chevy57

Guys,

I am rebuilding my first 390 ford motor and have a few questions. I had the block bored .030 and the crank turned .010 and .010. I ordered a complete engine kit from my local speed shop.

I plasigaged the mains and they seem a little tight .0015. The crank spins in the block nicely no sticking and about 10 ft lbs to get it moving. Is .0015 to close for comfort?

My original cam has a spacer cast on behind the timing gear. The replacement cam did not have this and is about 3/8 in shorter than the original. I returned it with the timing chain set to the speed shop. The guy at the shop thinks they looked it up for a 63 390. Is this true? What else is different between the 61 and 63? I assume the cam, timing chain and gears, anything else? Lifters? Thanks.

chevy57

kdtrucker

As I recall Ford used a spacer in their older applications, you can install a cam to fit and use the spacer, but I believe you can use a later year cam and not have to use the spacer. The spacer is now formed on the newer cam gear.
I don't know off hand the measurment for the cap bearings but I do know there is not much clearance there. I like to use STP honey oil to coat the bearings for instalation. If you can torque it to specs and it turns....your doing good!!

caladan

Hi, chevy57. I know we both have asked these questions in another thread before. I'll just post the link here so that people who are visiting this thread will get an idea of what both you and me are wondering about regarding the 1961.

1961 FE390 - Cam Thrust Plate

I can't find any pictures of the cam thrust button anywhere on the Internet. If anyone have a picture of it, please post it. Thanks.