Ford 390 FE Engine Overhaul

TEARDOWN LOWER END 3

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This site deals with General Engine overview. Subsets will address the top, bottom, front, and rear portions of this teardown. That will make future reference for finding specific tasks much easier.

#1
Rotate the crank until the connecting rod cap comes up to the top. Remove the cap nuts. Tap the piston loose. Notice those two yellow tubes on the left. I use them to protect the crankshaft. The smallest nick in the crank pin will wipe out a new bearing. So, I slip covers over the con rod bolts to protect my work. You can use anything that's soft, but thin. I pulled these off of extension cord I had.
If you happen to nick the crank, stone out the flaw, immediately.

#2
It's just electrical cord covering but for this use, a great tool.

#3
The cap is off but the bearing stayed on the crank... ok.

#4
Push the covering over the connecting rod bolts...

#5
Now it's safe to pound the old piston out using a rubber mallet or wood.

#6
Put your hand under the piston to catch it.

#7
This piston is on its way down. Assembly follows the exact opposite procedure.

#8
Now pull the rubber sleeves off and get them ready for the next piston.

#9
When all the pistons are out, loosen the main journal bolts and pull each cap off.

#10
Set the caps off to the side. This Crankshaft is ready to lift out.

#11
Each of these caps is stamped for position. I want to keep them that way because the machine shop will align bore the block. It's important to keep everything in order.

#12
This Crankshaft is a 2U, one of Ford's strongest, and it looks beautiful.

#13
I took this picture to show the bearing oil holes and how they are misaligned by the cradle oil holes. (See the five close-up insets at the top of this picture.) The machine shop will straighten this out.
Also notice, I left the cam to be removed last. Once the crankshaft is out, I have access to the Camshaft with full control using both hands inside and outside of the block.

#14
Even though this block will be bored, it's noteworthy to show the cylinders 'before'. The junk in there is gasket material and oil, but no scoring.

#15
... and the LH cylinders.

#16
The engine plant uses very long drill bits to make these oil holes. I check and clean every oil hole.

#17
The main and pin bearing surfaces look great.

#18
The inset shows "2U" identification... clearly a car or light truck crankshaft.

#19
Original bore is 4.050". This block proves to be original in every way.

#20
This piston bearing is typical of all eight. They are worn out from low-rpm but high torque.

#21
The inside of this piston reads: "C8TE6110H" (1968 Truck Engine...) on the left, and "FoMoCo" on the right. It's heavy duty and high quality, with a full-floating wrist pin held in by snap rings.

#22
I pulled this ring off to measure the end gap. .040", and the cylinders have hardly any ridge.

#23
Remove six oil and water pipe plugs with an Allen wrench.

#24
These four pipe plug holes surround the Camshaft Plug in the back of the engine. Now, this block is absolutely bare and ready for the hot tank.

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