How many people build their own Engines?

[Ford & Jeep Fan]

They always make these title lines big.
Like it says, How many here build their own engines. I'm gonna build mine. (For full disclosure, I used to work at Crane Cams in my younger years).
You could say I've been around a few engines/parts. My co workers at Crane called me "Henry" cause I was well versed in Ford speak.
I'm 58 and rebuilt my first engine at 17. Yes it stayed together. (it was a 1.6 Ford (german) Fiesta).
I'm building my own cause What i see offered is not what I want,....and I really don't trust companies who tell you HP/TQ numbers but will not publish specs as to
Bore, stroke, crank material, cam specs, fuel required,......

[GoDadGo]

I don't know the answer to your question; however, I will state that every component in my driveline was 100% hand-picked by me, myself, and I.
My friend Brian Ebert (Ebert's Engine Services of Slidell, La.) did the block prep and assembly since he does that type of work all the time.
Since I've only assembled a couple of engines in my 59 years on the planet, I'm out of practice compared to my pal the machinist.
Unlike you, I'm a boring banker instead of a fellow who once worked within the performance automotive industry.

> 383 Small Block Dart (SBC) 10-1 Somewhat Pump Gas Friendly Compression Ratio!
> Eagle Internally Balanced Rotating Assembly With 6″ H-Beam Rods With Floating Forged Mahle Flat Tops.
> Dart Iron Eagle 215 CC Heads with 2.05 Intake & 1.60 Exhaust Valves.
> Harland Sharp Roller Rockers & Other Go Fast Goodies.
> Comp Cam Extreme Energy 288 Hydraulic Roller Tappet Cam
> Edelbrock AVS 800 Feeding A Weiand 7530 Team-G Single Plane Manifold.
> Schoenfeld IMCA Modified Headers & They Really, Really Fit, But Stuff Had To Move A Bit!
> New Old Stock Corvette ZF 6-Speed Transmission With Hydraulic Clutch. (.75 and .50 Overdrives)
> Standard Front End Set Up With Mustang Brakes & Mike Forte’s .75” Sway Bar.
> Standard 3-Link Moser Dana 44 (TSD 500) Rear With 3.73 Gears & Explorer Brakes.
> The wheelbase has been shortened by .875″ to better center the rear wheels within the wheel arches and improve pinion angle adjustment.

We made 465-467 horsepower with similar torque figures at the flywheel at 10-11 degrees initial timing or 30-31 total at 6,000 RPM.
When we bumped the timing up to 13-14 / 33-34 so the HP went up significantly but we ran the engine up to 6,500 RPM to hit 500-HP.
My engine has a really flat torque curve similar to Chevy's SP-383 crate engine which was expected because the two engines really are similar.
The bigger heads, better cam, slightly shorter stroke with bigger bore seemed to do the trick plus I was only wanting to make about 400 ponies.

> SP-383 / 4.005 Bore with 3.80 Stroke
> My-383 / 4.030 Bore with 3.75 Stroke

Good Luck & I Hope This Helps!

[MB750]

I'm building mine. Stock 5.0 from a 95 being converted to a 347, forged pistons and rods, girdle, AFR heads, 600 cfm Holley, Torker 2 intake, XFI236HR cam, etc...

[narly1]

I built my own 306. Rebuilding an engine was something that I always wanted to do, it was a great experience for me.

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Earl

[jts359]

I have rebuilt all my engines and some customer engines , Mostly Studebakers with a few Chevys and Ford thrown in there ,They were for cars that were being restored , I enjoy detailing them to original specs , Currently my Cobra engine is apart waiting for the new cam kit as I could not stand the Thumpity one that was in it , Ed

[frankb]

I did all m own assembly on the 393 Cleveland that was in my MK4. A Local machine shop did all the block prep and balancing and was my consultant on parts choices. This is not the first nor was it the last as I do engine work for several friends. I can only estimate the HP at somewhere north of 450, because I never had it dyno'd. HP numbers are for only bragging rights anyway! :rolleyes:

[NAZ]

Built or overhauled many different types of engines over the last half-century. As a factory trained Ford Service Tech I used to get paid to rebuild Ford engines but I've built more SBC / BBC engines than Fords. For race engines, I use modeling software to build an engine virtually and test it. I can run hundreds of simulations without spending $$ and test a variety of parts combinations before ever ordering the parts or turning a wrench. That's how I come up with the custom cams I use. In the old days we had to go through a lot of parts and spend many hours of testing to come up with a combination that worked well for the application. Today, it's much easier to make horsepower and for a lot less $$ than it used to cost.

