Well, got the whole long block assembled. Stock push rods and rockers (1.73) worked fine, no binding to speak of. Tim said that they would probably work since my cam only had .487 and .493 lift. The original rockers and pivots are pretty worn, so I think I'm going to purchase OE replacements. It's hard to justify spending another $240 for rollers when the OE rockers should work fine. If I had extra money to burn I would maybe go with rollers anyway. I'm going to call Tim tomorrow with a few questions. One question I have is regarding the timing chain. I have three options on the crank gear as to where I slide over the key. R (retard 4 degrees) O (original timing) and A (advance 4 degrees). If I remember correctly, the factory timing was retarded 2 degrees for emissions reasons. I'm thinking that I would want to put the gear on "A" so that the overall cam timing is advanced 2 degrees. Is this correct? Another question I have is regarding my rockers. It seems my stock rockers with a 1.73 ratio work fine. Would there be any benefit to going with a different rocker are ratio? My final question is regarding break in oil. I have the ZDDP oil additive, but what is the best oil to run? I've heard some people say to run diesel oil because of it's higher zinc content. Any recommendations? Sorry for the newb questions, I'm new to this. I've very fortunate to have my uncle to help me with the build. He's making sure I don't screw anything up. He's done this countless times (did it for a living for many years) and there is no substitute for experience!

Picture time:

Bare block back from the machine shop. .040 over on the bore and .010 under on the crank and mains.


Short block assembled. Spent a lot of time cleaning out the block with mineral spirits and compressed air. Made sure to blast through all the oil galleys assuring the was no grit residing in there.


Long block assembled. I did bolt on the rockers (not in the picture) and we turned the engine over to check for binding in the valve train, there was none.


This is as far as I could get for now. Waiting on a bunch of parts to come in this week, including my intake manifold which is my current hold up. I also have all my ignition parts coming in. I'm just using a new stock distributor, but I ordered a MSD Blaster 2 coil. Hopefully the engine will be totally assembled next weekend. God willing, I may even have time to put it in the truck, but we will have to see. More to come soon!

 

The cam timing depends on the cam you are going back with. Most aftermarket cams come with a timing card and it tells you where they expect you to install the cam, which is usually at TDC.

On the rocker ratio, I wouldn't go beyond the stock ratio of 1.73 with your lift. Tim said those rockers should work, meaning there's a chance they won't. But higher lift rockers would increase the odds of bind significantly.

Rotella and other diesel oils have a lot more ZDDP than oils for gas engines. I would at least break your engine in with one of those oils, and maybe run it even after break-in.

 

I agree on the rocker arm ratio. I was mostly wondering if there would be any benefit to going with a slightly lower ratio, like 1.7. I don't think there is any binding, but would a lower ratio be good peace of mind?

For the oil, do you think shell Rotella T 10W30 would be a good choice? Would I still want to add the ZDDP additive? I plan on calling Tim soon to confirm all of this, but like hearing everyone's input

 

I don't think there's enough difference in a 1.7 rocker to worry about.

As for the oil, I don't know the Rotella line, but you don't want a synthetic for break-in and I think the one you mentioned is synthetic. The parts have to wear in and synthetics are too slick and don't allow them to mate. So break it in on conventional oil and then switch to synthetic at something like 5k miles. Or, whatever Tim tells you.

 

I personally just add a bottle of ZDDP Plus to each oil change, that way I *know* I have sufficient levels.

 

I talked to Tim and he recommended the same thing. I guess even diesel oil has less zinc in it now a-days thanks to our wonderful government and it's EPA.

 

Yeah... but, ya know what, if you ever get to visit a big city in a third-world country that doesn't have ANY pollution controls on its cars and factories, you might learn to appreciate what the EPA does for us (I certainly did).

 

I was in Mexico City 15 years ago. I couldn't believe how many VW bugs were running around, but then discovered that they were still being made there - without any form of pollution controls. Which explained the smog that hurt your eyes and prevented seeing the other side of the street.

 

I agree with pollution control to a certain extent. In my opinion the EPA is out of control. Tier 4 diesel emissions standards are ridiculous and hindering the industry It's paving the way for the aftermarket to by pass all the required emissions equipment resulting in heavier polluting vehicles. The use of DPFs and urea injection systems cost individuals thousands upon thousands of dollars. Have you seen the price of a new powerstroke lately? It's about $8,500 just for the diesel OPTION. A lot of that price comes from all the emissions equipment bolted on. My family sells outdoor wood burning stoves, Central Boiler actually. A few years ago the government was PAYING you to buy the stove because it was considered to be a renewable fuel. Now the EPA is going to make it illegal to manufacture and sell the stoves, when just a few years ago, they were providing incentives to buy them. You will be required to purchase the E-classic series, which yields nothing but problems and increased cost for a unit that is minimally better on emissions and efficiency. I understand some of what the EPA does, but ultimately it's an organization that is totally out of control and taking advantage of American citizens and hindering domestic economic growth.

