Good to hear from you. Looking Good!

 

Thanks for the update Dustin. Every now and then I go back through your build, and it never fails to impress me the amount of time, effort and dedication you have put into this project! Thanks for sharing with us.
When you finnish this truck, I would like to attend the first show you put it in.
Keep after it!

 

And a few from today's tear-down. The original 1960 Ford gaskets were still holding strong. I was amazed at the exceptional condition of the cylinders. Other than a slight ridge at the top, each cylinder is perfectly smooth...nothing a .010" overbore shouldn't fix.

With original FoMoCo gasket


If you look close enough, you can see an original assembly line marking (white) just above the 3rd piston

 

Why not just knock out the ridge with a ridge reamer than hone and re ring?

I have done hundreds this way with out any problems. JMHO that once board over
ya can't get that back with out re sleaving.

 

I've thought the same myself, but will have to wait until the machine shop measures everything to make a determination. All cylinders do have a pretty healthy ridge on the top, but no scarring or damage. I plan to have the engine blueprinted, and haven't made a decision whether I'm going to overbore (if necessary) or install liners (if an overbore is necessary) to keep the original bore size. I'm hoping to have the crankshaft out for refurbishment and a few pieces powdercoated (water pump pulley, coil bracket, road draft tube, air cleaner, etc.) before my next deployment in February. Unfortunately, you won't see too many "after" photos of the engine components for a while, as I'm finishing the last of the chassis. In the meantime, I'm purchasing every NOS engine part I can find (even found a complete NOS Ford gasket set).

 

Hope things go well for February. Thanks for your service! By the way, you are making us Fridge guys proud with your work!

 

When you rebuild the 292. there are a couple cooling holes to drill in the heads and block that make the engine much happier. I know you want an absolute original, but these are internal and will go a long way in preserving the rebuild. If you don't have those details I can likely find them and send them to you or one of the guys on the Y-block forum can as well.

 

I thought you guys would enjoy a few final photos of the tear-down. Overall, everything looked very good for a 53-year-old engine that spent it's last 7 years turning 3000 rpm on the highway as a daily driver, to include one final trip from Maryland to California.

The main bearings look very good, however the connecting rods bearings were all down to the copper layer (fortunately with no spun bearings). The #1 connecting rod did suffer some damage, as the piston pin bushing walked out of the connecting rod and had moved around enough over the years to create some damage to the piston. The piston pin keeper was just about to pop out of its groove. Fortunately everything held together, otherwise the #1 cylinder would have been trashed.

These will be the last of the photos for a while, as it will be some time until everything is back from powdercoat and the machine shop. Additionally, I have a few ends to tie up with the chassis before I fully devote to the engine.

Some historical notes of interest:

-If you look closely, you'll see some red paint dabs on the main cap webs and a red #1 connecting rod. The factory marked the engine block and rods with either red or blue paint to indicate the bearing size (red or blue fit) to achieve the desired clearance.

-The factory stamped all connecting rods and caps with their respectively assigned cylinder.

-Original factory markings include a white spray-painted circle at the back of the block and a small white dot (paint dab) on the front left (most likely applied before the black engine paint.

 

I inherited a '57 F100 recently and started scrolling through this section of FTE. Came across your build the other day and went through it all. Very nice and impressive. Subscribed. And most of all, thanks for your service to our country.

 

Sorry for the delayed reply. Thanks for the support. Now back on U.S. soil, I'm resuming work with the restoration. I have the remaining chassis components ready for powdercoat and the bare engine block ready to head to the machine shop. It will be a few weeks until everything is out and back, but as always pics will will follow.

 

I'm back and will now have some time to finally re-focus on the truck (at least until our move to Alaska). The last of the powdercoated chassis components (an some engine components) will be back next week. With the exception of the differential carrier, the remainder of the chassis will come together within the following few weeks. Stay tuned, pictures are to follow.

 

May I ask where you will be in Alaska? It's a very big place. Should be it's own country
I think. We are supposed to vote on legalizing Pot this month. If it passes finely this
time then the resources used to police it would go far to clean out the Meth Heads I
hope. Or at least ad a few more Troopers.

 

I'll be stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Haven't decided on a living location, but we are heavily eyeing Eagle River or possible the outer Anchorage area.

 

I like Anchorage and the area a lot. My Daughter and her kids are there.
I get up there a few times a year. The Valley is great also. Lots of smaller
towns out side the city and still close enough to commute easy. Winter roads
can be a sunny beach though. Closed about half the time do to flatlanders that
can't drive in snow and ice. And southern truckers thinking to make big bucks
in the frozen north. Than mud and snow slides and the occasional earth quake
can make it interesting. Good luck.

 

Here are some long overdue photos. The parts just came back from powdercoat. Stay tuned for some more before/after photos as the final parts make it onto the chassis.