I have to move the engine block to my welding table in order to install the cam shaft. This normally would not be necessary, but the engine shop left the cam plug out of the rear of the engine to make it easier to install the cam. You can't install the cam plug with the engine in a stand.

I have laid down some of that anti-skid drawer liner material that we had laying around in order to protect the block from getting nicked on the metal table.

3/15 - The auto parts fairy left these on my front door step today. It's a good thing too, because I will be needing everything here to complete the short-block buildup of my 347 stroker motor.

The cam, plug, cam sprocket drive pins, lock-tite, and the cam specification card. This is a COMP Cam Magnum Hydraulic Roller cam. Here's the specs:

• Duration @ .050" (Int/Exh): 215°/220°
• Lift w/ 1.6 ratio rockers (Int/Exh): .533"/.544"
• Lobe Separation: 114°

The long bolt sticking out of the camshaft is what I will use as a handle for installing the cam in the engine, and for holding the cam while I apply the assembly lube. 8" long 3/8" bolt from Ace hardware.

Some moly grease on the cam bearings. Moly grease is one of those super lubricants that's supposed to extend bearing life etc... This stuff should be used sparingly on bearings, just enough for a film on the surface of the bearing.

This is the assembly lube (Redline) I am using for the bulk of the engine assembly. It is synthetic, does not dry, cake, or run, so when you go to start the engine, this stuff is there lubricating everything right away. It is also oil soluble, so during engine break-in it will dissolve in the engine oil and be flushed out completely within the first few oil changes.

The downside to this stuff is that it is disgusting. When I first opened the can I don't know what revolted me more, the look or the smell. I hunt deer, and I swear that the color of this stuff is dead-on for bullet wound cavity trauma. And a deer's gut pile definitely smells better. On the plus side, the stuff really does it's job well.

This is the thread prep moly grease that I am using. It's specifically designed to give true torque readings when tightening bolts, but can also be used on bearings (sparingly), and a few other things.

Here is the cam all lubed up and being installed into the block. This is where that long hardware store bold really shines. I can actually get two hands on it without touching the cam.

My kids helped me bag up the engine parts as I was disassembling the engine. The cam thrust plate and bolts are in this bag.

A must when doing this kind of work: the manufacturer's engine specifications and a couple torque wrenches. Can't build an engine without them.

Also a must, a dial indicator. Measures linear movement to the thousandth of an inch (.001"). Need this for measuring end play on several things...

...like the camshaft. After I cleaned and installed the cam thrust plate, I installed the cam plug firm against the camshaft end. I didn't have any fancy cam plug install kit (which an engine shop would have), so I just used the end of my old cam which was obviously the perfect size. Before driving the cam plug in, I put some lock-tite in the bore where the plug would be seating.

I then put my handy bolt back in the cam so that the threads bottomed out, and then gave a couple light taps on the bolt head to drive the camshaft back against the plug. This gave me the desired end play which I then measured with the dial indicator.

As you can see, I was able to achieve .004" end play on the cam, well within tolerance.

Setting the camshaft end play is especially important when using a roller camshaft because the rollers must seat squarely on the cam lobe and not 'walk' across the lobe as the cam thrusts back and forth in the block. Another negative side effect to too much end play is seen in the engine spark timing. Since the camshaft drives the distributor, if the camshaft is thrusting back and forth in the block the engine timing will be advancing and retarding at random with it. Not good.

Here you can see the cam plug installed.

The camshaft is finally installed and ready to go.

One more point: don't forget to install the cam sprocket dowel in the end of the camshaft BEFORE you install the cam in the engine. If you try to hammer it into the cam after the cam is installed you will mess up the cam end play.

The engine is ready to go back on the stand for the next step: installing the crankshaft.

Here's the crank, the main bearings, the crankshaft key, and some plastigauge for measuring main journal clearance. More on the plastigauge in a bit.

The crank key drives the crank timing sprocket and the harmonic balancer, to which the belt drive pulley is attached. This little doo-dad is responsible for driving all of the accessories on your car (power steering, A/C, alternator, water pump, smog pump, and fan - if clutch type). Hard to believe a $1.00 part can make or break your car.

This type of key is called a woodruff key. Don't know why. Maybe somebody named Woodruff invented it.

After removing the main cap bolts, the main caps will not just lift out. Just give them a gentle whack with a rubber mallet or other non-marring hammer to loosen it up. Make sure you are holding the main with your other hand. You do NOT want any of these hitting the floor.

Here are the new main bearings, they are Clevite H series bearings designed for racing engines. This means they are a little harder material than the standard P series, which is good for wear resistance, but bad for dirty engines. I will have to be diligent on oil changes and possibly add a second filter to the oil system.

It is important to wipe the bearings off with a little light machine oil on a rag just to remove any manufacturing dirt. You don't want that there on startup.

The bearings are installed in the main caps and lightly coated with oil. This is to prevent the plastigauge from sticking.

Here I have cut some plastigauge to fit on each of the crankshaft journals.

Plastigauge is some very cool stuff. For a couple bucks, this stuff does what a couple hundred dollar bore-gauge set will do. Plastigauge is used to measure bearing clearances. You place a piece of plastigauge on the very top of the crankshaft journal, 90° from the bearing split line (where the two bearing halves come together.) Then you install the main caps and torque to specs. When you remove the main caps, the plastigauge will be squished into a specific width depending on the size of the gap (clearance) between the journal and the bearing. The end result you will see in a few more steps.

So the plastigauge is basically fishing line designed to deform a known amount when pressed between two surfaces. I love technology.

It is a good idea to run a tap through the main cap bolt holes in order to ensure accurate torque readings. Installing main caps and cylinder heads are one place where the shade-tree mechanic can't get away with - "that'll hold."

