Budget Friendly Build

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RustyRatRod said:
Floating rods are nice for assembly and disassembly. IMO they free up a small amount of torque but not enough to see on the butt dyno. Certainly not enough to warrant the extra expense.
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Is there more expense to having them prepped vs press fit.

I have both sets here.
 
I have a friend with a 340 built with a similar cam.... the advice to you to 'be ready to hang on' is my friend's same expression. But, he wishes now that he had gone with a milder cam; the street manners are not what he wanted most: it is not a good cruiser. It is either OFF or ON; great for strip, not so great for street. So this cam is making a definite move to good-for-strip. (But.... cams are not all that hard to change nor all that expensive....)

BTW keep in mind that if you have looser-than-spec pistons in the bore with just a hone, then the blowby will be more and the engine won't last as long 'til the blowby and power losses get excessive. Makes no sense to me to pay for all the other stuff and not spend a very small % more for a clean, new bore and good piston fit at .020 or .030 overbore. These are hypereutectic pistons and are normally set with a tight clearance when new. Things like the roller rockers makes any shortcuts elsewhere not make sense.
 
Is this going to be more of a track car or mostly street ? With that cam I can understand ditching the power brakes .
Should run in the 12's .
 
nm9stheham said:
BTW keep in mind that if you have looser-than-spec pistons in the bore with just a hone, then the blowby will be more and the engine won't last as long 'til the blowby and power losses get excessive. Makes no sense to me to pay for all the other stuff and not spend a very small % more for a clean, new bore and good piston fit at .020 or .030 overbore. These are hypereutectic pistons and are normally set with a tight clearance when new. Things like the roller rockers makes any shortcuts elsewhere not make sense.
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Agreed, and it makes sense. BUT, what I'm trying to accomplish here is put an engine together with what I have sitting around. If I overbore, I need new pistons I already have a brand new set in the box for standard bore, so I'm hoping the cylinders look good and are within specs. If not, I may have to change direction.

I do have other cam choices, but any of them are gonna be somewhat radical.
 
Gotcha...I put together one engine in my time that was not 'clean and new'... an old 292 Ford. The bore clearances and taper were pretty awful. Even used ring spacers as I could not afford new pistons. Was nuthin' but an ole truck engine, but I used it a lot on the interstate and it was always botherin' me to still have an uneven running engine, even thought it no longer had burned valves when I was done! Lots'a blow by... was an old breather tube engine. Can't imagine doing anything similar to an engine with a lot of good mods and parts. I WOULD do it for next week's half-mile dirt track races if I had to meet a deadline like that, but not for a driver. JMHO.
 
Bad Sport said:
Is there more expense to having them prepped vs press fit.

I have both sets here.
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Yes. The bushings need replacing if they are out of spec and they need to be honed to fit. I would simply go with press fit.
 
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