Rusty68Stang

So me and some buddies of mine have started the top end rebuild of my 68 289. When I got it I have no idea what was done to it before hand besides the the obvious Edelbrock Performer intake and 600cfm card. So far this is what we have done.
-Tested and veriefied compression was good before starting teardown
-have the heads removed, my buddy who works at a machine shop rebuilding heads says the heads appear to have much bigger springs and they also have shims installed that indicate whoever did work on it was going for higher spring pressure.
-One big thing to take note on is that on the pass. side head the number 1 cylinder rocker arms where much looser than all the others. My buddy said this could be caused by lifters sticking or incorret valve hieghts. If anyone else has other possible reasons for this please throw it this way.

-Today we are going to get a puller so we can remove the timing chain cover and continue onward.

I still havent decided for sure if I should get a new cam or not because Im not sure whats in it already. My buddy said just leave whatever cam is in it and use that money for new lifters. My next question is, If I get new lifters does it matter if I get just regular hydraulic lifter or high energy hydraulic lifters. I ask this because Im not sure of the cam in it now, I dont know if the lifters in it now are high energy or not??

Ill tell you one thing though this was one of the easist motors I have ever worked on. Below is a list of the parts I am replacing/putting on.

-new timing chain set
-new gasket set
-new highflow water pump
-thermostat
-Hose kit, electric blue
-Hedman shorty headers
-ignition coil, flame thrower II
-Distributor, plug and play pertronix with ignitor II module
-MSD street fire plug wire set
-Ford Racing Wire looms
-Flex-a-Lite fan
-Ford Racing Valve covers
-Gauge Kit, Analog, Auto gage Console, 2 1/16 in., Water Temperature, Voltmeter, Oil Pressure, Kit
-Tachometer, Super Tach II, 0-8,000 rpm, 3 3/8 in., Analog, Electrical, Each

-My buddy is going to redo the heads we pulled off which includes a head check, resurfacing, and valve job.

All parts such as the intake, water pump, heads, etc are going to be painted ford blue.

I am thinking about ordering the 600cfm, electric choke carb that summit racing sells for about 260$. It seems like a good price and plus it has the kickdown linkage unlike the edelbrock that I pulled off of it.

So in conclusion if anyone has any suggestions for the problems we have now that are listed above please help us out if you may have something to share or any suggestions. Thanks, Ill let everyone know how everything is going and we have plenty of pictures Ill oad at some time later.

hotrod351

you might think of having harden seats put in the heads. those heads were designed for unleaded gas. i had harden seats put in my 70. also if the lifters are good then id leave them alone or swap out the cam with lifters. double roller chain, fuel pump, water pump are all things while i had my engine apart.

capri man

do not put old lifters with a new cam or visa versa. unless it is a roller cam.

67t5ponycoupe

I'm confused why you are doing any of this if the compression was good on the cylinders. If you are going to all this trouble I would put a cam in it. All these plans may have to change once you see how big the ridge in the cylinders are. And if you are going to all this trouble why on pull the pan and look at some bearings?

1969boss302

The loose rockers could have been caused by the press in studs coming loose in the head, check the height of them compared to the others. This is especially likely if there is a high lift cam in there, which could be the case if you have beefed up springs. Also +1 for changing the cam and lifters as a set. All or nothing is the way to go, make sure the old ones go back in the bores they came from if you reuse them.

Rusty68Stang

Here is whay I am doing this even though the compression is good.


We pulled the cam out now a couple of hours ago and guess what..the lobs on the cam for cylinder number 1 are all F'ed up. one of them almost looked completely rounded off. The lifters for clylinders number one were gored around the edges and had groves in them on the flat side.

SO, some may call me picky, But I call this a good example of why I like to do things on my engines to make them reliable and correct if I dont know how they were treated before. Some may call it uncalled for, but tonight I guess its a good thing I didnt stop at just checking the compression and saying its all good. ALso, I did plan on putting a cam in I just forget got to add that to the list when I made the post.


But anyways, I got a new comp cam with lifters and springs on the way so all should be well.

P.S.
doing anything on this motor is not going to any trouble at all lol

67t5ponycoupe

If the cam has a flat lobe then that metal went into the pan and got sucked up through the oil pump. I would say it is time for a rebuild, at a minimum check your bearings. The bores the bad lifters came out of may be bad too.

stephen.osborne1

have the stud holes tapped and upgrade to screw in studs... will last a lot longer and won't back out. I'd say replace the cam bearings at a minimum too.
And ditch the flex-a-lite fan... those things are crap... you'll never move enough air in a mustang and will end up being plagued by overheating. use a fan clutch or electric fan.

Rusty68Stang

heads are done now as much as thy can be, waiting on the springs to get in and thats all thats left on them. Ordered a XE256H Comp Cam with lifters today also. Anyone have this cam? Since none of the parts I ordered are here yet there isnt much more to do now besides clean the block and paint some more parts. Ive already painted the intake and water pump and will finish off the rest of the stuff left I can tomorrow.

I did find out some good information though today. The castin number on the heads and the fact that the heads had bolts instead od studs told me that I have 302 heads. the casting number indicated off of a 85 model. I think the casting number was E5TEAB.

Also got the block casting number and found out the block is either from a fairlane or torino. The block number was C80E-6015A.

Another thing, are any of you running a high volume oil pump? I think someone may have put one on this mustang because the pressure stays around 80. I read that it should be around 35-70 pds.

Lastly. Since I am upgrading the ignition to the pertronix distributor with the module II kit and am getting the flame thrower II coil and I am using MSD street fires what would be a good gap to run now and where do you have your ignition coil mounted. Mine was just layin gon the intake when I got it. Thanks

stephen.osborne1

good question on the pertronix... I was wonderingt that myself... when I get home in a few days I was wanting to open the gaps a bit. I have the original pertronix, and didn't know how much we could open them. I was wondering how far I can open them to improve the burn. I am getting a pretty clean burn already and it's got plenty of power, but as always, more is better... I have the gaps set at stock gapping- I forget exactly what that is, but has anyone played around with the gapping? How far can I go? I'm only home for a few weeks so I don't want to constantly be pulling plugs and adjusting myself. Thanks.