Anyone have experience with rebuilding one of these? Nephew has the 410 engine out of his 58 Edsel Citation and is aware of the deck being at 10deg w the bore. This doesn't present a problem when using a ridge reamer as it registers in the bore; not the deck? He also said that there's an outward taper near the top of the bore. Was this to facilitate installing the piston/rings into the bore on the assembly line? Was a ring compressor used, or was that taper enough to compress the rings So, if a ring compressor were to be used when installing the piston/rings, would the ring compressor “bottom out” at that transition, and the piston/rings tapped down into the bore with an appropriate tool?
All I can say is that it is part of the MEL engine family http://www.ford-mel-engine.com/viewtopic.php?t=13 We had a 58 Merc colony park wagon with a 430 when I was growing up and that thing was a beast. By "taper" do you mean a chamfer at the top of the bores?
I think the 348-409 had a similar design (16* maybe). This thread might help (or might not). The other thought would be the Ford Barn or yblocksforever site. MEL and earlier ford guys on both of them. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/348-409-piston-ring-compressor.181452/
The MELs are a little tricky. To cut the ridge, like you said , you need a bore based reamer. As for putting the rings in , used the regular thin band squeezer , just turn the ratchet part to the lower side. It has been 59 years , since I built one! Bones
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