qdeezie

Intake Manifold Bolts:

Your engine has 10 regular bolts and two studs for the ignition coil bracket, for a total of 12 fasteners to secure down the intake. It has always been my bad luck that due to age, the bolts or the studs snap like toothpicks when attempting to re-torque them, so I just replace them with new bolts. Ideally, you should be reusing your two studs, but you should inspect the threads for signs of rust or deterioration before reusing them. If they don’t pass your inspection, you have either two options: 1) Relocate the ignition coil and use regular bolts or 2) Source studs that are in good condition.

With regards to replacing the intake bolts, ARP makes intake manifold bolts, but they are a bit pricey to me, so I found some Grade 8 flanged bolts by Hillman that have worked just fine for me. Two bolts come per pack and here is the part info: Hillman Hex Flange Bolts: Part # 883602.

If you live near a Pep Boys, you could order them and have them delivered to the store. If you don’t live near a Pep Boys, see what their delivery charge is or see if you can source these bolts from somewhere else. With regards to using washers with these bolts, I used hardened washers from Lowe’s. The main thing is you don’t want the washers with the oversized holes. You want the washers with the holes that are the same diameter as the bolt, so that everything is clean and secure.

Head Bolts:

These should be replaced when doing an engine build. There are 3 options to consider for securing your heads and I’ll explain the difference to narrow down your choice.

1) Stock Replacement Bolts – If you aren’t going too far over the top with your engine build and know that you aren’t going to be pulling your engine apart again to replace or upgrade your heads, this is the best choice for you.

2) High Performance Head Bolts – ARP makes a standard head bolt kit that is an upgrade from the stock head bolts. In my opinion, this is all you need. This gives you better clamping force and the bolts are reusable in case you have plans to upgrade your heads later on.

3) Head Studs – These provide the best clamping force by far and are reusable, but in my opinion, these are not necessary unless you have plans to run boost (Supercharger or Turbocharger) or Nitrous.


Timing Cover/Water Pump Bolt Set:

These are bolts and studs that you can replace as well. What I did was ordered the timing cover/water pump bolt kit from Latemodel Restoration for the 87-93 Mustangs. It was made for them by ARP. This includes that extra long bolt that is a salvage yard only part (from all of my looking around). The only thing with using this kit on your truck is that there are about 3 water pump bolts you’ll have to reuse from your truck or outright replace if you want all new bolts. Everything else (especially the timing cover bolts/studs) works just fine. It’s just those 3 water pump bolts or so that you might have to reuse (if I remember correctly). Here is the part number info: Latemodel Restoration Timing Cover/Water Pump Bolt Set - LTP-8501BHDW.

Main Cap Bolts

ARP makes a replacement set of bolts you can use to secure your main caps. The main thing I want to call out here is that there is a stud for the oil pump pickup that does not come in the ARP kit. Canton Racing sells a stud made for them by ARP and the part number is: 20-950. Use this in conjunction with the ARP bolt kit and you’re golden.

Connecting Rod Bolts:

I strongly recommend replacing the connecting rod bolts with ARP bolts. ARP has standard connecting rod bolts and Wave-Loc replacement bolts. The Wave-Loc bolts are their premium rod bolts. I’ll leave it to you to look up the part number. I just wanted to call attention to the two options you have. From what I remember, these were reasonably priced.

Header Bolts:

I’ll be touching on headers directly in a future post, but with regards to the header bolts, before ordering header bolts, you need to measure the depth of the bolt hole and the thickness of the header flange to determine how long your header bolts need to be.

I’ve observed that SBF header bolts usually are sold with an Under Head Length (UHL) of 3/4”. However, if you measure the depth of the holes the bolts will be going in along with the thickness of the header flange, sometimes, it will exceed an inch. What I am getting at is you should order the proper length head bolts instead of one size fits all. If your measurement is an inch or more, order the 1 inch long bolts. If it is shorter than an inch, then go with the 3/4" bolts. More thread contact = a more secure fit.

Even if your headers came with bolts, you should still measure it. The way I measure mine is I use two of the regular 3/4" bolts and secure the header to the head. Then I stick one of those red brake cleaner/carb cleaner straws in a few of the holes to see how deep it is and measure it. On my truck, it came out to be over an inch.

Hopefully, this makes sense. I’ll leave some part numbers to consider:

1) ARP Header Bolts | 3/4" UHL | ARP 100-1108 | 16 Pieces

2) ARP Header Bolts | 1" UHL | ARP 100-1110 | 16 Pieces

Valve Cover Bolts – If you need or want to replace your bolts, you can use the same measuring trick I mentioned above for header bolts and buy the Grade 8 flanged bolts made by Dorman. These are at parts stores everywhere. Just carry a bolt with you.

