www.the351cforum.com

No way to know what lash should be if you don’t know what the cam is. You can’t know if they’re .010” loose because solid roller lash depends on the lobes and I’ve had cams everywhere from .010 to .028”.

I don’t think you know the most important things about the engine, right? Cam, head work, compression?

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Brent Lykins, Lykins Motorsports
www.lykinsmotorsports.com
brent@lykinsmotorsports.com

Yeah, compression of 11-12:1 is what I was told by the guy who knows the engine, but that’s it.
If I got a boriscope to check things out further, will look at the pistons, and if I pull the carb, will I be able to see if the heads are ported?

A one point compression swing is a big difference, IF what he told you was correct.

I know you're trying to figure out as much as you can without going in the engine, but the nuts and bolts of it is that you won't be able to determine much at all without doing so.

A borescope may give you a part number of the piston, but it won't tell you how far down in the hole it is (or out), or the size of the combustion chamber volume.

In the same sense, looking down the intake won't tell you if the heads are ported, or to what extent. Some guy may have got in there with a sand roll and it may "look" ported, but he could have actually hurt the flow or not changed it at all.

That engine needs to be torn down and checked out if you're not pleased with it.

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Brent Lykins, Lykins Motorsports
www.lykinsmotorsports.com
brent@lykinsmotorsports.com

FWIW - I've only bought a few "somebody put together" motors and most - unfortunately - were a pig in a poke. Hope yours is not. But the first thing I do is tear it all down. An example was the 351W that came with the 70 Mustang we bought in the way back. It was gone through by a local shop, updated with an Ed cam, intake and carb. Way down on power - car ran like 10.50s in the 1/8. Guy sold it because it was so slow, even after throwing money at it. I pulled the motor once we got it to the house. #4 and #8 pistons came out dropping pieces of the second rings on the floor and every hole was .050 or better down the bore. Note - it never smoked or gave any indication it was hurt - it was just a weak sister. Kept the block, rods and crank, sold the DOOE heads. Put the 302 in the Mustang, no other changes, and it ran 8.40s. So yea - I'd be taking a wrench to the thing. Measure and document all. At worst, it'll cost gaskets.

Oh, and under the nice carpet the floors were swiss cheese - so it was a total package LOL.

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Chris - Merkel, TX
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod
"Owner built, owner abused."

Good advice and duly noted.
For now, I’ll just enjoy it for what it is til I leave and attack the engine in July.