hightower2011

Well I think for now I'm gonna wait on stroking it until I've had the car running for a while. Any thoughts on anything I should put in it right away? I'm looking for a moderate increase in performance over stock, nothing excessive though. And I should say I don't know a lot about engines, so any help here would be great!

I'm picking it up friday or saturday.

jcoby

how moderate of an increase? you can pick up a few hp by removing the thermactor bumps, smoothing out the intake and exhaust ports, and port matching gaskets. after that it starts to cost money. you can pick up some GT-40 heads that are good for 30-40hp or use 351w heads for about the same gain. if it still has the original efi cam and you're going to run a carb, a different cam will help some.

eZ

Im surprised people are still bringing this up. When 347s were first made this -was- a problem due to a poor piston design. Jim at fordstrokers.com builds like 50 347s for every 331. And the 331 is for the guy that cant get over this myth. This problem was fixed a LONG time ago but people still hang on to it? There is no reason to build a 331 over a 347. If you are gonna pay for a rebuild any just stroke it. Then tell everyone its a 289..LOL

jcoby

ahh, ok, I stand corrected.

the latest car i bought came with parts to build a 331 out of the 289 (everything but the cam and lifters) and the issue about oil control is what I read (pretty much everywhere) when I was looking into what goes into building a 331 or 347. you do get a bit worse rod:stroke ratio with the 347 and you can't rev it as high as a 331. for most people the 347 is probably the better option

in all honesty the pistons for my 331 have the oil control groove split by the wrist pin and kept in place by a roll pin on the land (KB333).

hightower2011

Well like I said, for now any work I'm gonna do on the 302 is bolt on cause I don't want to spend too much money on it just yet.
But I'm officially picking the 302 up Saturday for $300. Good deal I think.

Anyways, here's a concerning thing I found today.

All this crap:


Came out of my shock tower:



It was filled to the edge with that dirt/gunk and I had previously thought it was just a thin layer of dirt and rust! Ends up it was 1 inch deep!!!

So I found these holes in my shock towers:



They're in the corners and aren't very big but they're very concerning. Since the shock tower takes a lot of stress, I was wondering what to do?
I know I can't leave this untreated, but what should I do? Fabricate a metal piece and cut out parts and weld the fabbed piece in. (that probably won't be easy for me to do)
Should I get a whole new shock tower?

Please give any advice you have on this subject, I'm clueless.


And I'm ALMOST done with the firewall/under dash.


I got the heater box, vents, wiper assembly, and other parts out and all I have left is the pedals and the cowl vent parts.

jcoby

i'm pretty sure the holes are supposed to be there. if you look closely you'll see they're made where the sheet metal wraps around that pocket and came that way from the factory. i had the same reaction after cleaning out my shock towers.

hightower2011

Are you sure? The driver side seems to only have one hole, unless the other one's still filled with crap.
I hope you're right though!

jcoby

yep. the towers on my '67 look just like yours on both sides. it's clearly made that way–probably for drainage.

hightower2011

Ah, that seems more likely.

Well, I'm leaving to get the 302 now, I'll be back in a couple hours, with some pics!

AGShelby

They are supposed to be there. Not sure of location for a 67/68 - but they are in the middle of the opening on a 65/66. Each time I have rebuilt suspension I have cleaned out a similar amount of junk from my cars. I have found that the original holes that are there to drain water were all either completely or almost completely closed up by body seam sealer from the factory. It wasn't a big issue as my cars have all been southern cars - but I would think it would be a disaster in a car that was driven on salt. It would create a perfect little pool to retain salt water in an area that would be slow to dry out.