Flywheel/Flexplate Bolts – ARP makes these bolts and I think it’s cheap insurance. Make sure you use thread sealant on these bolts or you will be crying the blues when you see a drip from the rear main area.

Harmonic Balancer Bolt – ARP makes one of these with a provision for a 1/2" socket so that you can rotate the engine. A worthwhile investment in my opinion.

For the parts that I’m not leaving part numbers for, I feel like these are easy enough for you to look up on your own in case you are perhaps asking yourself why didn’t I leave a part number for everything. I just wanted to call attention to certain parts for certain reasons.

Hopefully this all make sense. There’s still plenty more left to cover.

Benboi95

More more more! Lets hear about exhaust

tanman90

This thread is awesome.

Snaggletooth

Sweet

J.A.C

It is great info. I been looking for a thread like this one for about 2 months, with the parts # etc. I been reading so many threads but they just got me confuse cause they dont have parts # or dont explain as well as QDEEZIE . Im planning to get me some GT40 heads for my new/old truck and now I know about the parts I need and more stuff.
I got tire of California emissions so I getting me a 70-75 F100 and putting a motor /transmission from a 95-96 F150 with GT40 heads.

Again this is a great thread thank you for all the info. QDEEZIE

qdeezie

I'll be adding lots more info to this thread. I've just been so occupied over the past few weeks with work.

My next two segments will cover the oiling system and the rotating assembly.

icecold

+ 1 on being tired of California emissions. I just want to move out of this crazy state.

qdeezie

Regarding the oiling system, this is a very straightforward system for the most part and I will cover the components that you should consider when building your engine.

Oil Pump
Regarding the oil pump, a stock oil pump is all you need. It provides more than sufficient oiling for your engine provided you have taken the time to verify proper bearing clearances. Also, it doesn’t accelerate wear on your distributor and camshaft gear as indicated below with the HV pump.

A high volume oil pump will not provide any extra benefits and is made for applications with wide bearing clearances. Also, it creates extra wear on the distributor gear/camshaft gear due to the extra demand it places on these parts.

So, keep it simple and stick with a stock oil pump. There is no advantage going with a HV Oil Pump for the build that I’m laying out.

Oil Pump Gaskets
Make sure you don’t miss this. There is a paper gasket that goes between the oil pump and the block and another one that goes between the oil pump and pickup.

Oil Pump Shaft
ARP makes a shaft that works very well as a no fuss stock replacement. This is a straightforward part that I won’t spend much time on. The main thing with this is that the clip on top of the shaft sometimes keeps the distributor from fully seating. All you need to do is remove the rotor button off the distributor and tap the distributor with a mallet. This will slide the clip down and make your distributor seat. You might experience this on a standard replacement shaft as well if the distributor doesn’t sit in the block all the way. This is a one-time thing and the distributor will sit properly moving forward. The ARP oil pump shaft is cheap insurance for your oiling system.

Oil Pump Bolts
ARP makes replacement bolts for the oil pump to engine and the oil pump to oil pump pickup. This is very cheap insurance and you should pick up a set.

Oil Galley Plugs
When reassembling your engine, you should inspect your engine to ensure that the machine shop did not neglect to install all of the oil galley plugs. The most common one that gets missed is under the intake in the back area. If you have to install one, you should be able to do it with a socket, a hammer and some RTV. Better yet, inspect it before it leaves the machine shop.

Front Oil Galley Plug Upgrade
There are three oil galley plugs that are pressed in in the front of the block near the distributor hole. A common upgrade is to have these holes threaded and screw in threaded hex head inserts so that they don’t fall out or seep oil. Another common upgrade is to drill a pinhole in the front oil galley plug that sits behind the distributor gear so that it sprays oil directly on the distributor gear. These are upgrades that you might want to talk to your machine shop about or do more research before moving forward with doing.

qdeezie

Regarding the rotating assembly, I will cover this by component and circle back and cover it as a unit.

Pistons
The truck 302 comes with cast pistons that require a 1.5mm/1.5mm/3.0mm ring pack. To be honest, this is a pretty good sized ring pack. It is thin, so it reduces drag that the older, larger ring packs used to have. The bad thing about it is these rings aren’t cheap, but you should already know that you have to pay to play in the performance world. I’ll get into rings in a second, but I want to focus on pistons.

