Taking bets(no money involved) How long will this engine last?

-
Wally-T

Wally-T

64 Signet
Joined
Jul 14, 2019
Messages
154
Reaction score
50
Location
Cochrane Alberta
Hey folks.
Well I've broken all the rules with this one!
First let me say that I know I should have taken this engine and it's parts to a machine shop to have them hot tanked. But I didn't lol ! Anyway, I pulled my 273 apart after sending the heads out to be done because I found that it was pretty grungy inside. Well I lost my grip on the snowball and it started rolling down hill FAST! This thing wasn't just a little grungy! There were chunks of solidified oil and crap though everything soooo...I disassembled the hole mess then:
I visually checked the bearings and found that none were burned or scored badly so...I am reusing them :D. I removed all the oil gallery plugs so I could clean out the galleries and passages. I pulled a bottle brush back and forth through the galleries using a piece of a throttle cable wire then flushed everything out with "MANY" cans of parts cleaner. Flushed out the crank and cam with more cans of cleaner and blew everything out with compressed air. Popped the plugs out of the rocker shafts and used the bottle brush to clean the shafts out the best I could. Then I reinstalled all of the plugs and reassembled everything with assembly lube (had to do something the right way lol). I used new gaskets and seals etc. Oh and by the way I didn't even remove the pistons :p. It sure was a trick getting the crank back in while juggling the rods by myself haha. I had pieces of hose on the rod bolts to avoid scratching though and that helped tremendously. And I guess I was holding my tongue the right way though because all went well (I think).
So now to the bets!!!
Who bets this thing will flush some of the leftover crud through and rip up a bearing or two on first start up?
First road test?
First week or?.....
Give er yer best estimate folks. I'm not betting at all but you sure know what I'm hoping for... Years of faithful service haha ya right :realcrazy:. I won't have the engine reinstalled for a week or two since spring things just take up a lot of time so I'm working on it when I get a minute here and there.
Ok. Let the games begin
:icon_fU:
Thanks, Wally
 
I've done this sort of thing before. If you keep oil in it and don't push it too hard, it will run a long time.
 
Been There Man! I pulled this crusty 273 out over the winter and just got it back in So, I feel your pain...
You'll be fine, best part is... it's already broke in!

b.jpg


a.jpg
 
Been there, done that. You are not the first person to do something like this and you won't be the last. as already stated, if you got it as clean as possible, you're golden.
 
I think it will be fine. I helped my dad do an in=chassis overhaul on a slant 225 one thanksgiving weekend. Probably wasn't that gunky but I've done a few engines like that and never had a problem.
 
The only comment I would make is that after the brake cleaner/carb cleaner douche I always finish up with hot soapy Dawn detergent. It'll remove particles that the cleaner won't dissolve. But other than that, should run fine.
 
Sounds like you followed all the rules (including reusing good bearings!) Only thing you didn't cheap out on was reusing the head gasket! I got away with that more times than I wanna admit but it did bite me in the *** ..once.
 
Well since you didn’t use any comp cams products or oil it will do great!
 
Did similar with my 390FE.. I did replace the cam, timing chain and oil pump. Other than that I checked the mains and cleaned it up, tossed the rebuilt heads back on it. That was 10 years ago and quite a few thousand miles. IMHO as long as you are not going to thrash it badly you should be fine.
 
It’s gonna last at least 10 years longer than anything Uncle Tony built…..
 
Last edited:
The bleachers are filled with eternal optimists. Best of luck with it.
 
Yep, it will live again. Look at all that NOS gunge!

100_4778.JPG


100_4794.JPG
 
The only thing I would do that you didn’t mention is when you start it up add some Rislone and run it according to the instructions and then drain and change the oil. I did that on my 340 and got a ton of gunk out and when I finally did break the motor down it was clean as a whistle inside. None of the crap seem to go through the bearings cause that stuff breaks it down pretty good

it will run until you decide to modify it further
 
I did that to my 57 T Bird 292 in 67 and then went out and beat the crap out of it for 5 years before I sold it, and it was still running like a champ!
 
I've done this with engines several times over several years with good results.
Then I spent the rest of the money on things that really mattered like brakes, tires, suspension, and steering!
It'll probably last a long time unless you are an animal with it!
 
Taking a little easy, keep a good ear out for weird noises, do a quick oil change and cross your fingers I bet you're good to go.
 
MOPAROFFICIAL said:
And the FE's 'leaky'.
Click to expand...

I'll admit getting the china rail to seal properly can be a pain. If you dork it up you get to remove the rockers and pushrods to do it again because some genius at Ford decided having the push rods go THROUGH the intake manifold was a good idea. I was a 3 time loser on that deal... was ready to stuff an oily rag in the fuel filler.. light it and walk away more than once.
Saner thoughts prevailed.
:lol:
 
OP, if you had good oil pressure before teardown, and the mains and rod bearings look ok they should work fine,just put them back exactly where they were originally. You probably wouldnt even have to plasti guage if you didnt want to. basically you are cleaning it up and regasketing it. Im thinking about doint the exact same thing t o my 86 5.0Liter Mustang
 
Wally-T said:
Hey folks.
Well I've broken all the rules with this one!
First let me say that I know I should have taken this engine and it's parts to a machine shop to have them hot tanked. But I didn't lol ! Anyway, I pulled my 273 apart after sending the heads out to be done because I found that it was pretty grungy inside. Well I lost my grip on the snowball and it started rolling down hill FAST! This thing wasn't just a little grungy! There were chunks of solidified oil and crap though everything soooo...I disassembled the hole mess then:
I visually checked the bearings and found that none were burned or scored badly so...I am reusing them :D. I removed all the oil gallery plugs so I could clean out the galleries and passages. I pulled a bottle brush back and forth through the galleries using a piece of a throttle cable wire then flushed everything out with "MANY" cans of parts cleaner. Flushed out the crank and cam with more cans of cleaner and blew everything out with compressed air. Popped the plugs out of the rocker shafts and used the bottle brush to clean the shafts out the best I could. Then I reinstalled all of the plugs and reassembled everything with assembly lube (had to do something the right way lol). I used new gaskets and seals etc. Oh and by the way I didn't even remove the pistons :p. It sure was a trick getting the crank back in while juggling the rods by myself haha. I had pieces of hose on the rod bolts to avoid scratching though and that helped tremendously. And I guess I was holding my tongue the right way though because all went well (I think).
So now to the bets!!!
Who bets this thing will flush some of the leftover crud through and rip up a bearing or two on first start up?
First road test?
First week or?.....
Give er yer best estimate folks. I'm not betting at all but you sure know what I'm hoping for... Years of faithful service haha ya right :realcrazy:. I won't have the engine reinstalled for a week or two since spring things just take up a lot of time so I'm working on it when I get a minute here and there.
Ok. Let the games begin
:icon_fU:
Thanks, Wally
Click to expand...
Depends on how many miles is on the rings, but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't burn oil since you've freshened up the top end and left the old rings in place. I've seen it happen before. No more than what it would've cost I would have replaced the rings, rod and main bearings.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top