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my friend bought a new complete engine.
could not get it to stay cool, we traced this to poor machine work and not enough piston to bore clearence which was corrected.
now it doesn't overheat.
on re-assembly and running of two hours the rear main seal was leaking so the pan was removed, whilst there the main cap was removed showing these lines in the bearing, we removed all the mains and they all had these strange lines, then we removed the rod caps which also showed the same lines.

the lifters which were new showed the wear marks on the lifter bodies.

this was after 2 hours of running and an idle oil pressur of 45 p.s.i. at idle.

also the engine seemed to have a lot of oil in the valve covers so oil must have been getting to the lifters and up the push rods to the valve covers.

answers to this seem to escape me as i have never seen bearings mark like this before with parallel lines unlike dirt which would be more random.

the lifter look like someone took a file to them.

on one lobe of the cam a wear path is showing.

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this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.

The oil filter bypass may be partially open in the block, allowing unfiltered oil to flow. Can be caused by excess break-in lube like moly to clog the filter. I use moly sparingly.

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i did not build this engine.

the builder did not clean the lifter galleries after the block was bored as there were new plugs install and decided that they were clean.
the decider strikes again
the marks on the journals was evidence that the crank had not been polished sufficiently

_________________
this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.

i think it's time to tell how i would go about building a performance small block ford.

start with the block
i am aware that ford blocks are a bit of pot luck with how well they were cast which may affect the amount of machining that can be done.
mexico blocks are distinguishable by two lumps cast on the front, they have a higher nickel content thus less likely to crack but if the power level is held to 350 hp you should not need to worry about cracking.
how square is the block? look at the cam boss at the front of the block where the cam gear resides, if the flat face is simetrical about the cam bore then it is worth proceeding. well in a lot of cases they are not due in most cases core shift.
a seasoned block (one that has been used for some time and reached a point where heat and torque have done thier best to distort the block)
a new block from say ford motor sports, these may still not be straight
a line bore is highly recomended

a series of machining processes must be undertaken to ensure that the decks are square to the crank.
this would require the block be mounted on the crank journals with the rear cam boss also located to create a vertical datum about which the block can be turned at 45 deg. in either direction.
both decks and the cylinder bores can now be machined without reference to the block faces as the angles of the decks may not be correct or flat.
there is a special piece of equipment that is available to machine shops which is presision made to do this with exact 45 deg. angles that mounts as described earlier and must be used, anything else will not give the correct angles as there are no true datums that remain on a distorted block.

once you have a "square" block a deck hight and bore size can be determined for your application but it should be noted that larger bore sizes may leave insufficiant cylinder wall thickness due again to core shift so keep it minimum unless you undertake sonic testing.
there are several vieos on youtube to show you how to deburr the block and improve the oiling so won't go into that here except to say that if you are using a roller cam in a non roller block you will need special "bog bone" lifters and do a restictor mod to the oil gallery at the back of the block.

thats all i have at the moment, more to follow.

_________________
this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.

part 2

crank.
there are several options for a crank, many people spring for a chance of more cubes the most popular is a 347, the two most popular are from eagle and scat, i have used a scat crank and an eagle
the main journal size is a bit on the tight side for bearing clearence and will probably require a polish
you will know if you measure the installed bearings and mic the crank.
the surface finish is not good on some eagle cranks.
the same thing with the rods, check check and check again.
above .002 and below .003 provided you have done your due diligence on the oiling system with a polished crank.
then put the crank in and plastigauge.
now turn the crank 180 deg. and check again if the middle bearings go tight the crank is not straight, some people can straighten a crank with a hammer enough to get by, likewise if the end bearings go tight.
look at the radii of the journals and ensure that the bearing will not touch the radii and that there is a smooth transition from journal to web
now check end float, stick cars tend to wear a crank due to the clutch being held dow at traffic lights
add some light oil to the crank and see if you can spin it when torqued up, i don't mean turn it, spin it

i must add here that i bevel the corners of the main caps and block to reduce stress risers and likewise the bearings should be deburred with a small file on the mating edges and drilled for better oil flow.

if you are using the original cap bolts, try a die nut down them to see if the thread is deformed, if the die picks up thread throw them away.
if you are using studs screw them in hand tight then back them off half a turn

end of part 2

_________________
this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.