Correct Piston/rod Installation? Please Advise!

[horseballz]

1. So if I am correct, on a 66-289, piston notches (.030" over stock type pistons) go to front of engine and bearing lock slots (on the rods) go to the outside of the engine? If this is the case, the F---ing machine shop installed the pistons onto the rods backwards! View attachment 144688 Now being that they "re-sized" the large ends of the rods, I could likely get away with swapping 1 to 5, 2 to 6, etc, OR simply face the piston notches to the rear. Neither of these options seem like a correct solution? The book I have only goes to 65 and I hope that I am correctly assuming that FORD did NOT change the orientation of the piston notches or the bearing lock slots for the 66 model year. This machine shop's work has been a NIGHTMARE from the time I first picked up the heads, block and other parts when the owner told me they couldn't find all the stuff, as he had to FIRE the guy who started the work. View attachment 144689 The heads had some of the valve stem tips up to more than 1/4" different than some of the others and other issues. The block still had baked on gasket material on the decks and now I find that the cam won't even fit, due to, at the very least, the front cam bearing being "cocked" in its bore! Unfortunately, they already have our $$$$ (at least its disputable on a credit card) so I'm planning on dropping all back to them for a third and final time to give him the fair chance to make appropriate corrections, before taking it all somewhere else to have the f--- ups fixed. At no time did I ask for a discounted price for a slam, bam, slap it together special! While this is by no means a performance build, I want it to be right as, my name/reputation/pride is going on it. Please help and advise!
   Thank You,
   Gene​

 

[horse sence]

hey Gene, it never seems to end does it? the pistons will work backwards if the notches will clear the valves depends on the cam lift just make sure they are all back wards , the rods go ,taper to the crank,
when instaling the pistons the rod # will face up were it is easily seen, on the cam, bearings will have to be fixed the cam should easily slide in, good luck with the shop
you should not have to pay for the cam bearings to be reinstaled correctly thats what they were suposed to do in the first place

 

[horseballz]

horse sence,
Thanx for the reply. The confusing/funny thing is that the bearing lock slots are on the opposite side of the rods from the numbers. According to my book, the lock slots should be "to the outside of the engine" but that would put the numbers to the unseeable, "inside of the engine".
Thanx Again,
Gene

 

[iskwezm]

I have heard from a few builders that putting the piston notches toward the rear is worth a few hp................if you can live with piston slap when it warms up

 

[horse sence]

its possible the rods were beveld on the wrong side as well ,i mean if they screwed every thing else as well, i have built my last 2 -302 with the pistons backwards and i realy dont hear any thing like a rattle a or any thing for that matter ,cold or hot
do the pistons have valve reliefs on both sides of the top ?,4 valve reliefs, if so there should be no problem there at least, just make sure the bevel in the rod is to the crank and it should be fine .cast pistons have a tighter tollerance than forged so they should not rattle when cold ,so the problem should be just cam bearings

 

[horseballz]

Well, it turns out I'm a dumb-a$$! Turns out that the book I was looking in only goes to 64 and the next book doesn't go back to the age of 289's. I just ass-umed that a 289 is a 289, right? WRONG! It appears that before 65, or so, all, or most, FORD V8 engines (including 221/260/early 289) had the bearing lock slots to the outside and many even had an oil hole somewhere on the rod or cap. AND 65 or 66 was INDEED the changeover year, at least for the 289's to the slots being to the inside. At least this is what several sources claim. Explains some of my confusion on the pistons/rods. Shop owner gave no grief and many apologies for the cam bearing issue and after dropping off all to him, he promises that EVERYTHING will be re-measured and gone over with a fine toothed comb. He also said that if any additional, unquoted, unbilled operations are required, they will be at NO CHARGE! I gotta give him at least a couple points for politely stepping up to the plate and standing behind what went out his door. It could have easily gone the other way!
Gene

 

[horse sence]

sounds like the shop owner has a touch of class, as the saying goes its hard to get good help these days, wish i had an employe, any screw up here is all me no if and or buts