Let me introduce myself first, My name is Justin. I live in Minnesota, so I only have access to our tinker toys for about 6 months. We own a 64' Falcon, and a 62' Corvette, and we love them. The Falcon was purchased from a gentlemen in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and made the voyage back home. We drove it for about a year, and finally we decided that we had enough of the blue smoke, and no power. We decided to pull the 260, ford-o-matic, and put in a 302 C4 combo, I mean how different could they be? HA! Boy was i wrong, however I rebuilt a friends 79' 302, stock heads, nothing special, from a granada. I had the engine and heads, tanked, checked, block bored .030 over, A new crank, cam, lifters, bearings, rings, valves, and seals.
We put the rebuilt engine in, and the moment of truth, we cranked... Nothing..., No oil psi, but we had fuel and spark. I was 180* off, restabbed the dizzy, and noticed the oil pump driveshaft was not placed in the pump. Fixed it, and it started... Although it sounded rough, it didn't like to idle very much, as well as pulling away from lights. The vehicle was drievn about 50 miles, and just ALL OF A SUDDEN started to severally misfire. Upon entering the freeway, it just died, so i just pulled right back off. Once i got off the freeway i let off, and it died. Since then, we have replaced...
the crane xr-i module with duraspark, plugs, wires, intake manifold, carb gaskets, and no vacuum leaks.
I purchased a vacuum gauge, and hooked it up, it is swipping from about 7-10inches of vacuum, to 0. Upon acceleration, it stays at 5-7 inches.

TODAY
The Falcon starts with some hesitation, but WILL NOT stay idling less than 1000 rpm, if idle screw is faster than 1k, it stays running, but roughly. As soon as the car is shifted, and the tranny shifts, the engine dies. I did the cylinder drop test, and 1,2 and 3 have little to no effect. So, I pulled all the plugs, Cylinders 1,2 and 3 have 0 compression 4,5,6,7 and 8 all have > 60 psi. I read others post of 150psi, I'm guessing my timing is a little off or the rings havent seated fully yet. ON the topic of 1,2 and 3, I am thinking 4 things.
1st, Stock rocker arms are too tight, push rod is keeping valves open
2nd, Wiped cam lobes, I thoroughly coated the cam, and soaked the lifters, but i hear it's still possible.
3rd, Blown head gasket
4th, Cracked pistons

If anyone can help, I'd love it. I've spnt alot time on this car and it's disappointing to not enojy my success, but i'm getting sick of explaining to people that it's hard to build a car by yourself! That's why I'm hear asking, begging for help!

 

Did you install the rings on the pistons in the proper order with the compression ring being at the top?

How much clearance do you have between your rocker arms and the pushrods?

Are you using solid lifters or hydraulic lifters?

 

Thanks for the quick reply... I did install the rings correctly, the all are spaced as should be, as no two gaps are in the same area. Well supposedily there is no adjustment for valve clearance, So i torqued the nuts to 25 ft-lbs, the spec. The kit came with Hydraulic lifters.

 

Did you ensure that the top compression ring(s) were installed with the correct side up? The compression rings have a slight bevel cut to them and if they are installed up-side down then any compression that is present in the cylinder will blow right past them and into the crankcase.

 

You know, i'd love to answer 100%, but i built the engine about 2 years ago. I remember doing all the pistons, and if i remember correctly, they were hastings rings, and they had a dot on the top side of the rings.. I got antsy and pulled the intake manifold off, and i noticed that cyl #2's intake pushrod was bent! As well as #3 exhaust pushrod. So i did a little thinking, and i decided to pull #1,2 and 3 exhaust pushrods, and i actually got compression on #1 about 60psi, but nothing in 2 or 3.
What should i do? Pull the head? Check the head gasket? Check valves? Remove the piston? make sure the rings are the right way? Holy smokes.... this is a pita!

 

I just had a problem with my engine losing compression. I have adjustable rollers though and the idiot lashed them too tight. You know the guy... the one I PAID to do them correctly since he has over 20 yrs experience. Needless to say I went back in and had to back them out.

 

is the bent pushrod from no PTV clearance? valves not seating?

 

You know, those are good questions. I still have all my valvetrain, no broken pieces. I will pull the head today to answer them. I'm hoping now bent valve...

 

4 Bent Pushrods

Cylinder head

Left bank

Couple of nicks in the piston from the valve

Cylinders 1 & 2,

Cylinders 3 & 4

Bent #2 Intake Valve

Again...

 

Ok, today..
Head gasket gave up, and let coolant into #2.

A Few metal shavings...

And, the moment of truth..

Folded oil ring





Top ring

Bottom ring


Doesn't the top ring look shiney on the bottom of the ring?

Something wrong with this cross hatching?