My 521 Build Thread

[5.0Flareside]

Great build, but are you going to leave the welds like that or clean them up?

They're prolly gonna stay like that, and they're pretty clean for a crank..

If he cleans them up the balance would be off...


Smokin' Tires with my 5.0 on Tapatalk

 

[G.O. Stang]

They're prolly gonna stay like that, and they're pretty clean for a crank..

If he cleans them up the balance would be off...


Smokin' Tires with my 5.0 on Tapatalk

You're absolutely right. I'm not planning on making an all out race motor. So the welds will remain how they are.

On a side note, I've hit a financial snag and will be putting this off until I can save up enough to continue the build.

 

[G.O. Stang]

And we're temporarily back! Picked up my head studs today. Now this isn't some 5 minute job that you can do. You need to properly chase the threads for the head studs. Especially if you have your block blasted when it is cleaned. Media can cause the studs not to thread in all the way.

Got all the holes and threads right.

And the studs are in. Honing tomorrow.

 

[G.O. Stang]

Started the honing process today. The torque plate we have isn't thick enough for my studs so I put all the short ones one side and made spacers so it could be torqued down.

I began honing but ran out of time. I'll be finishing up tomorrow. Don't have a picture of the spacers, but I'll take more pictures tomorrow.



Just to explain the torque plate for those who may not know. The torque plate attempts to replicate the distortion the head has on the block when it's torqued down. It can distort the cylinders slightly so for a better overall hone, having the plate on and honing will make sure the cylinders are straight when the head is on. Most shops who do general machine work don't use torque plates. They just hone it and send you on your way. So there is an advantage to doing this. Side note, you must use a head gasket while doing this. The gasket can change the distortion slightly and also it's not good to torque the plate down directly on the deck.

 

[G.O. Stang]

Okay. Today I was able to finish one side.

I started by honing all the cylinders out to .003 smaller than my finish of 4.390. Then I bolted on the torque plate on with my spacers and honed to .001 at a slower head speed. This got the crosshatch up in the cylinders. I allowed them to cool after this because metal expands and it's good to measure when it's cool. Then I ultimately went to 0 or 4.390 finish with the slower head speed and finer stones to give the cylinder a nice finish.

I'll have pictures of the finished cylinders tomorrow when I finish the other side.

 

[Beach66Bum]

great thread on your engine rebuild,

 

[G.O. Stang]

Finished honing! All cylinders look good!

Here's a close up of one of the cylinders.

It's a nice cross hatch and finish. I'm happy with it. So we'll move on to getting ready for surfacing the deck tomorrow.

 

[5.0Flareside]

looks like a real good hone..

quick quesiton, what are you gonna run for ring gap? and whats factory spec on a 460? i can look it up but im too lazy..

 

[G.O. Stang]

looks like a real good hone..

quick quesiton, what are you gonna run for ring gap? and whats factory spec on a 460? i can look it up but im too lazy..

Well the standard rule is .005" for every inch of bore. So probably around .025-.030" or so. Factory is like .017-.023" or something to that nature.

 

[G.O. Stang]

So before decking, you have to check your deck for straightness and also see how far in or out of the hole your pistons are. This only needs to be done for the 4 corner pistons. The middle 4 aren't irrelevant, but there isn't much you can do about their orientation.

So we start by getting our first piston to TDC by checking it with a bridge(pictured.) We zero it out in the deck. We leave it at TDC and rock the piston back and fourth looking at how much it moves one way and then the next. Those number are then averaged to give us how much we are in or out of the hole. We do this on both sides of the piston. On the pictured one, I was .0175 and .019 in the hole. This tells us the deck is a little crooked here. This is repeated on all four corner pistons. With all these measurements, we can then get ready to surface. Stay tuned for that adventure, next week.

 

[primetime]

I love looking at freshly machined engines.

 

[G.O. Stang]

I love looking at freshly machined engines.

Just wait til I deck it. Whole new look.

