Engine Rebuild, Longish Post

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Kstills

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I was surprised by how much I was able to get off the parts car today, which leads me to believe I'm about ready to pull the engine out of the car.

I'm looking to rebuild the engine, not necessarily mod it. It has 186k on it, so the question is which parts can be reused without worry, and which should I be putting some money into?

Can the intake be improved? Polished, whatever?

Heads? Rebuild or just go new?

From what I've read, the block is pretty sturdy. I would have no idea how to check to see what parts in there would need to be replaced, if any would at all (car started when I got it home, seemed to run as well as my own).

Also, I assume I can just start pulling parts off the block, since I'll be doing that anyway. That's a great way (for me) to learn more about how the thing is held together. :)

Plus, the front end is on a little hill, so the less weight I have to take up on the engine stand, the better....;)

Aside from pulling water pumps and alternators off engines (with a carb rebuild here or there) I've never tackled anything this detailed on a car before. Since it's not the daily driver, I can afford to be ......messy......but any advice you all might have regarding this next stage of the project would be appreciated.
 
The parts won't cost that much more to go with a good quality that will support any possible future mods.

Keep the block and crank. Unless you go crazy later and add serious power adders, both are good for just about anything you may plan on.

Replace the rods and pistons with forged upgrades. Rings and bearings are a given.

You could fill a library with options on the intake and heads. Do your homework, shop wisely and plan ahead.

You may want to consider having the rotating parts and heads installed by a pro if you've never worked on modular motors, especially the DOHC.
 
Do yourself a favor and get the book by Sean Hyland about the Mod Motors. You can go to his web site and also learn stuff about rebuilding as well. This should help you determine what you will want to do.
 
Take the bare block to a GOOD machine shop, have it cleaned and checked, and find out how much it needs to be bored.

Buy a complete, balanced, forged rotating assembly (crank, rods, pistons), with rings and bearings (~$2,000). You can get a stroker kit for another $200 or so. :D

Make SURE that the machine shop uses a deck plate, specifically made for the 4.6, when boring the block.

Not really any such thing as new heads, and decent ported ones are very $$.

Change all of the cam gears, chains, and tensioners. ($500-600)

Use ARP Main and Head studs.
 
Last edited:
Roadboss said:
Do yourself a favor and get the book by Sean Hyland about the Mod Motors. You can go to his web site and also learn stuff about rebuilding as well. This should help you determine what you will want to do.
Click to expand...

Ah, very good. I forgot about that book, thanks for the post. :)
 
DLF said:
Take the bare block to a GOOD machine shop, have it cleaned and checked, and find out how much it needs to be bored.

Buy a complete, balanced, forged rotating assembly (crank, rods, pistons), with rings and bearings (~$2,000). You can get a stroker kit for another $200 or so. :D

Make SURE that the machine shop uses a deck plate, specifically made for the 4.6, when boring the block.

Not really any such thing as new heads, and decent ported ones are very $$.

Change all of the cam gears, chains, and tensioners. ($500-600)

Use ARP Main and Head studs.
Click to expand...


I thought that some of the other vehicle's using these mod motors could swap heads? I recall the Marauder heads, I think, were an upgrade?

And 2k......hmmmm.....:eek:
 
driller said:
The parts won't cost that much more to go with a good quality that will support any possible future mods.

Keep the block and crank. Unless you go crazy later and add serious power adders, both are good for just about anything you may plan on.

Replace the rods and pistons with forged upgrades. Rings and bearings are a given.

You could fill a library with options on the intake and heads. Do your homework, shop wisely and plan ahead.
You may want to consider having the rotating parts and heads installed by a pro if you've never worked on modular motors, especially the DOHC.
Click to expand...

If you knew me, you would laugh at this.

It takes me a month to change cereal brands...:)
 
When my 1993 died the head cracked. The car had 250k miles and the engine had ~190k (it was a ford remanufactured unit). Just letting you know the weak point of my high mileage engine. I junked my car after this......the rest of the car was tired too. :(

You could always sell the engine as it to Tommy and he'll drive it for another 210k miles with no rebuild. :)

Ken
 
14.6@97MPH said:
When my 1993 died the head cracked. The car had 250k miles and the engine had ~190k (it was a ford remanufactured unit). Just letting you know the weak point of my high mileage engine. I junked my car after this......the rest of the car was tired too. :(

You could always sell the engine as it to Tommy and he'll drive it for another 210k miles with no rebuild. :)

Ken
Click to expand...

I 'think' that the engine is in ok shape. Like I said, I ran it for a bit when I got it, and it sounded very smooth.

Thing is, I have to take it out of the car anyway. I'm stripping everything off the car, then junking the frame. So as long as it's out (and in pieces) it's a nice project to work on. :)

I'm contemplating rebuilding the transmission, also.
 
CobraStar_LS8 said:
put a set of good used cobra pistons and rods in there and you're good...worth more than just rebuilding it
Click to expand...

Cobra's have a forged crank but same cast pistons and powdered metal rods. 03/04 Cobra's have Manley rods and fordged pistons but lower compression not good unless your adding boost.
 
Kstills said:
I thought that some of the other vehicle's using these mod motors could swap heads? I recall the Marauder heads, I think, were an upgrade?

And 2k......hmmmm.....:eek:
Click to expand...

Sure, if you want to change to the "C" heads. But then you'll also have to change intakes to match.
 
Kstills said:
I thought that some of the other vehicle's using these mod motors could swap heads? I recall the Marauder heads, I think, were an upgrade?

And 2k......hmmmm.....:eek:
Click to expand...

yeah dlf is a great guy with lots of dreat advice but i think he is made of money. dont get me wrong you get what you pay for. but there is more than one way to skin a cat. i usualy like the way that leaves more meat in my wallet.
but find some kind of forged internals and a friend at a machine shop maybe drop in with a pizza every now and agian. reground cams are cheaper than new and you can custom desighn them to your spec. imho these cars are lo budget sleeperass cars.
not $50,000 gt500's or $100k+ ford gt's they are the cheapest way to the dohc mod ford club. and that is a good one to be in when you think about all the used decent performance part out there.but these heads are starting to piss me off nothing for us. i guess we are the black sheep of the club

. you can steal parts off all kinds of other stuff and if you look arround ebay,craigslist,sccoa,tccoa, here and the nameless other cite you can find a steal on some forged internals under $1k have a friend at a machine shop bluprint ballance hone/bore and assemble for another $500-$1k (depending on how manny pizzas and doughnuts you show up with) regrind these cams and have one heck of a budget sleeper with the avail of whatever mod you want to add. from what i read these heads flow great there are just few bolt on and go s/c kits and there expensive!!! so if you get the heads ported and the intake to match you can polish them at home with a dremmel. and remember if you want to boost run dish pistons and a low c/r. good luck hope this helped

and i am assuming you can regrind these cams please swift kick in the nads if i am wrong:confused:
 
You have to be careful with regrinds. Sometimes you need shims or longer valves to get them to work right. And degreeing in the cams in an important step stock or aftermarket in getting the most out of them.

And I'm not really sure what DLF having $$$ or not has to do with anything. Buying a balanced rotating assembly is usually a decent deal over piecing together pistons rods, rings crank etc. Cam tensioners are a good idea and ARP stuff is money well spent. And he pointed out how expensive ported heads are.
 
Unless you plan on HEAVILY modifying the engine, you don't need a forged crank. A good set of forged rods and pistons will suffice. I've only seen ONE Mark VIII crank fail and that was with a 200 shot at extremely high rpms.
 
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