Ford 347 Engine Build - Garage-Built Stroker

We installed the second compression ring next using a ring expander and positioned the gap in the 9 o'clock position looking down on the engine from the rear. The top ring will be marked with a T, a dot, or even the word Top stamped into it. We placed that gap in the 3 o'clock position.

After ensuring the bore was in good condition, we used the dingle-ball hone to remove the glaze on the cylinder walls. Using a pumping motion, we spun the hone with a light honing oil until we had a crosshatch pattern in the bore. This helped seat the new rings.

After we clearanced and honed the block, we gave it another scrubbing with detergent and a lot of water to remove all the metal shavings from the bores and oil holes. Since we did not replace the cam bearings, we took extra care to make sure they were clean and dry.

With the block cleaned, we started the final assembly by installing the main bearings to check for correct oil clearance. We asked around and found that many people reuse the main cap bolts, so we did, too. We cleaned them, lubed them with ARP moly-lube, and torque them to 70 ft-lb.

Using the micrometer, we preset the dial bore gauge to 2.250 and zeroed the dial indicator.

With the gauge preset, we measured the torqued main cap's bore diameter by adding the difference between the preset measurement and the reading on the gauge. The bore was 2.2517.

The main bearing journal on the crankshaft was 2.2490 inches, making the bearing clearance 0.0027. The official recommendation is 0.002 to 0.003, so we were just inside the spec.

After checking all the main bearings, we made sure to clock the oil seal on the No. 5 main cap, installed the crank with a coat of assembly lube on each journal, and torqued the main caps.

The final check is the thrust bearing clearance. Using a pry bar, we gently moved the crankshaft back and forth while watching the dial indicator. The allowance is 0.0040 to 0.0080. Ours showed 0.0062.

We checked the rod bearings in the same manner as the main bearings after tightening on the bearing caps with the rod in the soft jaws of the vice. The spec was 0.002 to 0.003.

We don't listen to people who tell us to install the pistons in a dry cylinder to break them in. Add a film of oil to the cylinder and lightly coat the piston with engine oil to keep things sliding off each other. We used a ring compressor with the correct bore size.

After reinstalling the piston and rod assembly, we checked the gap between the rods with a feeler gauge for between 0.015 and 0.025 of side clearance. For the final assembly, we used a stretch gauge instead of a torque spec. The spec for a 3/8-inch capscrew is 0.0060 to 0.0067 bolt stretch. The tool was installed with the point of the dial indicator on the dimple at the top of the capscrew and the set screw on the bottom. After preloading the dial indicator 0.200 to 0.400 and zeroing the gauge, we slowly tightened the capscrew until we saw 0.0060 on the dial indicator.