408 Ford Stroker Engine Build Up

408 stroker shortblock assembly tools and tips
Saturday, March 17, 2007

Hey everyone, so tonight I finished up with the 408 stroker kit in my block. I took a bunch of pictures for you guys to see also. Let me touch on a few things first. Now this is just the way I do things and some of the tools I use when building my engines. I dont build alot of engines but enough to know what works for me. I use a product from permatex called Ultra Slick, I use it on the main and rod bearings, its like molasses and is great when I am assembling the engine and constantly rotating the crank into position. Here's a picture of it, you can get it at Advance Auto Parts and I am sure many other places.

I also use it to lube the wrist pins on the pistons as shown here. This stuff is great, it has amazing adhesion properties and resists gravity very nicely. Seeing as my 408 stroker wont be ready to run for about 3-4 weeks.

Now before I cant go slamming pistons in the holes, I had to file fit my piston rings accordingly. In the past I have used pre-fit piston rings seeing as I didn't have a ring filer and was not that confident in filing ring gaps. Well as time went on, I felt the need especially on this motor to file my own ring gaps. Jim at FordStrokers gave me the option of either pre-fit rings or file fit rings, same cost, so I chose the file fit. We both agreed it was the best option even if it takes 2-3 hours to file the rings. To me I didn't care about the time needed, I wanted the best option for this motor. So file fit it was.

On my last motor I used file fit rings, so I was forced to buy a ring filer. I got mine from summit and I think it cost like 39.00 bucks. Here is a picture of it.

A few things I learned real fast when filing piston rings. Always rotate the filer towards you and not away from your body. And I dont know if this is right or wrong but I only file one side of the ring end. I believe I read several times to only file one end of the ring, and that has worked for me perfectly everytime.

I have alot more pics I will post of the actual building of the shortblock. I will post these tommorow as it's getting pretty late and I am tired from slaving over this engine all night. Not like that's a bad thing :) Till next time.