubes would that be?

 

One way to know if they are in fact tappered plugs is to measure to top and bottom thread diameters. As you know tappered will have a different measurement top and bottom. Just write a huge note so you don't forget what is where. Or just ask to have all the plugs tapped for tappered.

 

What are the advantages to using a traditional timing chain set versus a timing set that uses a pair of idler gears instead of a chain? I know that the gears make it noisier, but could you really hear that over the engine?

 

Do you like the sound of a blower whine? That is about the sound you will hear. Most people that install them will remove them after a few months when it is a daily driver. You can hear the noise even when driving. I remember hearing it as a kid and wondered why the engine made that noise. You can't beat the timing accuracy with them though.

 

Biggest disadvantage to gear drives is they transfer harmonics from the crank to the cam, I have ran them without a problem but have heard of guys having problems with this. Also the belt drives believe it or not are just as if not more accurate than the gear drives, and alot more adjustable too, but don't buy a cheap one Danny Bee belts are about the best. Also the dog bone style gear drives are really not the best setup the single fixed idlers are much better setup but moreof a PITA to set up.
Also you can get the quiet gear drives, not totally silent but not real noticable either. Just for reference I am running a chain, and even with 800+ open spring preasures I am not having any issues.

 

I'll just stick with chain

Here is a picture of a spreadsheet detailing the engine build, all of the parts are from summit racing

I know for a fact that some parts will be unwise choices. Therefore I am depending on you guys to advise me appropriately. Also, if I'm forgetting something, let me know.

anyways here it is



so what do yo guys think? Where can I find a good 850-950 CFM carb? Summit racing seems to only have 650s...

 

Well the first thing I noticed right off the bat, thats the wrong connecting rods, those are stock ford rod lengths. You need the rods with the 2.2" BBC rod journals and a 6.8" length. Second you don't have rod bearings listed, may I suggest CLE-CB743H. I am going to have to check on those main bearings not sure if they have enough radius to work on the scat crankshaft, I run the federal mogul 3/4 groove bearings and like them. That carb is a little big most likely, it would work but on a 521 cid you won't need 950 cfm unless you really plan on running it up in the rpms. not sure if that holley fuel pump will be enough fuel delivery expecially with that carb, but maybe ok. and you don't have pushrods listed but your going to need to measure those anyway. And last thing for now is you don't have screw in studs and guide plates listed, you are going to have to have your heads modified for them and run them with those rockers.

Edit to add. If your wanting to stay with Scat connecting rods the part number you want is SCA-6680022

I am sure I will think of more later.

 

Here's a revised parts list. The changes are mostly based on your opinions. I've also added a few things that were missing (many of which are not needed and are helping the total cost to jump above $7k, I am well aware of this)

The things that are in bold are things I need advice on. There are a few things not shown in the picture but they are unimportant. I squeezed everything I could into this picture, it was the easiest way to post the list.

And here is the picture.



So what do you guys think?

 

main bearing part number FEM-134M, stall convertor 22-2400 with that cam. Pushrods I would run the TFS hardened 3/8" pushrods and buy the guide plates for that diameter rather than stock 5/16". Valves Ferrera 6000 series work really well and are a good valve (I don't think summit carries them though.)
And lastly main caps, well I am running stock 2 bolt main caps in my engine, but I do run a canton main girdle with ARP bolts and a canton windage tray bolted to it. Some claim it doesn't help other say it does, but my block is still together. Factory 2 bolt caps will hold an amazing amount of power though.

 

You know you can do a lot of your shopping on ebay and save a few dollars. I build 95% of my engine with parts from there. If it wasn't for my mistake with the fuel pump eccentric being left on I would most likely still be running today. With all the mods I did to my engine, I was $5000 total for all the machine work, misc, and parts. Granted I didn't buy an aftermarket crank, h-beam rods, or forged pistions so add that to my former grand total and you have what your looking to build. For an example one seller on ebay has an entire rotating assembly, nodular iron crank with forged H-beam rods (upgraded from forged I-beams) and forged probe pistons for $1200.00 Did I mention it comes with the main and rod bearings as well? They can also balance the whole assembly for an extra $90. SFI approved fluid harmonic balancer for $88.99 from the same seller. Doing the little bit of searching I knocked off $292 and change. Imagine some of the savings will be when applying the same to the rest of your shopping list.

There are a few differences though with some of the materials used. For instance the crank is iron by eagle vice steel scat one. But with a little more thought and research you can put together some really well planned parts that will last without going insane with the budget.