engine was rebuilt in the 1970s, and that the crank journal has already been ground .010 undersized.
Remove Camshaft
Now we are ready to take our parts to the machine shop for individual inspection, cleaning, and reconditioning as necessary or desired. Subsequent chapters focus on each component separately until we start putting things back together. Accordingly, you will find me doing some assembly work then backing up a bit to go over the next component in the process before moving ahead. I recommend that you read over the entire book before beginning the job to best familiarize yourself with the tasks ahead.
We now have our engine block taken down to its bare essentials: a casting without any parts bolted to it. This is the point where we can decide if it is truly a good candidate to move forward with. A few fairly simple inspections and we are off to the machine shop, where things will get a lot more intensive.
As with other processes throughout the build, you can do this work in many ways, depending on your experience, the tools on hand, your budget, and your desired results. Plenty of engines have been successfully rebuilt with the most basic of tools, done completely in a home garage. Just do not expect such a low-budget package to compete with a professionally machined and reworked combination in terms of power or longevity. Keep your expectations in line with your abilities and your finances and you will be happy with the end result.
When we inspect a block before machining, we are usually looking for damage that cannot be repaired or cannot be repaired at a cost that can be justified. The cost versus value is very different depending on a number of factors.
Common issues include the need for cylinder sleeves due to excessive wear or physical damage. You may also find cracks from freezing or from prior component failure. Significant corrosion damage is possible in certain engines, such as raw water–cooled marine applications or castings that have sat outside for an extended time. Damaged bolt hole threads are common.
A common 360 or 390 block will justify only modest work before you reach its current $200 or $300 replacement value, which is maybe a single sleeve. A 427 block will almost always get repaired; their multi-thousand-dollar value can justify extensive work. If you are working with an original “numbers-matching” combination, you will do whatever it takes to retain that block because of the value it adds to the car.
Basic Block Dimensions
All Ford FE engines share many common characteristics. The nominal deck height as measured from the main bearing center to the cylinder head mounting surface is 10.17 inches. Blocks can be identified from there using a couple external cues, the casting numbers, the date codes, and the bore diameters.
Very early blocks have a different cam mounting and thrust control method. They can be converted to the later style with a little work, but are usually not the best candidate for normal use unless you have all the parts and the need for earlier casting numbers.
Critical Inspection