[GoDadGo]

If I lived in Flagstaff Arizona, I would have bugged "The Naz Man" to assemble mine; however, I live in the Dell, Slidell Louisiana that is.

[runamuk]

I built my own engine. I started with a World products Man-O-War block based on a 351W that's bored and stroked to 428 CI, I used an Eagle rotating assembly and AFR heads, Speedmaster 8 stack downdraft fuel injection system controlled by a FAST controller.

[Bob Cowan]

I enjoy building my own. It's kind of a zen thing. Turn on some music, relax, put things together... :)

[Avalanche325]

I did my own. I did a Fordstrokers DIY kit. They did the machine work, helped me decide on my combination, etc.
I call it "assemble" unless you are the one in the machine shop.

I would definitely do a "known good" combination, unless you really know what you are doing and are up with the latest in engine technology. Sounds like you may be.

[Joel Hauser]

I pulled mine from a 1996 mustang GT, disassembled it, had the block and heads machined, and rebuilt it myself with new "moving parts." Like Bob Cowen said, it's kind of a zen thing.

[bobl]

Yes I build my own engines, and those for many, many others. Actually I consider myself a "packager/assembler". I do not forge the steel, nor machine it so I'm not a "builder". The one comment I would like to make to those of you doing your own engines. Spend the money and put it on an engine dyno. The information you gain is priceless. First and most important you can find any problems or leaks before it goes in the car and creates a lot of frustration. You also get to perfect the tune and find out exactly what the torque curve looks like. That info will help immensely in setting up the rest of the drive train. And of course you get the HP/TQ for bragging rights.

Bob

[Jeff Kleiner]

I’m raising my hand :D

Jeff

[Geoff H]

Raising mine hand as well, but with a LOT of bobl's help. Amazing how the feature "text a friend' helps out.

Geoff

[Norm B]

Me too. 331 with Scat crank, Mahle pistons etc. Fun and rewarding.

Norm

[Jim Stabe]

It always pays to check what you are getting no matter how big a name the provider has. Case in point. I sent my heads to a highly reputable porter to be reworked and the package included a camshaft. When I got everything back I checked the valves for leakage with some colored solvent and the valve spring heights (all the same). A straight edge across the tops of the valve stems showed them to all be on the same plane. However, when I degreed the cam in the engine the opening and closing points were several degrees off from the card. I checked the rest of the cylinders and all of them were off but not by the same amount. I spent 3 evenings checking my measurements and they were repeatable. At that point I contacted the porting shop and told them what I had found. They asked me a lot of questions about the process I used and eventually agreed that I had done the checking properly and asked me to return the cam to them. The shop had some long term connections with one of the major NASCAR teams and they had an extremely accurate cam checker and they agreed to check the cam. The results I got agreed closely with the results from the cam checker. The owner of the porting shop confronted the cam grinder he had been dealing with and stopped doing business with him. The replacement cam from a new grinder agreed with the cam card when I degreed it.

The moral here is always double check what you buy. It is more difficult to do if you buy an engine already put together. I can't imagine how many engine are out there that just don't run quite right and the owner can't figure out why.

[Otee453]

Yep. Built myself. Having a manual machine shop, I do a bit of my own machine work too, but I don’t have machines capable to accurately bore and hone v-8 blocks (or line boring, rotational balancing, grind/polish cranks etc…).

I myself think someone who rebuilds an engine themselves does more than “assemble”, especially when it comes to design and matching of aftermarket parts, measuring and sizing for bearings, etc…
Sure, a person can have the machinist or engine shop do all that and THEN you assemble the motor, but if you design it and the machinist does the machine work to your specs, I think you built it.

