Originally posted by R Pope
By "not as hard" I mean that they wear faster than, say, a SBC. Ford had the right alloy in the FE series, those things could be re-ringed several times before needing a rebore, but every 289-302-351 I've torn down needed a rebore.
O.K.,I will be the first to admit I don't build a lot of the SBF engines but here is something that has happend to me on the 5.0 roller blocks.Dis-assemble the block use you inside bore gouge to check your taper top to bottom.Write down your numbers.Now go bolt and (torque) on your water pump.Run your inside bore gauge again.I have tried this on maybe 3-4 SBF over the past year and I was able to pull the front two cylinders more out of round on each block.When I do build a SBF I always bore it with the water pump on.Was it just the blocks I had or was it others also?A few where at.030 over already and had to go to .040 to clean -up .Try the test yourself.Since then I have only used the pre-roller blocks.