Budget Engine Rebuild - Nothing Like Your First Time

While we didn't degree the cam, we felt it was important to check our combustion chamber clearances-primarily piston-to-valve. First, the number-one piston was set to TDC and a strip of clay was applied across the valve reliefs. The passenger cylinder head was temporarily installed with a used head gasket while the number-one cylinder's lifters were swapped out for solid lifters (you don't want the lifter to compress during the checking phase). Finally, a set of pushrods and rockers was installed and adjusted.

After rotating the engine by hand (if you feel any solid resistance do not force the engine!), we removed the cylinder head to inspect and measure the clay. To get a nice, clean valve impression, be sure to coat the clay and head/valve surface with silicone spray or something like WD-40.

You can measure the clay's depth with the end of the calipers or you can carefully cut away a section of the clay and measure it with the calipers. As you can see by the digital readout on our Powerhouse POW256400 caliper ($49.95), we had 0.185-inch of clearance-more than enough.

Knowing our cam wasn't going to mangle any part of the valvetrain or a piston, it was time to button up the engine. Here, Kyle used Permatex No. 2 non-hardening sealer to set the timing-cover gasket into place.

With the timing cover secured, the new Summit OE-style damper (PN SUM-163302, $73.95) was set on the crank snout and seated with a few gentle raps of a hammer and a block of wood. Kyle then torqued the original damper bolt to spec using a prybar and a pair of bolts threaded into the pulley mounting points to prevent rotation. You may notice the oil pump, oil-pump shaft, and pickup are in place here as well. We installed a front-sump pickup, speculating this engine will see classic Mustang duty.

We slid the new Fel-Pro Loc Wire head gaskets (PN FPP-1006, $63.95 each) over the ARP head studs that were originally on the block when the ported heads were installed. The Loc Wire features a raised fire ring that requires a receiver groove to be machined into the heads for optimum sealing. MLS gaskets are a good option these days, but we didn't want to machine the grooves off of the heads, creating even more compression and less clearance. Ensure the word "FRONT" on the gasket faces the front of the block or you'll have cooling issues.

With both heads in place, Kyle installed the retaining nuts and set them to their proper torque values in three steps with a click-style torque wrench.

While we haven't decided on carb versus EFI, or even what platform the engine might sit in some day (meaning we'll have to deal with headers, oil pan, engine mounts and so on at a later time), we did want to seal off the combustion chambers to prevent dirt or rust from accumulating. After a squirt of oil, we threaded in a fresh set of E3 plugs (PN E3.42, $5.99 each) in anticipation of firing the 306 up in the near future.

Our completed 306 long-block is ready for whatever project we'll throw at it. The original '90 TFI distributor is set in place for now (ready for use if we go EFI) and after this photo, a set of FRPP valve covers were loosely placed on the cylinder heads and the whole assembly was wrapped in plastic for short-term storage. Now to find something to put it in!