How to Build a Ford 347 342 331 306 302 5.0 SBF (Part 2)

[@dimwitzgarage4686]

Best series of Info vids on sbf assembly I’ve found!

[@fastfrankd]

Thanks!

[@alertgasper]

Great video, thanks for sharing. Nice bit about measuring the piston diameter accurately, a home-brew balancing job for an engine that won't go past 5,500 rpm (due to long runner EFI intake manifolds) is to match the heaviest piston with the lightest rod, and juggle wrist pin weights to get a close-to-average overall weight of the 8 piston/rod combos. I prefer a ring spreader tool for installing rings, it costs more up front (like $10-$20) but could avoid screwing up the ring. then again, once i tap a final piston assembly into the block, i like to use a fish scale to pull each piston/rod assembly down the cylinder to mate up with the crankshaft. If one assembly takes more "pounds to pull" then i know a ring is hanging up and can fix it right then. a perfectionist builder will want to torque plate the block when doing ring gaps, since the heads will distort the "circle" a bit. For most of us lacking a spare torque plate at home, we can fake it with a stack of washers or an old wrist pin torqued down with head bolts around the cylinder we're checking for ring gap. depending on what ring tech you paid up for and the material used, you may get more life out of them by starting off this way.

[@MegaScott]

Nice instructional Video Frank! I always give my machinist the pistons, tell him what piston clearance I want, then he can bore the cylinders exactly to each piston diameter. Mostly I use Mahle pistons and it is very unusual for these pistons to be different size, at least measuring with the calipers I have. Anyway, my machinist numbers the pistons when he bores the block, and I always double check his work, which is always spot on what I want.On the 4.03 4032 Mahle pistons I shoot a little loose for 0.003 to 0.0035 clearance. Rings 0.020-0.025 top ring gap and 0.24-0.27 second ring gap, of course YMMV based on the application. On a New stroker like the 331 I almost always spend the little extra moola to get the Scat internal balance 4340 Steel crank, and the lightest Rods and pistons I can hang off it. The FSI I beam rod from Eagle is often my choice, as well as the Mahle Power Pak or JE sportsman FT piston. Send all this stuff with the rings to the engine balancer so they can match weigh everything and drill the crank to balance. The tiny amount of iron filed off of the rings later to get the right gap will not effect the balance.

[@tttony9426]

Thanx for the detailed build it's been years since I've done a rebuild,this helps refresh my mind,I'm building a 347 plus a 392,w,,,,both for low end torque,

[@friendlyengineering6096]

I love all the little pieces that I might have missed like how to cut for the clearance in the cylinder wall for the bolt in the stroker kit. Great series!

[@fastfrankd]

Thanks Friend, glad you found some things you can use!

[@jatateyt]

This guy does great videos. Please subscribe to his channel so he can continue to make them!

[@williamela3340]

Love these vids! So much useful info and details. Plan on putting a stroked 302 in my '58 custom

[@fastfrankd]

Cool! Wish you the best with your project.

[@jojomama4787]

Geez,someone actually posting a no bullshit video on the 302,thanks!And by the way I just subscribed!

[@fastfrankd]

You're welcome, and thank you for subscribing!

[@frmula1fan51]

Awesome attention to detail.

[@fastfrankd]

Thank you!

[@luisetorres5760]

Wow so the clearance of cylinders/piston is very tight

[@CreateYourWorth]

Thanks for the videos! Learning a lot!

[@fastfrankd]

Thanks!

[@geebobwiz]

Thanks for the videos man!

[@fastfrankd]

Sure thing!

[@rrl2849]

Maybe a stupid question... But I dont want to make an assumption on my 347... The block is a E7TE, is it OK to put a 28oz balanced crank in a later model block? Or does it require a 50oz?

[@fastfrankd]

Yes, you just need a 28-oz front balancer and flywheel/flexplate to go with it.

[@abdulhassan1107]

If I may intervene, since it's a 347 which means a fresh crank with 3.4" stroke, you'll need to (must) balance it along with the whole rotating assembly to either external 28oz or 50oz, or even Zero (internal) depending on what harmonic dampener and flexplate/flywheel combo you have. You can't mix up these. The block is irrelevant.

[@19jody72]

I guess if you file to much.. you have to buy another ring? Did you balance anything?

[@fastfrankd]

Re-measure frequently. 😉

[@jatateyt]

Jody This guy does great videos. Please subscribe to his channel so he can continue to make them!

[@betosworld4793]

7:00 I always thought the dot or a “pip” mark goes up towards top of piston not to the bottom.

[@fastfrankd]

That's a great question, the piston rings have the dot facing the top of piston as you said, but the spacer ring that's in the bottom of the oil ring groove has a physical bump on it or dimple, and that must face downward so that it catches where it intersects the wrist pin bore. This prevents the spacer ring from rotating.

[@fastfrankd]

The good news is the oil ring pack will not fit if you get it wrong, so it cannot physically assemble together if you have a backwards.

[@betosworld4793]

Thanks for the fast reply. I just ordered a 347 stroker kit for my 64 FAIRLANE K code. Cant wait to see how much more power I’ll get with this kit.

[@alanhardman2447]

@2:06 - Those are NOT vernier calipers; they're electronic digital calipers. Big difference, as anyone can read the digitals. Not everyone can read a vernier scale. Just sayin'...

[@Kylroyboi]

Watching these videos, Just laughing. I don't remember orienting my connecting rods. Of course, that was all stock, and the machine shop cleaned checked and assembled the pistons. There may have been some way to orient them that I don't remember. The point is I don't remember being concerned about large and small chamfers. It was my first motor, and somehow today it lives on in a road racing application. My next build will be better.

[@fastfrankd]

Thanks for your comment Michael. Yes, definitely check for large and small chamfers on the rods. The good news is that if the rod manufacturer utilizes this method, and you get it backwards, the rod-to-rod side clearance will come in way too small, and there's a good chance you won't be able to turn the motor over by hand, so you'll know. Aftermarket parts often have differences like this from OEM parts. For example pistons may be machined with offset wrist pins, requiring orientation as shown in the video while the OEM pistons do not. In the case of the offset pistons, you won't know anything is wrong until you start the engine and hear excessive piston slap noise. Yikes!

[@Fmandan77]

On a small block ford you absolutely need to orient the connecting rods. I've had machine shops install them wrong twice now, and both times caught it at the sales counter. If the engine you're referring to was a SBF and you put the rods on the pistons yourself thinking they were non-directional, then you got very lucky! Glad it still runs well! I go over this in my 306ci build video as well.

[@peanutbutterisfu]

I would use a better set of pistons, these have 4 valve reliefs better to only have 2 so u have more compression

[@fastfrankd]

These 4-relief pistons combined with the small combustion chamber AFR heads produced the 10.5:1 to 11:1 compression ratio target for this pump-gas engine combo. 2-relief pistons would be over 12:1, which is great, but requires race gas.

[@Maples01]

I would Never use a rod requiring the ring through the wrist pin hole