Getting ready to install the piston rings and start installing assembled pistons into the cylinders. I have the pistons laid out by opposing cylinder (as they will be installed in the block.) In the middle is the ring expander tool used to install the rings. Extra care has to be taken here, because this is where the rings are likely to break.

The first set of rings is installed. Each ring's (5 total) gap has to face a certain direction on the piston. This is defined in the ring manufacturer's instructions.

To install the piston in the cylinder the rings must be compressed. A piston ring compressor is used to accomplish this. I am using a sized, tapered compressor that allows the piston to be inserted at the top and then compresses the rings as the piston is pushed down into the taper. These type are pretty much fool-proof.

I rotate the block so that the cylinder I am installing into is in the vertical position. I then rotate the crank (using the handy-dandy crankshaft socket) so that the journal on which the rod will be installed is at it's top dead center. This allows the rod end to fall directly on it and the journal won't get nicked.

The first piston installed in the bore!

The rod journals require clearance checking as well. Another use for the plastigauge.

The first two pistons are installed and torqued to spec. Again the spec to follow is that of the rod manufacturer. The Ford book calls for the rods to be torqued to 19-24 ft-lbs. The rod manufacturer called for 65 ft-lbs! Wouldn't want to make that mistake. (The OEM rods used studs, so that may partially explain the wide variance.)

Nice decking job. Deck height is the distance from the face of the cylinder deck to the face of the piston. Each cylinder came in under .020" deck height. The closer you can get the piston to a true zero deck height (piston is level with the deck), the higher you can take the compression ratio, within certain safety limits.

When installing the piston, make sure the piston is correctly oriented ('F' facing front of engine) and let the piston skirt guide the piston down into the bore. It seems to work best when you move pretty quickly, otherwise the rings can get hung up on the deck surface. If you can't easily get the piston in the bore, pull it out and start again. Don't risk damaging the rings. I wipe the cylinders with a coat of light machine oil before inserting the piston.

After checking clearances for both rods, I slide the pistons back up into the bore to make some room around the crank. I then wipe all oil off the bearings and journal, coat the bearings with moly grease, coat the journal with assembly lube, and then push the pistons back down in the bore while guiding the rod ends over the journal.

After torquing the rod end caps in place, I check the side clearance between the rod ends. Again the rod manufacturer had a different clearance range than the book, so I went by that.

Well, all of the rods and pistons are installed, and we now almost have a complete short-block. Only thing left to do is install the lifters, timing chain, and degree in the cam.

The lifters. This is one expensive little box.

These lifters are hydraulic roller type lifters. That means that the roller you see at one end rolls along on the cam lobe to reduce friction, and they are hydraulic because they automatically adjust valve lash as they are pumped up with oil from the engine.

The lifters are supposed to be 'primed' before installing in the engine. This is done by letting them soak in oil, and stirring them around a bit to get oil down into the lifter cavities. Even if the engine is going to sit for a while, it is still a good idea to do this. Anyone that has taken apart an old engine, even if it has sat for a while, can tell you that there will still be oil in the lifter cavity when you go to start the engine. Every little bit helps.

The lifters still get a liberal coating of assembly lube on the rollers and bodies even after the soak. The assembly lube won't run off, and what's there will mix with the oil and hold it there longer. I have a feeling that it is going to be a month or two before this engine is put back into service.

The lifters are held in place by the lifter link bars (the DNA chain looking things) and the spider. Why spider? Because it has eight legs!

First the link bars go in place. These need to be centered between the lifters. It doesn't really matter, but I make sure the 'UP' stamping is facing the front of the engine.

The spider is in place and bolted down. Now you can see what it does.

This is the timing chain and sprockets. The small sprocket goes on the crankshaft and the big sprocket goes on the camshaft. This is what drives the camshaft and 'times' its movement along with the rotating assembly. This set came off the engine before the rebuild, and I'm using it because I had just installed it on the engine not even 5K miles before I started the rebuild. The double-gang chain is plenty strong enough for this build.

Before I can degree the cam, I have to find the true 'Top Dead Center', or TDC, of the #1 piston. I do this by using a dial indicator (I told you these things come in handy) and watch for the dial to change direction at the top of the piston's stroke. Once found, I move the engine to TDC as indicated by the dial by rotating the engine clockwise (the direction it turns when running.) This is true TDC. You never want to turn to TDC counterclockwise because the slack in the timing chain will give you an erroneous reading (provided it's not a marine engine, which usually rotates backwards.)

This is where the crankshaft socket really comes in handy.

The crankshaft socket is specifically made to accept a degree wheel for degree-ing in a cam. This way you can set the wheel where it needs to be without much trouble.

Ok, so what is degree-ing in a cam exactly? It's another check to make sure you got what you bought. It allows you to check the cam against the specifications on the cam card (comes with the cam and has all the specs printed on it.) Here you can see that I have rigged up a piece of 3/32" TIG welding wire as a pointer and have moved the degree wheel to mark TDC. To degree in the cam, I just follow the directions that came with the cam.

The timing of the cam is read at .050" before and after maximum lift on the intake valve. My cam came in at almost exactly the spec, only 1° off. That is about as good as it gets.

Again the crank socket came in handy while torquing the cam sprocket bolt to spec (never had that luxury before). The timing is set and everything is ready to go.

The oil filter stud is installed and torqued to spec. I'm loving that ARP moly lube. Everything is getting it now.

The oil pressure sender is in. I can almost feel myself turning the key already...

The build continues on page 4...