Whoa, sounds like you were having a bad day Mr. DemonSVT!

Since I have no desire to start a flame war, nor make enemies of people I do not know, allow me to clear up some misunderstandings and presumptions made in error.


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You are broke,but want to do an engine swap. Bad start.



No, I am not broke, far from it. However, like many people during the holiday season, I must budget my funds. The "have to's" and "need to's" must come before the "wan't to's." Marriage, mortgage and family come before my gearhead projects, hence doing an engine swap instead of a full on rebuild . (DemonSVT,I see by your profile you list "family",(albeit as one of your "hobbies"?), perhaps you can understand my priorities. By any chance did you do any research and look at my profile?) Swap or rebuild, either process is entirely within my capabilities. I started working on cars at 12 years of age and at 43 have rebuilt more engines, transmissions, differentials etc, etc than I care to remember.

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You are broke but want a stroker crank (I.E. several thousand dollars alone to have ONE billet crank custom ground) You are broke but want all forged internals.
You are broke but want to machine the engine to accept different bearings ...



One does not need to go to a custom forged/billet crank to obtain either stoker capability or enlarged chamfers for greater crankshaft fillet clearance. As far as the stock crank is concerned, plasma spray metalizing can be used to build up the bearing surfaces before re machining to non stock dimensions. Shot peening, cryogenic processes and other forms of stress relieving can help create a Cast crankshaft with horsepower capabilities far in excess of what a Duratec could make . Offset journal grinding can be used to alter the stroke also by reducing crankshaft journal diameter. (As I'm sure you must be aware, all of these except cryo freezing are common practices in good, well equipped hi performance machine shops.)Contrary to conventional wisdom, smaller journal diameter can actually improve bearing longevity. All else being equal, the smaller bearing journals will last longer because of lower FPM (feet per minute)rating. A critical factor in bearing wear is the FPM rating; smaller bearings at the same rotational speed have lower FPM ratings and longer life. If your wondering about my bearing knowledge, I worked in the bearing/power transmission industry for many years and have received factory technical training from such respected bearing manufacturers as SKF, Timken, Torrington-Fafnir, Federal Mogul and Dana Corporation. (The same Dana that owns Clevite.) I have worked with horsepower, torque and gear ratios as both a vocation and an avocation for many years. By doing a little research ,I see by your profile you list "automotive" as your occupation. You could be anything from an engineer for one of the "Big Three" to a cashier at the local Pep Boys, but since I don't know, I will not make assumptions about your technical qualifications. Perchance did you even check to see what I do for a living?

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even though there are Clevite's available for it already. On top of that it is only the OEM rod bearings that are suspect and that's an easy fix all by itself.




The Clevite's for the Duratec are not a hi performance bearing, they are a "P suffix" stock , OEM replacement. At present, they are the only one offered. (This can be confirmed by calling Dana/Clevite @ 734-975-4777, ask for Carry in the tech dept.) Since they are a STOCK OEM replacement, they would have no better capabilities than the stock bearings. Unless of course the stock Ford bearings have a defect in materials or manufacturing, then that would be another matter entirely.

My concept was to machine the crank to accept something like the Clevite "H" Series hi performance bearings by having the crank machined with oversize fillets to accommodate them. From the Clevite web site:

"H-Series:
These bearings are identified by a letter "H" in the part number suffix. Part numbering is based on the same core number as the standard passenger car parts for the same application. These bearings were developed primarily for use in NASCAR type racing but are suitable for all types of competition engines.
H-series bearings have a medium level of eccentricity, high crush and rod bearings have a hardened steel back and thin overlay. These bearings also have enlarged chamfers for greater crankshaft fillet clearance and are made without flash plating for better seating. Bearings with .001" extra clearance are available for standard size shafts and carry the suffix "HX" (X = extra clearance). Rod bearings are available with or without dowel holes (HD = with, H = without), main bearings are available with standard 180 degree upper half grooving and with full 360 degrees grooving (H = 180 degrees, HG = 360 degrees). where engines run in the medium to high RPM range . H-Series bearings should be used if contact patterns obtained with P-series parts are too narrow. Contact pattern should ideally cover 2/3 to 3/4 of the bearing surface."

"where engines run in the medium to high RPM range" Hmm, that sounds like an enthusiasticly driven Duratec to me!Unfortunately, Clevite is not presently making an "H" series for the Duratec but may in time. However there are plenty of other bearing sources and studying the spec sheets can often turn up just what you need from another application.

