I would have the block hot tanked, no biggie, line honed, bore it .060", cam bearings you can do yourself, but have them do it, but check the holes to make sure they are correct. Freeze plugs, do that yourself with a socket.

A good machine shop will recommend what you should do and what you need to do. Then you take it from there.

You can easily check your crank to see if it is on spec. The rods, unless you have the tools to check it, just have the shop do it.

 

ya you can do straight 4 mains on an existing 2 bolt block. look at lots of guys cars around here, freds, richs, georges.

splayed is way overkill, i think in a post fred said that george made 1125 hp on straight 4 bolt mains

i dont think you need 4 bolt mains though

 

yeah now im leaning toward the 2 bolt option, the bottom end is gonna be balanced after all and i wont be at peak hp all the time.

 

do not bore it to .060, .030 or under. the decrease in cylinder wall is not worth the trade off for more cubes. and just let the machine shop install the cam bearings and freeze plugs, its cheap and you know its done right.

 

My block was an original 2 bolt block. It is a 4 bolt block now as seem in some pictures I put up on my free site.

http://www.geocities.com/jmaxnakron/..._PICTURES.html

 

My motor is bored .060" and never had a problem. Used to help around a machine shop and you would be very surprised as how far you can go. .060" is nothing. It is only .030" a side, not much at all.

 

Not trying to tell this guy what to do, but you do not have to be a rocket scientist to put cam bearings in and anyone can put in freeze plugs.

 

Have everything balanced together, its the best way to do it. Yeah SCAT says there stuff is balanced, and it might be, but lets say a counter weight is .5-1gram off, then a rod is a little off, and a piston is a little heavy, well you see my point. The only way to have a balanced rotating assembly is to have to balanced as an assembly. I just had mine done last month for my 406.

As far as machine work goes, clean, bore/hone, deck the block(make sure you know your deck height so you will be able to figure up your compression and not guess like most people), it can also effect your pushrod length, depends on how much its been decked.

have the new crank journals checked(this isn't a big deal, just some dial indicator readings to make sure everything is good)

have the rods checked. have rod side clearances checked, very important.

install cam bearings/freeze plugs/oil galley plugs.

If you are reusing the heads have them resurfaced, this won't take off very much, unless the heads are warped and they will have to take off to make it straight. If you have them decked, take that into consideration for your compression ratio also.

Remember, just because these parts are new doesn't mean anything. Yeah, its a PITA to have the stuff checked They are made in a factory along with 1000's of other parts, sometimes tooling equipment can be off a little. Yeah the parts "should" be ok, but what if they arent. Pay a little more money and some time to have stuff checked out, especially if you are spraying it.

I am almost done with building my roller 406. I have spent more damn time on this thing than I care to talk about. But everything is checked, main/rod bearing clearances, side clearance, ring gap, piston to valve clearance, pushrod length, its been balanced its been just about everything. I have had the engine together already 3 times clearancing things, checking bearings and such. and when I start it I will still be nervous as hell, but I will feel a little better knowing it was put together right and I checked it and didn't take a companies word that it was ok. I have to much money wrapped up in it to gamble.

I didn't mean to come off rude or preaching, I went on a small tangent I think. I guess now that I am older, 24 for whatever that's worth, I am alot more careful than I used to be. I realize that things can go wrong even though I don't think they will.

Good luck with your build up.

Jason

 

*sigh* dont compromise block strength for an extra 3hp. its not worth it. even if your block is fine, you are still losing strength in the block.

Maybe its just me, but the price for installing those is so low its dumb not to let them do it quickly and correctly.

 

i wont be going .60 over, i already have .30 over pistons.

okay, so i will take the rotating assembly in to get balanced/checked out.

the heads are freshly ported and have been milled.

with them decking my block affect my pushrods much? good thing i didnt get them yet.


CANTONRACER: thanks fo rthe pics, i think i will be sticking with two bolt mains however. how do you like your hydra rev kit? ive been thinking about this, is it needed?


and everyone thanks you so much for your advice

 

Show me one instance of a guy having "block strength" issues, especially at these power levels. If your going to bore it .030", your gonna have to buy pistons anyway, so get a couple of extra cubes for the same cost by going .060".

I have simply had the machine shop do menial work because it was quick, easy and cheap on my part only to check the work and have to do it again myself.

Edit - already have .030" pistons, guess .030" is the way to go then but you could have it alittle loose. I had my bore actually taken to .063". I like them "loose".

 

you should really check the pushrod length with a checker.

rev kit depends on how high you want to rev really.

 

Decking the head brings the head closer to the block, lets say that you take .030 off the heads, the rocker arm is .030 closer to the block. Typically they sell pusrods such as 7.30, 7.350, 7.40, etc...... I do not know how much has to be taken off to require different pushrods, with having an adjustable valvetrain it is somewhat forgiving but only to a certian point. Using the wrong length pushrod can result in premature guideware because the rocker arm isn't pushing the valve straight down the guide it is pushing it at an angle and down.
Hope this helps.
Jason

 

what would i gain by having it a little loose?

as for the rev kit idea, i think at the most ill be taking it to 6500. the cam im using is similar to the 224/236 XE grind cam, and i believe makes its power between 2000-6200.


they have a pushrod lengthchecker? can i pick this up at a local parts store? and does it come with instructions?

 

It's quite possible your block doesn't even need to be bored. Mine after 120K miles only needed a torque hone. There was no ridge at the top of the cylinders and the cross hatch was still visible. :\