today I went to the local junk yards and picked up a 302 with automatic overdrive trans. This truck had no hood or air cleaner so there is water in the top of the motor ,but no water in the oil. We were told the motor was running six months ago and didn't smoke. Where do I start I will have to pull the head off anyway because I blew a wd-40 straw into one of the cylinders threw the spark plug hole today. This is my first motor experience so what do I need to look for??? thanks for any help William
new toy First pull the oil pan off and inspect the rod/main bearings and put a new oil pump and better oil drive shaft in it. Check the cylinder walls for scuffing and timing chain for slop. After checking the bottom end, pull all the plugs and spray WD-40 in the cylinders, hten you can "CAREFULLY" try and rotate the engine. The cylinders may have rust in them already. If it rotates find then you can get the straw out with some Needlenose plairs without pulling the head. Pull the valve covers and look at the valve seals, and look for oil caked up. "Bad sign" if there. If you want to check the valves condition, bring each cylinder to the point on the distributer to fire it. Then put a air fitting in the spark hole and put about 50# air to it and check for an air leak at the exh & int side. Then do that to each cyl. You'll usually hear just a little air leaking, it's just a rush that you listen for.
Junkyard Motor There is an old saying "Pay me now or pay me later" unless you can hear the motor run or it has low miles and is complete from top to bottom, the best thing to do with one's like you have got is to go ahead and rebuild it. To go through all the work of pulling the pan and heads etc. the gaskets will cost as much seperately as some complete rebuild sets. Then the time and money spent to install that engine will be for nothing if the thing needs rings, bearings and valve job etc. Sure I have done it that way many times and always ended up taking it back out in a short period of time to rebuild it(burning oil, leaking oil, missing and generally running like crap). The statements of the seller about not smoking may be correct but knocking and burned valves are another thing. Of course there are exceptions to the norm and you may have a decent engine, but in my opinion it is a gamble. Sitting up for some time drys up seals and such and rust is always present unless the engine was fogged before storing. It is your call and I thought I would tell you my experiance doing it that way, Many 100.00 engines ended up costing 20 times that and untold labor hours to fix at some time after installing. How many times have I gone to the Discount store and bought a cheap wrench or tool and then had to buy another and another after they all failed, if I had spent a few more dollars the first time on a good name brand one I would actually saved money in the long run and also a lot of time and frustration. Same principal on your situation, it took me many years to figure out how bad I was screwing up. Just trying to save you the same mistakes I made.
rickyracer, if you plan on using it for a while start with a plan. what do you plan on using it for. i mean if you are going to pep it up a little plan what parts you want to use first, rather than buying the stock parts and then paying again for a performance part. ( i speak from experience and a lighter wallet) either way i would at least freshen it up with new rings, bearings etc. some of the best books i have found to be a great help are hp books- how to rebuild your small block ford & also ford windsor small block performance. also ford performance by pat ganahl. these and others have saved the day for me many times. you might find them at the library, or at a bookstore. i've even seen some of them on ebay. good luck.
work of advice if i may. spend the cash now. Way to many people come in to the shop who try to get out the cheap way and like the old guy said it will always just cost you more now. dont pull the heads and rebuild them without doing the bottom end. a new bottom end will stand up to an old top end but a new top end will make short work of an old bottom end. if you do decide to rebuild it then pay extra attention to the heads. and 86 302 head off a mustang will flow very well with only very minor mods. or you could got with an earlier head with the heart shaped combustion chamber, it will give you a higher compression ration but takes a lot of work to get good air flow. although they flow better dont go with an early style head. you would need to put in hardened seats or the unleaded gas of today will burn the seats out and thats cash that could be better spent else where. as for the bottom end if its a budget street machine, as long as the pistons and cylinder walls are ok, leave em alone. i would put in arp rod bolts (a good cheap investment), new rings and bearings and call it a day. oh yeah... if your looking for a 4 barrel carb i have a 600 edlebrock, with two month of use since rebuild. it was set up for my 289 and ran wonderfully (gone with a biggen motor now so its no use to me) also have a cheap 650 holley, working condition. email me if your interested or if any questions pop up patrick_isnt@hotmail.ocm