[BrewCityCobra]

For me it came down to how hard I planned on pushing the engine. I build my Chevy 350 for my '65 C10 since that was more of a cruiser but decided to rely on Mike Forte to build the 427W for the Cobra since I'm planning on bringing that one to the track so it will be seeing a lot more high RPM situations. Just for peace of mind.

Do love building the engine though - hope to build the engine for my next project.

[MB750]

It always pays to check what you are getting no matter how big a name the provider has. Case in point. I sent my heads to a highly reputable porter to be reworked and the package included a camshaft. When I got everything back I checked the valves for leakage with some colored solvent and the valve spring heights (all the same). A straight edge across the tops of the valve stems showed them to all be on the same plane. However, when I degreed the cam in the engine the opening and closing points were several degrees off from the card. I checked the rest of the cylinders and all of them were off but not by the same amount. I spent 3 evenings checking my measurements and they were repeatable. At that point I contacted the porting shop and told them what I had found. They asked me a lot of questions about the process I used and eventually agreed that I had done the checking properly and asked me to return the cam to them. The shop had some long term connections with one of the major NASCAR teams and they had an extremely accurate cam checker and they agreed to check the cam. The results I got agreed closely with the results from the cam checker. The owner of the porting shop confronted the cam grinder he had been dealing with and stopped doing business with him. The replacement cam from a new grinder agreed with the cam card when I degreed it.

The moral here is always double check what you buy. It is more difficult to do if you buy an engine already put together. I can't imagine how many engine are out there that just don't run quite right and the owner can't figure out why.

That's impressive. Usually people just check the stats on piston 1 and assume the rest are the same.

[Ford & Jeep Fan]

I enjoy building my own. It's kind of a zen thing. Turn on some music, relax, put things together... :)

I agree 100% I feel the same way about setting up axle gear sets.

I'm still very surprised at all the Ford engines that use those Windsor style heads.

[Bob Cowan]

I'm still very surprised at all the Ford engines that use those Windsor style heads.

Why wouldn't you? There are some excellent heads available for fairly low money.

One of the reasons I like doing it myself is that I can take the time to really blueprint the engine. Make spring install height exactly the same. CC the heads. Set quench properly. Measure each and every bearing clearance. Clay every piston. degree the cam. I also like to debur the block, smooth out oil passages, etc. Not sure all of that is really needed. But it makes me happy. :)

[Jim Stabe]

That's impressive. Usually people just check the stats on piston 1 and assume the rest are the same.

That's all I was going to check until I saw that the measured opening and closing points were significantly off from the cam card. To double check my readings I checked #6 and it also didn't match the card but didn't match my readings from cylinder #1 either. It wasn't just a setup issue with the grinding machine, it had to be either an improperly ground master or a machine that was worn out since #1 and #6 were different from each other. I check every aftermarket piece I buy since they are usually made in smaller batches than OEM parts and without statistical process controls in place to check for variances.

Assume nothing - check it.

[Ford & Jeep Fan]

Why wouldn't you? There are some excellent heads available for fairly low money.

One of the reasons I like doing it myself is that I can take the time to really blueprint the engine. Make spring install height exactly the same. CC the heads. Set quench properly. Measure each and every bearing clearance. Clay every piston. degree the cam. I also like to debur the block, smooth out oil passages, etc. Not sure all of that is really needed. But it makes me happy. :)

For the prices I have seen, I just think there are Better choices like the CHI Cleveland heads. If the Windsor would have been better they would have been run by people with name like Roush, Glidden, Elliott,...... Ford them selves came out with better alloy Cleveland heads. I don't thick they ever did for the Windsor best part is they bolt on 302 or Windsor block with very quick mods. With proper pistons and different intake of course.

