The True Junkyard Ford 302

just curious, where your going to get fuel if theres an EMP strike,
as all the gas stations will not have power to pump fuel,
if they even had fuel in the tanks and you can bet they won,t get re-supplied regularly anyway
 
just curious, where your going to get fuel if theres an EMP strike,
as all the gas stations will not have power to pump fuel,
if they even had fuel in the tanks and you can bet they won,t get re-supplied regularly anyway

My dad use to own an AMOCO gas station and we had a long power failure (2 weeks) . Power not out at the distribution center so trucks could still haul fuel.
We rigged a bicycle with a v-belt (corn harvester) and bare rim on the rear to the pump and I peddled gas to our customers and was I tired at the end of a long day of peddling.

Don't know if these new style pumps can do that.
 
We rigged a bicycle with a v-belt (corn harvester) and bare rim on the rear to the pump and I peddled gas to our customers and was I tired at the end of a long day of peddling.
I thought it was against the law to pedal your ass ! :D
 
just curious, where your going to get fuel if theres an EMP strike,
as all the gas stations will not have power to pump fuel,
if they even had fuel in the tanks and you can bet they won,t get re-supplied regularly anyway

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I know installing a motor is not an exotic process, but the old came out about 3 weeks ago, and I finally got a chance to put in my "junkyard Special." Got a late afternoon start, so it is in; transmission bolted up, TC, and motor mounts. Headers are also in place. It is close. Also picked up breather caps for the "powered by ford" aluminum valve covers, and a GM 4 pin ignition module to fire the duraspark distributor without resistance wire or ballast resistor. Motivation is high for the final phases, but Thou shall not rush it.
 

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After a 6 hour stint of finishing engine installation, first start up was in order. It would not run without help from the gas pedal, sounded horrible and backfired into the exhaust. I left it alone, and when I had more time a few days later, I re-adjusted the valves thinking I had them too tight (Hydraulic roller lifters with pedestal rockers). I spun the oil pump for each setting and adjusted all the intakes, then all the exhaust. Nothing seemed excessively wrong, but I did add many .010 shims and a few .020, put on the valve covers and tried again with the same result......backfiring into exhaust, horrible sounding. I rechecked the timing, retarded it a little, and yanked my vacuum advance hose off since it was hooked to manifold vacuum, and was the only thing I could think of at that moment. It fired right up and ran smooth! I hooked up my timing light to find it was at 35* and later figured out that my vac pot was adjusted for max advance, so with it hooked to manifold vacuum Im guessing it was at about 70* BTDC? Anyway, it is semi dialed in for now and I need to fiddle with my mechanical advance, and figure out what kind of curve to give it. The junkyard motor runs good......it has much more power at every point in the rpm band over my old motor especially off idle and at lower RPMs. I still need to tune it a bit, but the vacuum gauge has a steady 17 in., there is no blow by, it doesnt smoke, and the compression is good enough to not fret over although it is not as even as I would like (130-160). I have a mini starter on it and readings with it compared to the old ford style starter are about 30 points lower. So here is the final rundown of parts for anyone who is interested:

1987 roller short block ..........Pick&Pull, 40% off, ......... $167.00
GT40 heads from early 97 Mountaineer P&P................. $100.00
drop in spring kit, valve stem seals , Alex parts... $150.00
Heads milled .040................................................ $90.00
Misc. parts from Summit: Pedestal shims, rod bearings,
head gaskets, engine finishing kit, timing chain, $180.00
Gaskets, water pump, core distributor, FB marketplace $40.00
American cast Edelbrock RPM manifold, FB marketplace $125.00
Timing cover.........................P&P........................... $18.00
Misc. bolts, washers, paint........Ace hardware................. $25.00
Distributor, Summit, Duraspark with steel gear & vac pot $72.00
camshaft, 1995 mustang GT spec, P&P............................ $30.00

Parts that were re-used: lifters, headbolts (non TTY), pushrods,
AOD 164T 50 oz flexplate, harmonic balancer 50 oz.

Parts used from old motor: Holley 600 vac secondary carb, mechanical
fuel pump, all pulleys and brackets

Oil, filter, coolant, thread sealer, gaskacinch, ..................... $50.00

Total......................................................................................$1,051.00

It was fun. This motor should last as long as I will need it to, and since it fit into my budget it got done sooner instead of never. The exhaust fumes from my old motor made my clothes and hair stink, so am glad those days are done. Now I can dial in my chassis a little more and think about paint!
 
thank you for the update on your progress, and having done many similar engine start-ups,
I know how easy it is to overlook something simple.
Id have thought that use of a timing light earlier in the start-up process would have pointed out the timing issue,
but I'm glad you located the problem and solved it!
look at it this way, youll darn sure remember to check the timing next time far earlier in the next engine installation,
its all part of "paying your dues" or gaining experience.
intermittent issues are the hardest ones to solve,
like defective HEI modules, or old electric fuel pumps,
that start up just fine when the engines cool,
but randomly quit working once its been running for 10 minutes,
then start working after you have spent 15 minutes cussing,
giving the component, time to cool off,
then quit or fail again, five minutes later.
 
Congratulations on getting your motor started and running properly !!!

It's one hell-of-a-good feeling when you do!
 
The motor discussed in this thread finally made a trip to the dragstrip. The car has a column shift c4 and a 3.25 open rear end, and the driver is a dragstrip newb. best of 8 passes posted below. Not earth shaking, but decent for something made out of junk.
 

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Since i built this engine, I have experimented with porting iron cylinder heads and built a shop-vac powered "floating pressure drop" flow bench. I probably have over 100 hours of grinding and testing. Then I picked up a very, very used valve refacing machine and a Sioux seat grinding set up. So I am playing with that stuff as well. I have nothing to measure air speeds, but have watched several clips of people using a string to locate the fastest moving areas of air within the port, and need to experiment with how these areas change location at different lifts. My goal is to turn out the best 50 dollar set of E7TE heads that I can....in non Ford speak they are stock mustang heads from 87-95. They flow horribly stock, but have small ports and I think I can create something with good torque. Others have done it, so I know it can be done. I may have more than 100 hours in it all...it was something to do when covid was messing up everything else. This engine may be my test mule when I get something done well enough to motivate me to do a head swap.
 
That's impressive that you are taking the time to learn a very complicated subject. What kind of pressure drop have you been able to create with your shop vac?

Keep us posted with your ups and downs !
 
minor bowl clean-up under the valve and port matching and removing casting flaws,
can make a significant improvement with minimal effort or changes to the basic port config.


 
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