Need some old school 302 advice

duh09 · Apr 2, 2012

So as some of you may remember, but I'm guessing most won't, I bought a motor for my 67 a couple years ago off craigslist for $900. It was a freshly rebuilt '69 302 from a Torino that had been freshened up along with having a few parts slapped on it and they were building it for their fox body. Well it's been sitting for awhile because it's not quite finished and I haven't been motivated to do anything with it but I finally took the time to tear it down and find out what cam was in it along with just taking a look at everything. The heads that are on it are '69 C09E heads that have been reworked for guideplates and Comp Cam Gold 1.6 roller rockers. The cam is a Crane Cams 278 H10, the specs are here: http://www.jegs.com/i/Crane+Cams/271/130092/10002/-1 . The intake is a Edelbrock Performer and the carb it came with is a Holley 650 double pump. The block had been bored .030 over but still has the original crank and pistons.

My plan was to simply lube everything back up, check that everything it torqued down correctly, and put it back together now that I know for sure what the cam is but I'm still up in the air on what else I should do. I have the same intake on my 67 right now (except with a Edlebrock carb, not sure on size) that seems to be in better shape as the other intake/carb seems to be a bit older so I'm not sure which I should go with. I still have to get a distributor to go in this motor and a new waterpump but other than that, I think I will be reusing most of what's on the motor currently in the car.

So I need help figuring out what carb to go with and also if there is anything else I need to do while the motor is somewhat tore apart. I'm really just wanting to mask it off and repaint it while it's apart but is there anything else I need to be concerned with while putting this motor back together? This is my first tear-down, put back together deal, but I'm not really doing anything major to it. Also, anyone want to make any guesses on how much power I could expect out it? I really don't mind how quick she is, so long as it'll make for a decent combo. I'll have some pics up in a little bit of everything torn down.

ProKiller · Apr 2, 2012

how can you have the stock pistons but bored .030 over? or did you mean crank and rods?

other than just making sure everything torques and the oil pump primes, check your P2V clearance with the cam just to be sure. nothing that complicated with these motors. as far as carb, i can't help you there.

duh09 · Apr 2, 2012

ProKiller said:
how can you have the stock pistons but bored .030 over? or did you mean crank and rods?

other than just making sure everything torques and the oil pump primes, check your P2V clearance with the cam just to be sure. nothing that complicated with these motors. as far as carb, i can't help you there.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know a lot about building motors so bare with me haha. That's what I was told when I bought the motor. I know I have receipts for the headwork but I cannot be sure that I have receipts for the motor being bored any. However, the pistons are def not new. I took some pictures of the piston walls, maybe you guys could tell if it looks as if it's been worked over any or not.

How would I check the P2V clearance? I'm guessing that would be piston to valve. Like I said, super n00b to this, figured I'd throw myself in the deep end first haha. I'm not completely retarded with this stuff, it's just something I've never actually put my hands on.

Steven · Apr 2, 2012

Lose the edelbrock carb. If you are serious about actually getting out of your own way that is. Put playdough down on top of the piston. Old hg in between the head and block. Bolt the head down. Just put two rockers on for that particular cylinder. Then make sure the plug is out. Rotate the motor 360 degrees so that it will get a full idea as to your full valvetrain cycle. Make sure the lifter is pumped up. You can do that by sticking it in a bucket of oil and pushing down on the hydraulic portion.

duh09 · Apr 2, 2012

Steven said:
Lose the edelbrock carb. If you are serious about actually getting out of your own way that is. Put playdough down on top of the piston. Old hg in between the head and block. Bolt the head down. Just put two rockers on for that particular cylinder. Then make sure the plug is out. Rotate the motor 360 degrees so that it will get a full idea as to your full valvetrain cycle. Make sure the lifter is pumped up. You can do that by sticking it in a bucket of oil and pushing down on the hydraulic portion.

The Edelbrock is just what's on the motor that's currently in the car. I have a Holley 650 double pump that came with this particular motor but I'm carb stupid haha. I'll have to try the playdough thing and see what I get. What exactly will I be looking for after I do that? Pics are uploading now so I'll have them up momentarily.

duh09 · Apr 2, 2012

Here is the motor as it sat after I got home with it:

Here's some right after I got the heads off.

Also, what would be a good way to clean out the cylinders before I bolt all of this back together? I share a shop with my dad who does a lot of woodworking so I'm sure some dust got into them just from while I was pulling it apart but I plan to be putting all of this back together at a buddy's shop.

forcefedhatch · Apr 2, 2012

I use wd40 on cylinders hand crank. Then use break in oil for 500 miles but thats just me..

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CC'S95GT · Apr 2, 2012

It does look like the cylinder walls have been at least cleaned up.
Only way to tell if they've been bored is to measure with a caliper or mic.

Raffaelli · Apr 2, 2012

Use compressed air and just blow the bores out. Itll be fine. You have some run of the mill rebuilder .030 pistons in it. Had the same ones in one of my old 302 motors.

Claying the pistons wont be necessary. But its really simple to do if you must. What Steven said, Just remember to oil it up so it doesn't stick to the chamber.

A Holley 5-600 cfm, vacuum secondary with a choke would be best. Edelbrocs are ok, and IMO your 650 is too big. I run a 500 CFM 2bbl holley on my toyota and LOVE how simple it is. Big for a 2.4L, but are stout on a 5.0

Rough guess. every bit of 250 at the crank.

modo · Apr 2, 2012

there is absolutely nothing wrong with a edelbock carburator especially if you just want to get into the car and go without having to constantly mess with the carb as the metering rod setup of a edelbrock is a lot easier to dial in vs the idle circuit, main circuit, power valve of a holley across the rpm range. if its a automatic its best to use a vacuum secondary carb and if its a stick mechanical work well.

use a shop vac to suck out the cylinders and wipe some motor oil on the cylinders, seal it back up and put tape over any ports if its going to sit.

duh09 · Apr 2, 2012

I need to find out how big my Edelbrock is. I actually kind of would prefer to use that carb and intake for the simple fact that they're both in much better shape than the one that came with motor, at least in apperance but I don't want to be too restrictive either by leaving too small of a carb on it. Either way, I'd like to have a local carb shop do the fine tuning with that as I honestly have no clue how to tune a carb nor the patience to do it and I'd much rather drop it off while I'm work and let them do it since they're only a couple doors down from us.

Edit: Also, thanks for all the help guys. I kinda just sorta tore into it and I was pretty pleased with how it all went down tearing it apart. Most of the bolts on it are actually new too so that helped a ton and looks a lot better than the few spots with mismatched old hardware. But that'll be changed too! Pretty exciting to be building-ish my first motor.