For more info : Click here: How To Select Clevite 77® High Performance Engine Bearings, Motorhead Heaven

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You still don't have any clue as to what specs you want to build the engine too (turbo, S/C, N/A, etc) but think you should start anyway.




Read the entire thread. You'll note that I am swapping engines so I can get the car back on the road. This will allow me the time to thoroughly consider my options as to how I will rebuild the original engine, and do so as time and finances allow me to at my leisure .(Of course that will have to be AFTER I rebuild the 283 from my father in law's 67 Malibu!I only have one engine stand!) A couple of nice commission checks from my job as an industrial equipment sales rep will allow me considerable options on how I wish to proceed. These are the funds I use to work on my "pipe dreams", not the money I budget for day to day living expenses and bills.

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You are basically pipe dreaming out loud here



One should be careful what one labels a "pipe dream". Orville and Wilber where pipe dreamers, as was the idea of going to the moon. Many former pipe dreams are now common place. When Porsche was first starting to campaign racecars, they where basically told they where pipe dreaming. Rear engines and swing arm rear suspensions where unsuitable for racecars because of center of gravity shifts and changing suspension geometry made the cars unstable. They where told that "All the money in the world won't make a race horse out of a pig" The reply attributed to Ferdinand Porsche was: "No, but I can make a very fast pig!" Porsche's racing record now speaks for itself. Many so called automotive "experts" where embarrassed at the track by the likes of pipe dreamers Smokey Yunick and Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins, two pipe dreamers who bucked conventional wisdom and did it their way. If you are not familiar with them, do a little research. They make for fascinating and humorous reading. Consider that before the bell housing changes in 99, A 3L tour was a pipe dream! Wan't a good pipe dream? How about a 3L ALL WHEEL DRIVE Contique done by swapping the drivetrain fram a Jaguar X Type. Pipe dream, sure. Wanna' bet someone won't do it one day?

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and doing it without much if any understanding of what you want to build or will have to build to meet your demands. Then on top of that the little bits of information you may have gained already seem to be flawed or more likely just hits of worst case scenario spouted as 100% fact.



I think I have proven that I have a far greater understanding of what is required to meet whatever goals I set than you originally suspected! Plain fact is I know far more on the engineering and operation of internal combustion engines and automotive systems than you would imagine. Had you taken the time to research any of my previous posts instead of extrapolating too much from this one, you may have realized it. While you're at it search the old mailing list archives. You'll find technical posts of mine from well before you became a CEG member, "hardcore" or not. Since the search engine is down, I'll grant that perhaps you where not able to check, so here is a link to one on the subject of the operation of catalytic converters. Perhaps you'll see that my technical knowledge as well as my ability to do research and learn is far greater than you surmised. (The thread also proves that I am only human and can get a little testy myself sometimes, so hopefully no offense given and no offense taken here! ) web page

As far as little bits of flawed information and worst case scenarios go, Can you point out any?

Fact: Porting and polishing is a well known power adding process.

Fact: Modifying stock components to cost effectively accept design changes is a process thatâ??s been around since the birth of hot rodding.

Fact: The Duratec engines have weak rod bearings. This can be verified empiricaly by checking the number of posts of how many members have had failures. Additionally, research the TSB's/Recall notices. You'll see that one of the first ones is for rod bearing failures .

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My advice to you is to do A LOT of saving, A LOT of studying, A LOT of learning, and not do it out loud in this particular way.




I WILL agree with you on the "savings" part, it's always a good idea, however on the rest you are obviously way off. I ALLWAYS research, I am ALLWAYS willing to learn! As for "not out loud in this particular way" , this forum is Duratec Maintenance , which is the subject I started this thread on! Had I wished to get into an entire technical discourse , I would have posted to Duratec Performance !

My advice to you is to heed your own advice as well as never assume.
As the old saying goes, when you ASSUME You make an A$S of both U and ME !

For myself, my time here on the CEG is to learn what I DON'T DON'T know, help others with what I DO know and to hopefully not jump down anothers throat.

Now lets shake hands and be friends!!!

BTW: I checked out your site. Sweet SVT you got there!

Last edited by Stevedrivr; 01/05/04 11:27 PM.
Former, now returned CEG'er! 95SE MTX, (AKA "The Road Rat"). Stock except for:TH fix, B.A.T. big brake kit, tranny cocktail and lots of re-insulated wiring! May yet be a 3.0! "Speed doesn't kill, stupidity does!"