351W engine rebuild advice

[Nick]

Hi,

I have come to the point were I need to fit my pistons to my 351W block and need some advice please.

As I understand it the pistons are numbered 1-4 on the right hand (offside in the UK) with number 1 at the water pump end, and 5-8 on the left hand side with 5 at the water pump end.

The book I have says the pistons are notched and to put the notch facing forwards, but I have new pistons fitted which are unmarked so how do I determine which way round they should go.

The conrods are numbered 1-8 so do I make sure all the numbers are on the inside ( middle of the block) for both banks.

Thanks

Nick

[Martin]

Hi Nick,
see the attachment. I found it by Ford 302 HO 351W-Windsor 5.8 400 V8 Engine Specs-Torque Specs-Cylinder Numbering-Firing Order-Distributor Rotation

Best regards
Martin

[Gordon Levy]

The easier way to make sure they are installed correctly is to look at the crank end of the rad. The sides of the opening has a small chamfer on one side and a large chamfer on the other. 1-2-3-4 have the large chamfer facing forward and 5-6-7-8 have the large chamfer facing back when installing.

[Nick]

Martin,

Thanks for the info it will be very useful. Gordon is "facing forward" towards the water pump end of the engine.

Thanks

Nick

[Jac Mac]

I think Gordon would have meant 'Crank end of the Rod' to look for the chamfer which clears the radius at each side of the crank pin.

The attached drawing shows the correct positions of the valve notches which should help along with gordons info to ensure that you have both piston & rod fitted correctly.

In some very rare cases pistons can also be specific to left or right bank if the maker still incorporates pin offset, but this info is usually clearly marked or provided with the pistons.

Jac Mac

[Nick]

Hi all,

Thanks for all your help. everything seems to have fallen in place now, I thought I had it worked out but wanted to double check. Now arranging the pistons with the chamfer as described ans as per Jac Mac's diagram I have all the numbers on the conrods facing inwards which is what I was after.

Funnily enough the F's stamped on the side of my new pistons all face forwards towards the distributer end now as well!!!

Regards

Nick