Got my 302 running, and I have worked out most of the issues. I'm still having trouble with these two:

1) The power steering groans when I turn the wheel. The pump I used came with the engine, and is not from a Mustang. Is there a chance it is overpowering the system or something? The wheel turns fine, but the noise it makes sounds like a loud prop-plane flying over you, and it is loud enough to be heard over the open headers.

2) After the engine warms up, and I rev it a little, something squeaks. It is a really high pitched noise, and only happens for a short time. I'm really hoping this doesn't mean I have lubrication issues, because the engine was rebuilt and has less than 5,000 miles on it. Any ideas what could cause that?

Thanks everyone!

 

The Ford/Thompson pump was pretty much the same regardless of what car it was installed in.

The squeak is probably a belt.

 

The Ford/Thompson pump pushed a ton of fluid. They are notorious for heating up fluid because of this and often do not last long. They also make noise because of this. Mine would wine and moan and then cut out after 50 or 60 miles when the fuild got hot. I started to put in a PS cooler, but just pulled it all out. When I switched over to the Borgeson integrated power steering box, I changed to a KRC pump that I could regulate how much fluid was pumping. It runs nice at about a 1/3 to 1/2 of the fluid movement the Ford/Thompson did.

 

I second the belt on the engine noise. My fastback did the same thing when reving until I tightened it up.

 

So is the power steering noise something I should be worried about? If I can avoid it, I would rather not buy a new one. I'll just deal with the noise until I can afford to replace it.

I'll tighten the belts and hopefully that will solve the squeaking.

Thanks!

 

The pumps are cheap at least up here in mn you can get a rebuilt pump for 65 dollars with a core exchange. Might just be a bad pump happens alot the one in my 65 lasted 20 years before going bad. Then the next one off a used engine lasted a year due to a leak.