 

[G.O. Stang]

Due to some lack of motivation and the machine being used all week, I haven't surfaced it yet. However today I started filing rings. Mahle recommended .0045 for every inch of bore for the top ring and .0055 for the second. So I'm going for .020 and .024. I started today but didn't take any pictures. That will come tomorrow.

 

[BuzzGun79]

Impressive G.O. !!

 

[G.O. Stang]

Okay! So Friday I got off my butt and got the block on the surfacer.

This machine is very simple. All that needs to be done is to make sure the bar the block sits on is straight and level. Using a dial gauge. It is absolutely critical that this done or else the deck will be crooked. So after that's done, you can set the block on the machine, using the correct sized main spacers that fit on the bar. You then secure the block using adjustable bars that allow for moving the block up and down to get the deck straight, or level to where you want it. You use the dial gauge to sweep one side of the deck to the other to check your measurements. Once everything is set up, you can begin. You use a piece of paper to first get the cutting wheel as close to the deck as possible. Then you turn the machine off and slowly lower it further until a very slight audible cutting noise is heard. You then back the machine up. You can then either run a 0 pass to confirm your original measurements or just begin cutting. To begin cutting, you take the dual gauge in a mag stand and attach it to the machine and put the gauge on the deck. Then slowly lower the machine to the amount you want to take off. Once that's done, move the gauge out of the way, start the machine and begun the cycle. The picture above is mid cycle. I needed to take .019 off one side of the block and .024 off the other. Here are the finished products.

Nice beautifully machined deck surfaces. This will conclude the machining part if the build. I will do some carbide grinding to clean up some spots if the block next week. Also I am planning in the distributor gear oil mod. I finished the rings last week but I failed to take any pictures. It's a pretty self explanatory process anyway. Use a ring filer to file them to the proper clearance.

 

[Dirky]

Looks good man. I wish I had access to machining equipment! Can't spend 40-50K to go to SAM, especially since it's just a hobby. You are lucky! I am jealous!

I am surprised at how easily a sharp drill bit goes through this iron! I did the dist. gear mod on my block as well!

Keep the updates coming!

Derek.

 

[G.O. Stang]

Next on the list is to de-burr the block. This will simply remove all the sharp or rough edges for a clean professional looking block.

Simply rounding the machined edges or casting edges.

Also I took this as an opportunity to perform the distributor gear oil mod.

A small, easy modification that anyone can do. Just make sure if you use a hand drill, you use constant steady pressure. Keep it straight. And if you have to break the bit, make sure you can extract it. I broke two doing this mod. Thankfully, both were easily extracted.

Today I will attempt to radius the oil passages and clean up the oil drain back/vent casting flash.

 

[G.O. Stang]

Looks good man. I wish I had access to machining equipment! Can't spend 40-50K to go to SAM, especially since it's just a hobby. You are lucky! I am jealous!

I am surprised at how easily a sharp drill bit goes through this iron! I did the dist. gear mod on my block as well!

Keep the updates coming!

Derek.

For me, it's not just a hobby. It's my profession. For all the knowledge and experience you get, the $30,000 is worth it to take the block and head classes. Judson, the owner, founder, and teacher of the block class has so much knowledge about engines it's ridiculous. His class was never boring, ever. And you almost always learn something new every day in his class. I haven't started the head class yet, but I'm excited to. It's not for me, but for another $15,000 you can take the CNC class. We have two top of the line CNC machines here. And some of the work they do in that class is amazing.

 

[G.O. Stang]

Okay so today was short and the objective was simple. Smooth oiling.

I cleaned up the filter entry and exit passages as well as radius the short turn after the pump.

Here I've cleaned up the drain back/vent flash and make them all smooth.

As well as clean up the rear drain backs.

Finally in an effort to save a few bucks, I modified the factory oil filter adapter to accept a 15/16in socket.

These are all mods that can be done at home. So don't be afraid to tackle them.

 

[LEB Kris]

Very nicely done.

Im not much of a fan of Eagle cranks but for your intended use I sure it will work well. With your piston choice I assume you will be using small valve D3 heads?