Mustang68gt

Hello Everyone,
I'm currently rebuilding my 2000 triton 5.4 v8. Any tips of good parts to use and what I should be replacing. I plan on not replacing the crank, rods or cams unless they have wear and tear. The engine has 200,000 miles on it, no scuff marks in the cylinders. It may get boosted at a very low psi but if that requires replacing the crank and rods I may not, due to high cost. (I'm currently working on a 68 pony so I would rather invest in that) Any tips on brand names, I heard mahle are pretty good or Keith Black.

Z7What

If your tearing it down enough to rebuild and even have the slightest thought of going boosted change the rods! Go through the heads too. The crank & block is fine to reuse.

Wayne

jferg92

You can get some cheap mod max rods and Pistons. Budget, forged parts that will accomplish what you want.

Actually first of all, what's your rebuild budget start to finished

GMW468

Any motor that's seeing boost or nitrous should run forged pistons and rods. I'd also make sure that any machine work is done with torque plates in place. In case you don't know, they bolt down onto the block simulating the torque stress of the cylinder heads while the machine shop bores out the motor. It's the only way to bore a motor that's going to see some serious power.

Mustang68gt

My budget is around 1000$ for pistons, rods, crankshaft and cams if needed. I have two triton 5.4 V8 donor engines in my shop that I can take heads off of. I also already have all new gaskets, water pump, head bolts etc. I'm just looking to build a solid engine with quality parts, most of my new parts such as the water pump, hoses and coil packs are motorcraft.

racin4ds

iTrader: (1)

Lol... you'll have $800 in just cams so I'd forget that. Should be able to do pistons and rods with $1000 if you shop around

blupupher

iTrader: (2)

I would not worry about boosting, just put that money into the pony car.
These trucks are heavy and to make power that you can really feel, you need more than $1000 in internal upgrades (plus all the $$ for the boost itself). If you really shop around and wait for good deals, you may be able to get the parts and machine work for around $1000 (doing all the install stuff yourself).
A mild boost just would not be worth it IMO.
You build the motor for mild boost, get it all said and done and will want more power and will have to go back to upgrade for more boost.

As far as the rebuild, I would replace the timing chain and guides. Those are know to break (the guides) and cause issues.

Jackedup00

Yeah except mod max has no customer service. Over a month and 3 emails and they won't even respond to me.

Old Red SCrew

Check out MMR, they have some good stuff and from the few times ive talked to them customer service is good.

Mustang68gt

So after reading everyone's comments I decided to go non-boosted but I still want a rock solid engine that will last for another 10 years. Any thoughts on name brand pistons, how about replacing the rods, I figured on replacing the bearings on the crank and inspecting/replacing it if needed. Basically I want to have a strong non boosted engine. Any good tips for the top end as well, I was looking at new cams and hydraulic lifters but do I really need them for a stock engine. Any thoughts or tips would be greatly appreciated.