qdeezie

Bump. I'll be covering machine shop work in my next segment when I get a free second.

LOCO LAPTOP

il help you out with that...

1) Do not cheap out.
2) You get what you pay for.

qdeezie

Lol!!!

3) All machine shops aren't created equal!

Leolo007

Subscribing to this thread!!

Joel1975

I'm doing this rebuild on a 302 that I'm either getting out of the jy, off of CL, or ebay. This is an awesome thread and going to be my 2015 project. If I could, I'd rebuild the motor I have in the truck because it runs pretty good - just leaks oil and water which I'm pretty confident are from the oil pan gasket and water pump. I just don't want to give up driving my truck while I rebuild the engine. Kind of sucks because it would be cool to keep the original motor. I can't afford all of the parts at once so really am stuck with a pretty long project. I've even thought of getting a decent block and getting it running well enough to swap it out with the original motor and swapping them back when I'm done. That's just a pipe dream though.

Some people might say if the existing engine is running strong why not just tweak it . . . that's a good question. I just want the satisfaction of doing this and I want my truck to be as strong as reasonable because I really like it and want to enjoy it for a long time. It's not just a tool to get from A to B - it's something I thoroughly enjoy owning and driving and there's not another truck year/make/model that I'd rather have. Just sucks that my insurance won't give me full coverage because of the age. I may be changing carriers.

You know the crazy thing is that this big ole truck seems to be hitting it's stride at 60 MPH and above. I don't dog it or hammer it, but I can be cruising to work and before I know it I'm going 80 and just humming along . . . sometimes it's even pegged and I'm like "o crap!". I'm not trying to tear it up and it doesn't miss a beat or even act like it doesn't like it. At 75 I'm in the 2200 rpm range and 80 seems to be a little under 2500. At least that's what I recall - not like I write it down, so I may be off about the 80 rpm - but I know 75 is pretty close to 2200. Oh yeah, the cruise doesn't work . . .

qdeezie

I still have not gotten around to covering the machine shop portion in depth, because time has been quite limited for me to sit down and give a writeup with the necessary detail.

However, one thing I would like to add that is camshaft related.

For the 94-96 Mass Air owners or previous year owners that have converted to Mass Air, I still recommend a custom cam, but if you want to go with an off the shelf camshaft, Comp Cams 35-510-8 is a wonderful option.

Only thing with this cam is with the higher lift it has, you might have to go with roller rocker arms or some sort of aftermarket rocker arm that has the necessary slot clearance for this cam in the event the stock rocker arms bind due to the higher lift.

Evan96F150

Why would you want the cast iron gt40 heads over the aluminum?

sdmartin65

Cost. I installed GT40 heads for about $600, that includes the extras. By the time you get all the extras for aluminum heads, you'll at least spend $1500 and that's on the low side.

Evan96F150

Where did you get your heads from?

And thanks for the response

sdmartin65

From the U Pull It type wrecking yard, $100. Out of a 96 Explorer. The heads don't have the air ports but it's easy to leave the emissions equipment hooked up, just when air pump pushes to the heads it no longer actually does anything. Not a big deal per my understanding air only goes to the head during cold operation. Pushrods, lifters,rockers and valve covers can be re used. The rockers remain self adjusting with no clearance issues or fine tuning for the less mechanically adapt. The only aluminum heads that would swap as simple are FR, they would be the next step up price wise. The GT40p would require headers.