Rebuilding 351W

I can't really get a long block because I have good GT40 heads that give me 305HP. At $1,800 a piece, you can see why. Any long block is going to come with generic 250HP heads. I already purchased a short block from Rapido Marine. So far my experience with them has not been great.
I called them and was told I should talk to Raul and he would call me back..
At 4pm he hadn't called me, so I called and they said he wouldn't be in till 5:00pm and he calls everyone back after hours.
He did not call that night, so I called back again the next morning.
Ended up talking to him and ordered a short block. They said they would build the motor and call by the end of the week with a tracking number.
Thursday came and no call, so I called them. They said if the motor is ready by 3:00pm they will call with a tracking number, otherwise it would be Friday. No call, so Friday came and I called them back again. They told me a machine broke and the motor would not be ready until Wednesday (tomorrow). So far not a good experience, but I'll give Rapido a final rating after I get the motor and run it for a few weeks.

Get a jasper class II short block so that you get the right cam the heads are only part of the 305hp the cam is the rest.

Cliff any news here? did you got that engine running? comments?

Based on having done it a thousands times and your symptoms you probably have the plug wire location/order/something off.

My first look would be to make sure you were at top dead center on the compression stroke when you chose the number one cylinder location. So make sure you know where cylinder number 1 is.. cylinder location and distributor rotation. Remove the plug from cylinder one, put your finger over the whole turn to top dead center on your balancer at the timing mark. If your finger didnt get pushed off the hole by 90 plus psi of pressure turn the engine around one complete revoltion back to tdc again. Don't stop until you are 100 percent certain that cylinder was in compression right before you stopped it at TDC. Take a piece of chalk and mark where the rotor is pointing somewhere on the intake then put the cap on and reorder your wires to the order you have above making sure to go in a counter clockwise direct and that you know which cylinder is which. Once you know all that is right use only very small adjustments to the distributor position to get it to start.

I may be confused on this as I'm just learning myself but isn't that distributor for a clockwise rotation
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MAA-YLU554DV/

and this for a reverse or counterclockwise rotation.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MAA-YLU554CV/

The DV verses CV in the part number

Ok I have a minute... so gun-driver... The direction of rotation of the engine is talked about in Rh or lh and also as counterclockwise and clockwise and also as standard and reverse... RH, clockwise, reverse all the same thing .. lh, counterclockwise, std all the same thing... and I didnt look but i have no doubt your distributor information is correct.. however none of this has anything to do with the rotation direction of the rotor in a small block ford. The reverse rotation small block ford uses a cam gear and a distributor gear that are cut differently to allow the rotor to still spin counterclockwise just like the standard rotation. If he had the wrong distributor for his reverse rotation camshaft he would not have gotten it all the way down and seated into the engine, and the backfiring would be the least of his worries.. I think I have that right.. but someone will fact check me..

Dennis.. assuming you havent gotten the engine put together wrong the first piston will always physically be at the top of it's stroke where your balancer TDC mark intersects your pointer. The dowel can confirm this but it doesnt tell you if the first cylinder has just completed the compression stroke or not. The crank (and consequently the pistons) go around twice for each time the cam (and consequently the rotor) goes around (thats why the big gear on the cam and small one on the rotor. The dowel or the timing mark tells you each time the piston comes up in cylinder one, but only one out of two times does it come up afer the intake valve was open on the previous down stroke (allowing a charge of air and fuel to be pulled in) and with both valves closed on the upstroke allowing the charge to be compressed and ready to be exploded by the spark. That is when you want the rotor to be there, if it is 180 off it will have just completed the exhaust stroke.. with the exhaust valve open pushing all that air out the exhaust port so the spark does nothing.

If you have your valve covers off and can see the valves you could simply set the engine to the timing mark (again assuming the engine has been put together correctly) right after watching the intake open and close, but with the engine together you need to feel the pressure and go slow... if my description is still too confusing.. give me a call 315 567 1273... I am sure your about to hear that thing running...

It took me a while to try to find the right oil pump tube/screen. Auto parts stores kept ordering the wrong one which was slightly different than the one I have. I noticed when putting it in that the rods blew smacked the tube pretty good and not only bent it but put a nasty crimp in it that would probably have caused me to lose 50% of my oil flow. I got the new filler tube today and put it on.. SO the oil pump is on, filler tube..So I flipped the engine over to start working on the top half. The gasket set I received with the engine has head gaskets that cover 2 of the ports in the front of the motor. The holes in the block line up with holes in the heads, but they would both be blocked off by the gasket. Is that a concern or is it supposed to be that way?

if I had to call somewhere and ask for Raul, it better be for a massage....not an engine

The new block on the stand..

Okay, almost done. The engine and tranny are together and it is on the mounts in the boat. Help me a little with timing here if you could. Does it matter where the interrupter assembly starts? I have the motor at TDC, and can easily line up a distributer with spark plug 1, but of course I don't have a ditributer on this Pro Tech setup. I'm reading in some places that it self-adjusts. Any advice on setting initial timing on a Protech TBI?

Whoa chill out! I tried. There are 6 different manuals that might help, and I looked through them... I have a 1995 Sport Nautique with the PCM EFI and what is out in the manuals section that "might" help?

1995 Owner's Manual
PCM 302 and 351 Engine Manual
PCM Service Manual
PCM Pro Boss GT-40 Service Manual
Ford 302 and 351 Marine Service Manual
PCM Engine Manual (1993)

There are thousands of unsearchable pages throughout this group of manuals. When I do find info in the index, I go to that page, and it starts talking about distributer engines. I wish there was 1 clear manual for my setup, but it doesn't seem to exist.

I hear you on ditching the ProTec.. It may happen someday, and hopefully before I am dead on the water! As for right now though, I've dumped enough money on this bear the last 2 seasons, and the only thing I didn't have to replace was the ignition system. It has been working great for me even at the ripe old age of 15! Exactly WHICH manual would you suggest I look at for initial timing setting for this setup :)

Chris,

Can you ditch the Pro-Tech on the EFI motors?

Cliff,

Where you at on Candlewood? my family has a place at Holiday Point.

Todd,

That's what I thought as well, EFI needs the Pro-Tec.

When the Pro-Tech tanked on the Paragon (Carbed Pro-Boss) we did the conversion kit Chris mentioned and IMO it ran stronger then new with the Pro-Tec.

quinner wrote: Todd, That's what I thought as well, EFI needs the Pro-Tec. When the Pro-Tech tanked on the Paragon (Carbed Pro-Boss) we did the conversion kit Chris mentioned and IMO it ran stronger then new with the Pro-Tec.

Well I guess I'm that one percenter that can read a wiring diagram and would use a gt40 distributor and get the job done to convert your EFI Pro-Tec system to a reliable ignition system and ditch the POS Pro-Tec system, But then I'm just a hobbiest so the F do I know. But you might try a search has it has been done all ready and posted on here as well.

Chris,

Can you say "Goosfraba" for me, LOL.

OK ya goon, so would this conversion entail moving the distributer to the back of the motor where it belongs, LOL!!