I will not be reusing the original bolts for the main caps. Instead I will be using studs that are specifically designed for increased load (remember I will be more than doubling the torque and horsepower this engine has.) These things are the best you can buy, and damn well better be for $5.00 per stud. (190,000 psi chrome moly steel)

The studs get a dash of moly grease at both ends to ensure accurate torque readings. The manufacturer claims that up to 85% of the torque applied to a dry bolt is used up in the friction of the threads sliding past each other. This means you don't get adequate bolt stretch, and eventually things can loosen up. The moly grease helps even more, and the torques specs show it. 70 ft-lbs with moly grease, 85 ft-lbs with 30wt motor oil.

The main studs are put into the block with your fingers, and tightened just by the bare hand. No tools please. All of the torque will be applied to the top thread using a nut and washer.

Top threads on the studs get moly grease too. The long bolt is for the oil pump pickup. This is a rear sump 302.

The main caps are now torqued as per the bolt manufacturer's specifications. When changing from bolts to studs (or another bolt for that matter) always torque to the bolt manufacturer's specs, not the book's. The torque load is highly dependent upon the material strength of the fasteners, and the amount of stretch the bolt must attain to properly hold.

The fun part (not really) about engine building is that you get to do the same things a bunch of times. You can't just assemble, you have to fit, check tolerance, and then finish assemble. After the crank has been placed in the block and each main journal gets some plastigauge, the studs a torqued down. This squishes the plastigauge based on the bearing clearance. You then have to un-bolt the mains and remove them (carefully) to inspect and read the plastigauge.

You can see where the plastigauge has been squished on the crank main journals (the whitish-green line on the main journals.)

After you finish gauging the plastigauge, scrape it off the bearings and journals with a fingernail so as not to scratch any important surfaces. Don't worry if you leave a little behind: the plastigauge is oil soluble.

To read the clearance you use the stripes on the tape the plastigauge comes packaged in. This part is self-explanitory. You can see the plastigauge mark on the journal if you look carefully.

The crank is back out of the block in order to smear some assembly lube on the main journals (only).

This is the rear main seal that slides onto the flywheel end of the crankshaft. It keeps oil from leaking out around the crank. Be sure to get the brown-color main seal with a steel insert (Fel-Pro). The solid black rubber ones are known to leak within a few thousand miles. I bought this one at Advance.

The groove in the block where the rear main seal seats gets a thin bead of low-volatile black RTV. The matching groove on the 5th main cap gets the same.

I also smeared a little moly lube on the main bearings. When using moly grease for this, use a VERY little bit. How much is enough? If you think you smeared enough on the bearing, then you put too much on. You almost shouldn't be able to tell.

The crank is back in the block, the rear main seal is installed, and the main caps are ready for permanent installation.

After torquing the main cap studs to spec, I now need to check crankshaft end-play. This is the amount of 'wiggle' room the crank can move from front to back in the engine block. The third main cap bearing (middle) has a thrust bearing lip on it (you can see it in the picture of the bearings). By the book it should be from .004" - .008". Mine came in at .004".

There are quite a few things in building an engine that require the ability to turn the crankshaft in the engine. For this I am using a crankshaft socket. It simply slides over the snout of the crank and over the crank key, and has a square hole in the end to accept a 1/2" drive ratchet. Best thing is that this allows you to turn the crank backwards or forwards. Just installing the balancer bolt in the end of the crank won't let you do that.

The pistons, rods, and bearings are all laid out and ready to assemble.

When Ryan weight matched the pistons and rods, he selected which of each gave the closest weight numbers in order to reduce the amount of grinding he would have to do on the rods to reduce weight. You always weight match to the lightest piston/rod in the batch. He then honed the bores of each cylinder in regards to the size of a selected piston.

After all this is done the pistons and rods have to stay together, otherwise your rotating assembly balance will be off and your cylinder bores could not be sized for the piston you put in it. Ryan engraved the piston and rods, and the rod end caps with the cylinder number in which he intended them to be installed. This made my job very easy.

First I like to clean the piston ring grooves before assembly. This clears out any packaging crud or dirt so that the piston rings will fit properly.

I also have to be careful to assemble the pistons and rods the right way. Each rod crank bore has a chamfer on one side and not the other. This is because in a V8 engine two rods share the same crank journal (opposing cylinders) and the side of the rod facing another rod does not require this clearance. The rod journal on the crank has a 1/8" radius on each end (visible in pictures of the crank), and this chamfer clears that radius.

The pistons are directional as well. Based on the number engraved on the piston, I label the face of the piston to show which side of the piston is facing the front of the engine (F), and on which side the rod journal chamfer needs to be (C).

Before assembling I have to get the end caps off the rods. The end caps are torqued to spec before they finish machine them at the factory, so you have to clamp them down to do this. I just wanted to get it done faster (instead of having to put each one in a vise.)

The pistons and rods are all assembled.

I use a black sharpie to mark one bolt on each rod (the one on the side that is engraved with the cylinder number.) This is so each bolt goes back in the same hole it came out of. Believe it or not, this can make a difference when torquing the bolts into place.

You can see here that the rod bearings are also directional. One side has the chamfer and the other doesn't. It also helps that they are marked UPPER and LOWER on the underside.

The rod bearings are installed on the correct side and given a light coat of machine oil.

Before installing the piston rings, the wrist pin locks should be installed. These are called spiro-locks. They are a major pain in the butt to install, and God forbid that you should ever have to remove them. Be VERY careful not to bend or break them, Probe gave me an exact amount for each piston (4 each, 2 per side). This was a good half-hour of work.

The build continues on page 3...