Here is a good article on the 351C Note the STOCK 2V heads that Most people consider Junk: Smallest valves/Big Open chambers made 501HP
https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/build-a-570hp-351-cleveland/amp/?fbclid=IwAR1VNv0rddkoJuqtYhvRJkv0Nb1zKQEuHpekR7pj sfNdrjtSfVCD_SenjPk

[Mike Garrett]

If you build your own or have someone build it I would recommend it be broke in and tuned on a dyno.

[CFranks]

First thing I accomplished when I got my kit was to accidentally break the horn button. With that, I decided that building my own engine wouldn’t be wise.

[R. Button]

My original donor engine was tired and wanted to retire. I bought a 5.0 block from Illinois State Trooper and built up a 347 engine from the block. I had a local machine shop do boring, and balancing. I did the clearance on the block to give the stroked engine clearance. Bought mostly all new parts for the engine - except the aluminum heads I had on the existing motor.
It seems to have held up well!

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The engine install was done under the watchful eyes of my granddaughter! She NEVER left the car the entire time we did the engine install!

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The car was titled and on the road in 1998. This new engine was all done back in 2007. It has been in the car ever since.

[phileas_fogg]

Little girls are the most scrupulous of task masters...here's my daughter letting me know I need to clean up my build.


John

https://live.staticflickr.com/4434/35545997863_ee2f4cd3fa_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Wa5wL8)IMG_2444_zpsuoalabif (https://flic.kr/p/Wa5wL8) by jhsitton (https://www.flickr.com/photos/91016165@N07/), on Flickr

[Jeff Kleiner]

That they are John! My granddaughter keeps a close eye on me from her vantage point in the shop

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And just like yours Ralph, she’s made it quite clear that she intends to drive one of these some day

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:cool:

Jeff

[Fixit]

Back in the day (80s) I assembled (built??) a few dozen. A few for my projects, most for friends. We were lucky to have a top-notch machine shop close by. (Remember when auto parts stores has a machine shop?!) The guy there was "Skip", and he was a perfectionist.
Engine assembly isn't all that difficult, but having great machine work, and a few specialty tools is the key. I'd have to start all over again to be current with the new stuff & techniques.

[Big Blocker]

Like NAZ, I'm (or was in my earlier life) a certified FORD Technician. Went to work for a small FORD dealership in SoCal at 17. Got into the FORD-SHELBY Technical School in Santa Fe Springs for a year of specialized training. Part of that training was engines and suspension, soooooo, for many many years I would be the local guy to talk to for anything chassis setup or engine / transmission (early C4 & C6 - FORD Top-Loader 4 speeds) related. Built quite a few early 289's and 302's, but mostly spent my time and efforts on BIG BLOCKS, 427's. There was a time I could speak specs for anything FORD built. I'm 73 now and don't spend much time, if any, inside an engine anymore, but still listen in and give "opinions" or advice if asked . . .

I built the 5.0 in my MKII cobra, built it to my own build specs. Some of the things I did would probably be considered "off-the-rails nuts" but I know from years of experience that the mods I did were tried and proven in terms of reliability and performance.

Doc

[GThompson]

I assembled the engine for my gen 1 Daytona. It's a mild 302 I refreshed from my '88 LX 5.0 donor. I had a local guy do the block cleanup, resize the rods, replace the valve guides, shave the heads, do the valve job, and replace the cam bearings, also suggested the Engle cam grind based on the Weber IDF carbs. He also balanced the rotating assembly. I wanted it to spin up nicely with no weird vibration so I used an Eagle forged internal-balance crank an an aluminum flywheel. The Brodix heads I picked up should also help with the carburetion as they have the smaller intake valves (not 2.02", they're 1.94" maybe?), should keep the port velocity up and allow for good transitions between idle and main curcuits in the carbs. Also used ARP hardware. I also had to notch the pistons after a book I read said that 0.100" clearance should be maintained all the way through the 720 degrees of crank rotation. The carbs are jetted based on a Weber book, I dialed them in myself and it has run very nicely so far, no stumbling, it just roars! �� It is an old-school engine with solid, flat-faced lifters but the ZDDP additive should keep it safe. It was interesting figuring out the correct push-rod length based on where the roller on the valve end of the rocker contacted the tip of the valve stem, I made a pair of adjustable push-rods to figure that out.

