EyeMWing wrote:cdickman12 wrote:While most parts for the 4.6 are cheap, replacing the bolts when you rebuild it is a $350 affair.
Torque to yield Side bolts for the main caps are what, $16.50 a pop? When I picked up my rebuild parts from the parts counter, they were missing 9 of the 10 side bolts I'd ordered, so I only paid for what was on hand. As soon as I looked at the receipt, I told the guy to cancel the other 9 because FUCK THAT BUSINESS.
ARP has a set for like $50. Those have gone on my Lemons motor. OEM primary main cap bolts weren't bad as I recall. I didn't replace my rod cap bolts. Head bolts weren't awful (Rockauto'd those), and I did replace the janky TTY harmonic balancer pulley bolt with a bignasty one I got at Fastenal.
I also replaced the timing chain tensioner bolts with Fastenal bolts. This is because one of the OEM bolts sheared off when I went to do the obligatory timing tensioner replacement (because this motor was well into the process of grinding the tensioner and guide assemblies to dust). I didn't replace the chains. I didn't undo any of the bolts in the valvetrain and therefore did not replace them.
I did a teardown on a multi-race veteran 4.6 and everything was in pretty fantastic condition, aside from the water jacket crack in the top of the block (in the valley), presumably from freezing. This crack led to the motor overheating. Badly. And repeatedly. And often. But the innards of the motor didn't seem to have noticed.
The head bolts, rod bolts, main cap bolts, and side bolts from the factory are all TTY and should be replaced when you rebuild the engine. I read they can be reused up to five times from some other forums, but was unsure about how many times our motor had been torn apart or even if this was true. Because I had no history for the motor we had we chose to go the safe, reliable route.
The TTY main cap bolt set from Ford I got was $60, the side bolt kit from MMR non TTY was $75, the head change kit (Comes with head gaskets and intake gaskets) from Ford TTY $115, the connecting rod bolts from Ford TTY were $64 for all 16.
$314 for just bolts and the head gaskets, I bought the head change kit with the head gaskets and intake because it was cheaper than buying the head bolts separately from the gaskets. By this I mean you pretty much get a free set of head and intake gaskets vs. purchasing the head bolts and gaskets individually from Ford or Summit.
The non-TTY side bolts are easily purchased from multiple aftermarket companies cheaper than the Ford TTY bolts, Where you take it in the shorts is the head bolts, the ARP stud or bolt kit is really the only option for non-TTY head bolts, just the head studs from ARP start at around $300 a set. To purchase the above equivalent ARP hardware for the motor came in very close to $500, without head gaskets I may add. Which is why we bought the TTY Ford head, main cap, and connecting rod bolts. And for the side bolts MMR non TTY bolts to rebuild the motor.
I know you can get away with a cheaper method but personally I would not skimp on bolts if you are rebuilding one of these, they are awesome motors and will run pretty much forever. The rebuild looks daunting but is not too bad once you get into it.
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