351 rebuild components

Looks good Alan . Keep the pics coming.

Pat

Duck, I'm not an expert here but this is what I'm putting in.

I went with moly rings. Middle of the road but good for this level of performance, definately better than stock cast. They suggest chrome moly if you have higher compression, nitrous or a blower.

Went with tri metal cleavite bearings for mains and rods. These are an excelent bearing and much better than stock.

I also went with forged pistons over original cast or hyperuetectic. The forged I found were only slightly more than the hypers. My rebuilder is sceptical of aftermarker cast pistons from any mfg'r, just see's them as budget pistons and not worth the savings.

I may be wrong on this but the oil pump is driven by the distributor shaft which turns the same direction no matter what rotation the engine spins. Someone else may have to chime in on that but I believe that to be true so the pump is standard.

Anything else ask away I'll give it my best.

Chris I agree with all you have to say in the second paragraph,but as far as turning the pistons 180 and the piston to cyl. clearance,my stroker was all set up as a hi per rebuild.
Hope it's right , got 22 hrs. and have hammered her hard for the last 8 hrs,5200 rpms plus.Explain why you would turn the pistons,would the valve cut outs be backward,sorry for the dumb question....boat dr

chris, guess I knew about the offset but did not give it any thought when giving details to my engine builder,by the way not a single drop of oil from the rear seal.Eagle stroker crank w/one piece rear main.
One other issue i have was with the part # you gave for the rear main,my info says the Felpro # 11746
Victor #JV568
Could not locate either,Bought the bottom end set from Vince Skidim,maybe i wrote the #'s down wrong??????????????

Doc and 79, am I correct on the rotation of the oil pump? Doesn't matter since the dist. turns the same direction no matter if the motor is reverse or not, right?

Duck, regarding the age of your engine, how is he determining the engine age, in terms of a '71-'72. If he's looking at casting numbers as shown on the intake manifold or block, it could indeed appear as a 71-72, while it could have indeed been assembled in '76 or '77. The casting numbers are reflective of when the part was "originally" cast and the casting number may not change again until design changes are made. If your cylinder heads are the early 351 style with the larger plugs (13/16" vs 5/8"), they are more than likely a 1970 "date" casting. But if he's found the mfr's serial no. tag on the top of the engine somewhere, then that might be more conclusive. What kind of engine is it? If it's a PCM or Commander, chances are it's not a 71-72 either, as they were not yet in production, but more likely a Waukesha, Crusader or Palmer to be that age, if it's a Ford. Hope this helps.   

79nautique wrote: well it was mainly for flat top or dished pistons and has been brought up here a couple of times, mainly by awhite70 if I recall correctly, Has something to do with the loading on the wrist pin and piston for the 180, there might be a slight offsit on the wrist pin's bore on the piston and with the rev rotation it effects it. The larger ring gaps and cyl wall/piston clearance has to do I think with the lower block temps and expansion of the piston so you need the extra clearance for the piston to grow or it scuffs the cyl wall. For notched pistons it could be an issue, I've seen some where both sides are notched so it's not a big deal and if there isn't a slight offsit to the wrist pin then it's not an issue either.

The pistons are turned 180 deg because the thrust side (the side that takes the brunt of the load on the power stroke) changes to the other side when the direction of the crank changes. This is the case in a reverse rotation engine. If pistons are used that only have two valve reliefs cut into them, you have to order a set of 4 right side and 4 left side pistons (if pistons are not sold in a set). For running this type piston in a reverse rotation engine, you are supposed to swap the left side to the right and vice versa and point the notches to the rear. I ran into this issue a couple years back when I was building a 350 Chevy TPI engine.

Awhite,

That's why it's so important to work with a machinist that has done marine engines before. I left it up to him to tell me whether the pistons had an ofset. My set of speed pros do so they have been mounted so the arrows point to the back. The originals that came out did not so they were indexed to the front. We talked about piston bore clearance and I also let him gap the rings. really all I'm doing now is assembling it , the hard works been done.

We also polished the crank and it was done reverse as well.

Got all my stuff back last night and again after picking his brain for another 30 minutes I am thoroughly impressed with his work and knowledge, I talked to 3 shops before I found this guy but I knew instantly this was the right place.

Very Pleased and I'm hoping for a very productive weekend putting this back together.

Thanks for letting me bounce these questions off of you guys, One last ?, lefty loosy righty tighty ,right?

GottaSki wrote: One more thing, Tighten till you hear snap, then back off 1/4 turn.

Thanks alot but I figured that one out a long time ago

Stay tuned though as I figure I'll hit the water in maybe 3-4 weeks and I have a brand new Holley 600 that I'll be tuning. I've read all your stuff about that and I'm sure I'll be needing you to get this thing running primo.

I would return it and rebuild the one he has and save the cash. Carbs very rarely wear out, once in a while the throttle plate wears out but not very often, everything else is replacable at a fraction of the cost of a new one and you'll never know the difference.

81, What is your price on the carb,after the Hi Teks,I am going to sell this new 450cfm Holley. It worked great for a stock 302,and the 750cfm does a good job but a little large for the 331...........boat dr

boat dr wrote: 81, What is your price on the carb,after the Hi Teks,I am going to sell this new 450cfm Holley. It worked great for a stock 302,and the 750cfm does a good job but a little large for the 331...........boat dr

Doc, I have no idea on a price right now and I want to try to get Hollywoods problem sorted out first. I could rebuild the one he's swapping with me for you or send it to you as is if you want. I'll let you know later once we get him sorted out.

PS. HW, I still think you need a timing chain and that's the first thing we should look at. If I was replacing my distributor right now I'd let you try the EI conversion coming out of mine but that may be next year.

Kevin what issues are you have with your's? don't recall you posting having any kind of trouble with your boat.

well I guess a compression check is in order, followed by the timing then the fuel pressure all easy things, could be as simple as a bad secondary diaphram on the carb. Does it miss fire or any thing?

i would do the fuel pressure first, that way the motor doesn't get hot, then I would look at the timing, well second thought check out the mechanical advance of the dist first, then FP, then the compression test all of these can and should be done with out the engine firing.

three-five cranks should be enough for the fuel pressure, then three-four cranks for each cyclinder for the compression, then the timing. Good luck hope it is something simple.