Anyway, yeah, I helped build my engine. I probably could have saved a fair bit of time & money buying one already built but, like wanting to do all of the body work and painting my Daytona myself, I wanted to be able to say "yeah, I built it".

[narly1]

It's a mild 302 I refreshed from my '88 LX 5.0 donor. It is an old-school engine with solid, flat-faced lifters but the ZDDP additive should keep it safe.

Interesting. Everything I've read suggests that Mustangs built starting in the mid-80's came with roller cam/lifter 302's. The trucks got that set-up a bit later.....maybe your Mustang had a truck motor swapped into it?

Either way much respect for your efforts!

Earl

[Ford & Jeep Fan]

Interesting. Everything I've read suggests that Mustangs built starting in the mid-80's came with roller cam/lifter 302's. The trucks got that set-up a bit later.....maybe your Mustang had a truck motor swapped into it?

Either way much respect for your efforts!

Earl

Flat tappets, Hyd or solid still fit in all 302 blocks regardless of year or if they cam with a hyd roller. there were just a few small differences in the casting and machining.

[Fordman114]

I have always built my own. Currently have a 46 stroked flathead and a 393 stroked 351 Windsor, but the gen 3 coyote for my MKIV roadster is a low miles take-out. I’m hoping I won’t have to touch it.

[mdutton11]

My son was about to turn 16 and has always loved and tinkered with engines (dirt bikes). When I ordered my kit we went to a junk yard and bought a 88 302. Didn't know what a rusted POS it was - had to hone the cylinders just to get the pistons out. Turned out it was already .030 over and needed more. The owner of the machine shop I went to just happened to have a spare block (probably 10 - 20) and gave it to me for $100 - most machine shops it turns out are great sources for block and heads. Anyway, my son and I spent the next couple of months building an engine - all new (Summit parts) and now a 308. Great experience for me, excellent father / son time but you will NOT save any money over buying a crate. Do it because that's what you want - not for $$. My 2 cents

[bil1024]

I have rebuilt all the engines I have used

[narly1]

...but you will NOT save any money over buying a crate.

BUT you will know what you have.

We're talking about 30-40 year old engines here. Who knows what it's been through before coming into your hands.

Earl

[NAZ]

My son was about to turn 16 and has always loved and tinkered with engines (dirt bikes). When I ordered my kit we went to a junk yard and bought a 88 302. Didn't know what a rusted POS it was - had to hone the cylinders just to get the pistons out. Turned out it was already .030 over and needed more. The owner of the machine shop I went to just happened to have a spare block (probably 10 - 20) and gave it to me for $100 - most machine shops it turns out are great sources for block and heads. Anyway, my son and I spent the next couple of months building an engine - all new (Summit parts) and now a 308. Great experience for me, excellent father / son time but you will NOT save any money over buying a crate. Do it because that's what you want - not for $$. My 2 cents

Agree with your assessment. I've got the formal training, decades of engine building experience, and thousands of dollars in special tools and I can't build an engine for less than I can buy a crate engine. Crate engines can be a great value. If I was building a street cruiser I'd go with a crate engine from a quality builder that met my needs. And you get a warranty with a crate engine. I may build an engine for a special project but I don't do it as a cost savings -- that ain't happening.

[AROCK]

I just finished building a Ford 427 stroker using the Ford performance Boss 351 block. I used AFR 205 heads Airgap intake, Ford performance Pan, comp cams hydraulic roller, Howard lifters, Manton custom pushrod, Pro systems 840 custom carberator.
Engine degrees at 108 like the cam card said.
Engine went into car without a problem . The FF 351 headers bolted up with 2" of clearance from the steering shaft.
The Ford performance oil pan, 9qt sit 3/4:" from the bottom of the front cross member.
Raised the transmission 1" at the rear to get the correct drive shaft angle.
Ready to fit the body on the chassis. Not doing bad for a 6 month build.
The March alternator and power steering set up went on with out a problem.