Alright, I'm building a 66 289 to drop in my 67 Coupe. Anyway, how do the pistons face? Like, there is a notch in the form of an arrow on the top edge of the piston, should that point towards the front of the engine? But if that is so, the arrow will be on the opposite side of the motor(the far side of the piston from the front of the motor). Then, I've heard talk of the bevelled edge on the connecting rods, which those have to face the counterweight while the other side faces the other connecting rod. At this point I am so totally confused and p*ssed off because I got all my pistons in except one before I realized this predicament. PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!! And unless you are 100% sure of your answer, please don't say so, I have poured lots of money into this motor, and of course, Ford has to be so picky with their sh*t, and I don't wanna ruin this motor. ARGH I HATE FORD!
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Gasoline is for washing parts.
Alcohol is for drinking.
Nitro is for kickin ass!
1967 Mustang Coupe
R.I.P. Darrell Russell 1968-2004 The racing world has lost a great racer.
Who installed the pistons on the connecting rods? It sounds like half of them were installed wrong if the beveled edge isn't facing the right way when the pistons are installed with the notch facing the front of the engine.
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"If a man hasn't found something worth dying for, he isn't fit to live." - Martin Luther King Jr.
I'd suggest you take take all the pistons and rods back out, and look and see if the pistons are installed on the rods all the same. With all the pistons pointing forward, 4 should have the con rod's beveled edge on the right, and 4 should be on the left. It's best to take them out and make sure than to have the engine come apart on you 300 miles down the road. Trust me, it's way easier to take them out now than when they're twisted inside the block.
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"If a man hasn't found something worth dying for, he isn't fit to live." - Martin Luther King Jr.
Though I am a GM man(well, anything American, so Ford, GM, or Chrysler) I do know the order of the pistons.
Anyway, the rods are all on correct and I've got everything straightened out. The only problem now, which really REALLY p*sses me off, is that they gave me the wrong set of rod bearings!!! They gave me 2 sets of the bears that go on the rod cap. To put it simply, the bearings don't have the oil hole in them!!! I swear man, next time I build a motor, I'm definitely not going to these assholes.
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Gasoline is for washing parts.
Alcohol is for drinking.
Nitro is for kickin ass!
1967 Mustang Coupe
R.I.P. Darrell Russell 1968-2004 The racing world has lost a great racer.
Well, to my knowledge, mine might be Clevite 77's(not positive though), but they still need to have that hole in them, otherwise you don't get proper oiling to the rod.
__________________
Gasoline is for washing parts.
Alcohol is for drinking.
Nitro is for kickin ass!
1967 Mustang Coupe
R.I.P. Darrell Russell 1968-2004 The racing world has lost a great racer.
Does anyone have a picture of this beveled portion of the rod, i'd love to see how all this is looking, it will help me later on when im working on my new motor (its been a long time since i worked on a motor)
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66' Ford Mustang 289 restored 4 speed top loader. intake man. carb. cam. 9' pozi. disc brakes. new susp.
I'll take some pics of mine for you and post them back in this topic, just make sure you keep checkin back here. I'll do it here maybe tonight or tomorrow, but soon. I've noticed that some of my rods don't have a FULLY bevelled edge, so there are other ways to know. The little notches in your bearings and in the rod journals need to face TOWARDS the crankshaft. Also, there will be a number stamped on the rod close to where it meets the cap, and that number should face OUTWARD. So pretty much, the notches in the journal are opposite the number. And then there will be a notch on each piston on one side of it, that is suppose to face the front of the motor. I will get pics of all of these things for you. I figure it's best I help you because all of this info REALLY helped me, and I wish I would have known this before I completed my engine to short block form and then had to take all the pistons and rods back out. ARGH!!!
I'm not sure what engines this applies for besides the 289. But if it goes for the 289, then I would assume it would be the same for the 302 and 260 since they're the same motor essentially.
__________________
Gasoline is for washing parts.
Alcohol is for drinking.
Nitro is for kickin ass!
1967 Mustang Coupe
R.I.P. Darrell Russell 1968-2004 The racing world has lost a great racer.
The dot on the piston top is always supposed to face towards the front of the engine!
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66 Coupe - CandyApple Red, 2 barrel 289, C4.
66 Coupe - (father-daughter project). Tangier Orange, 302 with AOD, 17 inch Bullit wheels.
69 F-100 - 351c. Emerald Green Metallic paint. Still "in progress".
68 Barracuda - Rusted out project. 318 in the frame rails for now. Maybe a 360 in the future.
00 Mustang - (son's car) V6, 18 inch Saleen wheels.
Piston direction? 
