Reviving the 351 Windsor V8 Part 2

It's been a few weeks since there was a progress report on the Mustang engine, and there is a good reason. About three weeks ago (in real time) I popped down to the garage with some newly acquired tools and tapped a 1/4 inch NPT thread into both of the "unplugged" oil galleries.

Stainless threaded plugs were installed and tightened all the way up to 11.

Which gives this:

The next step could have been re-installation of the oil pan, oil pump and so on, and check the oil pressure. Instead I decided to pull one of the main caps and check for wear. What I found was well beyond excessive wear: 

The bearings at the rod caps were not any better. I pulled a few of the rocker arms and here I discovered that some of my push rods have become shorter than others:

This is collectively awful news since it indicates that a full rebuild will be necessary. Not only that, but there is an excellent chance that the block will need machine work; at the very least it needs to go back to the machine shop to be checked over and the crank shaft will have to be rebalanced.

As I mentioned at the start, that was three weeks ago. Since then I've been trying to figure out how much and how long it will take to rebuild the engine. This is the equation I came up with:

A + B + C + D = CE

Where:    A = cost of machine work

                B = cost of replacement parts (pistons, cam, lifters, push rods etc. etc.)

                C = at least six months at the machine shop

                D = hours/days/weeks of frustration while wielding a torque wrench 

and

                CE = a crate engine.

 

If you're not already familiar, a crate engine is an engine that is delivered in a crate. Exactly like the one below in fact:

Stay tuned to find out just what is inside the crate!