Cast Pistons aren’t bad at all and can and have been used with many performance builds. So, if budget is a factor, you could go with stock replacement cast pistons.

For those that are trying to go with an upgrade, you have two options for upgrades: Hypereutectic and Forged. To be honest, Forged is not necessary unless you’re planning nitrous or a supercharger. It’s overkill is what I’m saying. Hypereutectic is a good balance because it allows for tighter clearances and depending on the piston you select, it might be lighter than the cast pistons it’s replacing.

The other factor to consider when buying pistons is the thickness of the ring pack. I see lots of aftermarket pistons that are cheaper, but have larger ring packs. You want to go with either the same sized ring pack or one that’s a bit thinner such as 1/16” | 1/16” | 3/16”. There is a limit to how thin you should go on street engines (the number slips my mind at the moment), but there are some options when going thinner. Basically the concept here is the thinner the ring pack, the less drag the engine has internally.

Lastly, your pistons have nearly everything to do with your compression ratio and piston to valve clearance. In my opinion, on these engines, you shouldn’t exceed a 9.5:1 compression if you’re not wanting to use 89 or 91/93 gas. It is my belief that trucks should run on 87, but that’s just my opinion. Also, ensure your pistons have valve reliefs. Leave the flat top/no relief stuff on the 86 Mustangs. I personally run a flattop with two valve reliefs and 1/16 – 1/16 – 3/16 rings. The valves cleared by a mile when I clayed it.

Piston Rings
This is not the part to cheap out on. You should go with Moly rings or better. Cast rings (in my opinion) are not built for engines that last hundreds of thousands of miles. Also, stick with a reputable brand such as Hastings, Mahle-Clevite or Perfect Circle when it comes to rings.

Also, you need to check your piston ring end gap before installing the rings on the pistons. This is a critical step that should not be overlooked. On a N/A engine, the specs laid out in a manual such as Haynes should be sufficient. If you’re using the zero gap rings, you should go by the manufacturer’s instructions or contact an experienced engine builder with regards to the ring gap for YOUR application. In my opinion, for this build, the zero gap stuff is overkill.

Connecting Rods
Stock connecting rods should be good for any engine that lives under 6000 RPMs, so with this being said, you’ll be reusing your stock rods, but take them to the machine shop so that they can be cleaned, resized and all of that good stuff.

Connecting Rod Bolts
You will have a ticking time bomb (in my opinion) if you don’t invest the money here in replacing the bolts. ARP makes standard and Wave-Loc bolts that you can use.

Crankshaft
This is a part that needs to go to the machine shop to check the journal size and be machined if necessary. The main thing to call out here is that if the rear main journal has a groove worn into it, you’ll need to install a rear main crankshaft sleeve. Same concept as with the harmonic balancer sleeve. If you do install a rear main crankshaft sleeve, do NOT use a Teflon rear main seal. Use plain rubber. Otherwise, you’ll be followin’ the drip!

Main Bearings
The main thing here is use a reputable brand (Clevite, Federal Mogul, King, etc.) and check the clearances. Make sure you lube the bearings after measuring the clearances. There are lubricants specifically for this. I have heard of some people using the STP engine treatment with great results.

Rod Bearings
Same as main bearings main thing here is use a reputable brand (Clevite, Federal Mogul, King, etc.) and check the clearances. Make sure you lube the bearings after measuring the clearances. There are lubricants specifically for this. I have heard of some people using the STP engine treatment with great results.

Engine Rotating Assembly – As a whole
Once you’ve decided on your harmonic balancer, flywheel/flexplate, pistons, connecting rods and crankshaft, make sure you get this assembly balanced at the machine shop. This ensures that everything is in whack and that no irregular wear or engine vibrations occur. Balancing is an absolute necessity in my book.

qdeezie

Exhaust
I won’t cover the entire exhaust system, because exhaust is one of those things that leaves the door open for debate and I want to avoid that with this thread. Maybe in a different thread we can discuss exhaust.

However, I will say this about the exhaust. If you are using headers, you absolutely must check the flange on a flat surface (such as a kitchen table, counter top or even a garage floor) to ensure the surface is true. I don’t know exactly what the reason is, but lots of header manufacturers send their products out the door and the surface is not true.

If your surface is not true, you can either belt sand it true or take it to a machine shop and let them machine the surface so that it is true. Or send it back for a replacement.

A surface that is not true is the most common source of leaks between the header and the engine and the majority of people don’t even know it. The last set of headers I bought literally wobbled when I laid the flange on a flat surface. It was at least 1/8” of play. I had them machined flat and no leaks to speak of.