ghetto rebuild

[stykthyn]

The stock motor in my 87 is about to take a ****. It needs new rings, bearings are probably shot, and I am sure the piston walls are scored.

I have in my garage an explorer motor that has been torn down. The block has been cleaned and honed with new plugs and cam bearings. It's ready to rock and roll. The rotating assembly from the explorer looked really clean as well so I saved all those parts .

This car is pretty much my daily and I dont race it. Should I balance the explorer assy, have the crank and rods machined if needed and put that back together or should I save for a new rotating assembly? The only downside to getting a new rotating assembly is that I cannot find stock sized forged pistons. I would have to get the block machined .40 over for it to be a 306.

Before everyone gets their panties in a wad and says stroke it or blow it or build for nitrous, THIS IS MY DAILY!!!!
I am perfectly happy with the performance it had so far and I DO NOT RACE!!!

 

[stykthyn]

Fordstrokers.com has stock bore aluminum pistons for the tune of about 429.00.
would these pistons be overkill?

 

[885.0conv]

I know the feeling when I go to the parts store they always talk about stoking and putting in a 460 but it is my DD so I am perfectly happy with it. Besides the faster it is the more chance for something to break. If using the old parts I would get it balanced to be on the safe side, nothing worse then the engine taking a dump after you spend all that time building it. I don't know if you trust sites like ebay and craigslist but I would think you could get the hypereutectic pistons cheaper. What compression are you going for?

 

[stykthyn]

i wouldnt mind going up to 10 or 10.5:1 and running premium for a little more hp. The explorer pistons i have are hyper and look real good and if nothing else i will just re-ring them and slap it back together with new main and rod bearings. It will probably hold for 100k or so. I am just on the fence since its already apart I wasnt sure if i should get new rods/pistons or just have everything I have already polished and re-sized.

 

[25thmustang]

I would honsetly not waste a ton of time on the bottom end. Just a fresh rebuilt bottom end will last a good long time, and the power difference when using budget parts, just doesn't seem worth it on a non raced DD.

Both mine and my brothers we race a lot and we did simple rebuilt bottom ends, using stock parts and no balancing by a shop.

 

[92armyGT]

For it to be a 306, it would be .030 over. .040 over is a 308.

 

[project67]

i agreee with 25th, if its you dd, just re-use the stock parts and freshen it up w/bearings and rings.

 

[Shaolin Crane]

i say you should just find a low mileage exploder motor and check it out thoroughly at the yard before you take it home and you'll be set, wait for a half price day and you can get it for under $100 bucks

 

[stykthyn]

i agreee with 25th, if its you dd, just re-use the stock parts and freshen it up w/bearings and rings.

yeah, I have pretty much decided to do just that. rather than bother with doing it myself I found a shop that will balance and assemble the lower end for under 400 dollars and I wont have to deal with hunting down missing bolts or ordering gaskets.

I would have gone to the yard to find an exploder, but they all have silicone pumped through them. almost every car there is a CFC donation.

 

[Shaolin Crane]

yeah, I have pretty much decided to do just that. rather than bother with doing it myself I found a shop that will balance and assemble the lower end for under 400 dollars and I wont have to deal with hunting down missing bolts or ordering gaskets.

I would have gone to the yard to find an exploder, but they all have silicone pumped through them. almost every car there is a CFC donation.

damn that sucks