351 rebuild components

get a true roller timing chain and gears and if it's been awhile sense you replace the circ pump get a new directional pump and don't forget a new oil pump. And some nice S/S intake bolts, what's the ignition system like, ditch the conversion kit and get a good Mallory unit and HO coil and a nice set of plug wires too if yours are old.

Alan I know you have done some one the motor last year cann't remember everything you did but your on the right track.

81..That all sounds good so far, did you get the sealed power rebuild kit or just the pistons, Are they flat tops?

79..is right a roller chain is a must, and a good oil pump, and a good set of push rods, ARP rod bolts, also think about a new fluidampr balancer. building it strong from the bottom up is the way to go, you can always add the bolt on parts later, when you get more money! GOOD LUCK

MM,

here's the piston we ordered speedpro

I said sealed power above but they are speedpro. Another case of old age and CRS. I have 60CC heads so we had to find something that would keep us under 9.5:1 Cr. Also paid more for forged over Hypereutectic but I think that is money well spent.

I didn't order the kit, my rebuilder made recommendations and we looked up all the parts individually. Might have cost a little more than a kit but he was very adamant about certain products and brands that he had good experience with. Also had some negative things to say about a few brands to stay away from.
He builds some amazing race engines and does quite a few marine engines as well. His shop foreman is about 60 and the guys been building engines since God was a baby so the machine work is in good hands.

79, They did use the stock balancer and flywheel to balance with.

What do you guys consider to be a good oil pump and push rods? Should I go with a standard volume pump? I've seen arguements both ways here.

One thing I'll add. Make sure piston to bore clearance was set properly in your block. A few of us on here (myself included) have learned this the hard way.

Marine engines need more clearance, and forged pistons require more clearance than cast and hypereutectic.

Also be careful when installing your pushrods and rockerarms. Since the valvetrain isn't adjustable you'll need to make sure that the base circle of the cam hasn't shifted at all and that your lifter preload is still correct.

There is quite a bit of information in this thread that is WAY over my head. Is this english?

Base circle of the cam is the diameter of the cam where there is zero lift (valves closed).

When checking pushrod length you have to be on the base circle of the cam. The base circle of the cam is just one factor that effects pushrod length though. Most everything in the valvetrain has an impact. With all the changes you're making it is wise to check for the proper length before you purchase pushrods

Awhite, I follow the thinking. Will do.

79, I get the hint stud

I kept the non adjustable valvetrain, but I wish I would have spent the extra $$$ to go with studs and guideplates. In the long run it would have saved a lot of ha$$les.

In the end my valvetrain geometry is right and I only needed one pushrod length. It took a lot of calculations (fancy spreadsheet), some semi-custom length pushrods, and shimming a few rocker pedestels.

this is personal preference but i always stick with a good stock oil pump, more volume means more pressure, no reason to run high pressure on your bottem end, again....personal preference

81nautique wrote: Awhite, I'm going to have to give this some more consideration. Why the variations in pushrod length from cyl to cyl? I would think if the heads or deck were shaved you would have to account for that but the pushrod size should be the same for all. I'm going to have to look up the tolerance for lifter preload(the Machine shop has my PCM manual right now) but I think it was .020.

Alan, I believe the most common spec Ive read is .020-.040" for proper lifter preload. It really *shouldnt* vary from cylinder to cylinder if the heads are milled properly, but it doesnt hurt to measure anyways. I only measured cyl #1 when I put the new heads on and shimmed all the rockers the same. I do have a little bit of clatter, so when I install my RR's this spring, Im going to measure them all.

As far as going to stud mount, they are clearly the superior system. Beyond being fully adjustable, they are stronger (studs come in 3/8" and 7/16", as opposed to the 5/16" bolts on the pedestal style). There are 2 drawbacks though: 1) cost and 2) valve cover clearance.

My machine shop quoted me $150 to have the heads tapped for studs. You'll also have to get new rockers now- which will set you back $250-350 (new) for a good set of aluminum rollers.

I believe the stud mounts also run into clearance problems with stock height valve covers. The pedestal mounts seem to require less clearance. You could use tall style valve covers, but I dont know if they will interfere with the PCM manifolds.

In my case, I decided it just wasnt worth the cost to go stud mounts on these heads. If I were doing a full rebuild, I might have gone all out (and may do so in the future). However, its easy enough to shim the rockers and get the right preload and the 5/16" bolts are plenty strong for our application. YMMV.

Things that can drive slight differences in required pushrod length valve to valve are:
Slight differences in cam base circle lobe to lobe
Slight differences in valve seat depth
Slight differences in rocker pedestel height
Slight differences part to part in rocker geometry, valve stem length etc.

The liklihood of needing different length pushrods is slim but a possibility.

In my case I had to shim three of my rocker pedestels slightly to get back in the range of proper preload. It wasn't much, and I could probably have gotten away without the shims but I'm anal and wanted it right.

Shimming rocker pedestels must not be too uncommon because Ford Motorsports makes a rocker pedestel shim kit for their pedestel mount roller rockers.

Allan I think that 2k mark is going to grow. I have half that in a set of heads without the push rods.

just wondering 81 why did you have the motor balanced, you will never spin it over 6 grand.

87BFN owner wrote: just wondering 81 why did you have the motor balanced, you will never spin it over 6 grand.

I just couldn't see spending the money on a new motor without balancing it. The new forged pistons are a different weight than the stock cast ones and the rebuilder strongly suggested it.   Basicly these motors don't turn a lot of rpms but they turn 4000 rpm regularly and if you do a lot of footing can stay there for a while. I just want this thing to be bulletproof and I don't want to be holding my breath when I decide to nail it and scream down the river. It's probably an over cautious approach but I like to go fast and this gives me a little more confidence if I decide to hold the throttle down longer than I should.

your not going to be able to add enough cup to it most likely, if your already turning 4800 then your going to see about 6k easy. I'm not sold on Bill too much, talked to him a bunch before I got my 470 he told me to use the 540 and I said no way, I pegged the tach with the federal prop I had reworked to a 13 x 14 and he wanted me to go with a 12.5 x 13 ACME 540.