So I just torqued the heads down and realized I have the left pistons on the right side of the block and the right pistons on the left side of the block. I did it a few hours ago last night. I was feeling so accomplished, because I had been waiting on parts and the machine shop to get the engine rebuilt and I started back on it yesterday and got this far (yes it's in my living room):



It is not fast or easy to put the pistons and connecting rods in and I don't want to have to take it all apart again. And I don't want to have to buy new head bolts or head gaskets.

Does anyone know if I can leave it?

Next, Does anyone know if I do switch them to the correct side, do I need new head bolts, new head gaskets, etc.? I'm a little frustrated right now because this is may be the second time I remove all the pistons and connecting rods because the first time was after I found out the cam bearings were unfinished when I tried to put the cam in...

To be clear, I installed the connecting rods with little domes facing forward and pistons arrows facing forward on the left side when viewed from the driver's seat, and right side when looking into the engine bay from the front of the vehicle. The connecting rods with little domes facing backward and piston arrows facing forward are on the right side when viewed from the driver's seat, and right side when viewed from the front of the car looking into the engine bay.

 

Next, Does anyone know if I do switch them to the correct side, do I need new head bolts, new head gaskets, etc. yes

 

Thanks drowssap, are you sure I have to get new head gaskets after only doing it 8 hours ago?

 

The fire ring on those head gaskets crush permanently when the heads are torqued down. If you reuse the HG's after an installation, reliability goes out the window, which would be an enormous waste of time and energy since the engine is already out of the truck.

 

this is one of those cases were using that studs would have saved you money

 

Ive ran into a dilemma where I had to pull the heads after install but didn't fire the motor up yet. The gaskets can be reused. If your running stretch bolts, toss em and get more. Better to get arp bolts or studs. The pistons should be fine where they are. There's no balancing issue or valve to piston interference issues. I would run it like that. If your really concerned then break it down and reassemble. I have seen many engines where the pistons were installed on the "wrong side". Its only an issue with pop up pistons and valve reliefs. The pistons in your block are uniform so no there will no interference.
Love the engine in the house. Your a true gear head!!

 

I would say you need new gaskets and bolts if you used stretch bolts or... since you know you will need new bolts it's not worth taking a chance on the gaskets at $50 for elring gaskets..considering the amount of work involved if the re-used ones did fail.

Are you absolutely sure you put the pistons in backwards?

I was thinking the same thing he said ^^ above on the pistons but you may want to do more research and get more feedback on that to be 100% sure before you make that decision. Not sure..about whether the connecting rods are turned the right direction. I'm in a hurry right now and can't think. I do think I remember you using 4.0 pistons on 4.6 rods so thinking you had the rods/pistons broke down?

Also not sure how many times you can torque and re-torque the rod bolts without problems?

Also where did you buy your cam bearings that were unfinished?

The machine shop that put in the bearings should have asked for the cam if they weren't sure if the bearings were ready.

 

If you pull the head take some play dough and place on the piston. Put head back on with a couple bolts and spin the motor so the valves open and close. Pull the head and measure the crush area of play dough where valve touched. .100 thousands is enough clearance to run motor safely

 

The head gasket has a crush ring but since the motor hasnt ran it didnt get hot to expand and make its final crush. The gaskets can be reused

 

Wrong, once the head gasket have been torqued they have crushed and are done. jmho