I'm not trying to start any political battle here, but the EPA has directly affected many members of my family in negative ways. I don't want to divert this thread from it's original goal, to build a kick a** engine! So thank you all for you help so far!

I plan on finally ordering my 1806 carb today and also a brand new set of OE rockers. I talked with Tim yesterday and he walked me through the steps to make sure the rocker are not binding. To the best of my knowledge, they appear to be fine. Worst case scenario, I bend a few push rods in the future. If that's the case, it's easy to swap out rods and rockers later.

 

I agree the EPA is out of control in some areas. For instance, they just made the military discontinue its practice of donating their obsolete vehicles to county fire departments because those vehicles don't have pollution controls on them. So small fire departments which have severe budget constraints will no longer be able to get vehicles they need to protect our homes???

However, I'm not sure the DPF systems are to blame for the cost of diesel options. My wife just purchased a 2014 Mercedes GLK w/the diesel engine. And I can tell you for sure that the diesel engine version is less expensive than the same vehicle with a gasoline engine - and the diesel comes with AWD where that is an option on the gas versions.

In any event, I think you are on the right track with that carb. I opted for the Street Demon 750, which is more expensive than the Eddy, but I like the Eddy and am sure you won't go wrong with it.

 

Haaaa haaaa. typical political logic there.
Banning old high emissions vehicles for fire departments when one single fire (especially a big forest fire) they attend probably has more pollutants emitted then all the vehicles attending make in a lifetime.
That type of thing s@#$ts me to tears.

 

. Pricing currently prolly has nothing to do with the cost to build the vehicle, but that with the current high cost of diesel fuel over gasoline (plus drivability and noises and smells), few people want to buy a diesel car... and the big price markup on M-B's leaves a lot of room to adjust pricing to demand...

 

Update time! Unfortunately, I still haven't totally finished it, but I'm getting close. I was waiting on a lot of parts and they got here just in time. I finally got my order in from Summit which included my intake and carb. I got the whole front of the motor assembled (timing chain and cover, water pump, balancer, etc.) and got the intake put on. I also ordered all brand new stock rockers because the original ones where looking worn out.




I sealed the motor up and was able to paint it "Old Ford Blue". I used DupliColor engine enamel, and first impression are very good. It dries to the touch quick and once it's cured, it's tough as nails. We were prying and pushing on that engine when installing it in the truck and the paint held up fantastic! Even when being scrapped by pry bars.




While I had the engine out I decided to wire-wheel and paint the frame.



On the stand I decided to install all of my ignition parts. The coil is a MSD Blaster 2 coil, the wires are just Motocraft replacements, and the plugs are platinum NGKs. I got a stock style distributor with vacuum advance from cardone select and the cap is loose even when the clips are secured! This might pose as a problem.





New clutch with a diaphragm style clutch cover. I ordered an AMS clutch kit because one of my best friends father is on board for AMS, so I wanted to try out their products.




I got the motor in the truck, but it fought me every step of the way. the splines on the transmission did NOT want to line up for some reason. After fighting it and fighting it and turning over the motor at the crank, we still had no luck. What we ended up doing was jacking up one of the rear wheels and turning the wheel to move the splines on the transmission. Eventually we got it all mated together and this is pretty much how she sits now.



With school and work, I really only have time to work on it during the weekends, so hopefully I'll get it all wrapped up next weekend. I still have to install the cooling system, headers, carb, and a few other little things. I also want to drop and clean the tank and fuel lines. I don't want any crud going through my brand new 1806 Eddy!

Said Eddy:


Anyone have any idea of what I should do about the loose distributor cap? I guess I could call up RockAuto and see if they will send me another one. I also have Flowtech headers to install on the truck. They are just painted right now. I can't afford ceramic coating at this time, but has anyone had any luck with header paint? If so, what brand do you recommend?

 

Looking good, Mike. That's the paint I'm going to use, so I'm glad to hear it holds up well.

As for the cap, I've had fits with getting caps to fit on aftermarket distributors. I think it is the dizzy and not the cap that's the problem as I've tried several caps from several sources and none fit right.

 

First impressions are good, we will see how it holds up over time. The can says that it should be good up to 500 degrees. If my motor gets that hot, I'm in trouble.

I'm not totally sure what to do about it. I bent the clips and that helped a little, but it's so loose that I'm sure it will throw off my ignition timing. I still have my original distributor, so I guess I can always run that if I have to. I really do not want to spend $250 to get a MSD or Mallory.