As I completely rebuilt my 302 from top to bottom waayyy back in the late summer, it has been sitting patiently in my shop for the very first startup.Reading many,many times the horror stories of initial cam failures!, pushrods bent,rocker arms flying into oblivion, on and on. The warnings of the lack of phosphorus and zinc protection in motor oils worried me the most it seems.Building an occasional engine many times in the past, a guy didn't have to think about lack of oil performance. So... I left the entire nose off for room to work and get at stuff. Headers on (from Summit),New carb from a thread here about a month ago( Summit,$260 free ship,free hat. Sold Edelbrock that was going on 302 for $125),all wiring stripped back repaired/taped checked out. Spent a few hours last 2 Saturdays ago getting ready to start . Final thing is put the completely rebuilt,painted,detailed, by me, original starter. O.K! Starter would not fit with the headers!!! Rt. headers off,starter in,headers won't go back on! Bagged it. Yes,that was me you heard swearing that day! Ordered a ministarter off ebay from DBElectrical,$48, free shipping. It arrived by Thursday from Tennessee. Last Saturday threw the starter on,hooked up all wiring ,alrighty!! Here we go!!. The starter barely groaned the motor over! After thinking,checking, EVERYTHING POSSIBLE,.... it's gotta' be the new starter. CalledDBElectrical Monday morning with a wonderful response from "Andy". Good people good service. New starter on its way no charge of course. Less than 3% failure rate they claim (sounds pretty darn good I would say!) I got the 3% starter. U.P.S. dropped off the new starter yesterday at 11:00 ,5 minutes later installed,1/2 hr later I was squirting 5 or 6 squirts of gas in the carb . Here we go... finally. I reached in the cab ,turned the key and that damn motor turned over TWICE and started and ran!!!!!! It stalled in about 5 or 6 seconds as it used up the squirted gas. I gave it a few more squirts 2 more times,each time it starting virtually instantly upon the 3rd time ,sat there and ran like Swiss watch.I hurridely checked oil pressure (65lbs),brought the motor up to 2000 RPMs,looked real hard for leaks(none),listened REAL HARD (just a wonderful whirring) and checked the clock. I let it whirr away for 25 minutes at 2000 RPms with 3 different times gradually brought it up to 3000 for 1/2 a minute or so. I have NOT touched or turned the distributor yet!! I was on cloud nine! Onwards and upwards from here. Life is good. Oh,2 buddies over later after work to visit, Bud Light celebration, many times I go turn the key and listen to the 302 Bulova watch whirr away and the headers & dual exhaust rumble. I had a bit of a headache this morn. Gary

 

Don't ya luv it when a plan comes together. Thumbs up on the start-up.

 

Thanks Hickory ! There is so much effort that goes into an engine rebuild that it truly is satisfying to get a good end result. This motor has been sitting for 6 months waiting for this and that to be worked on or bought when the money is available. The waiting time to initially start the motor made the slight worrying about this and that a bit more trying. Squirting some 30W in each cylinder a week ago and occasionally rolling it over with a ratchet & socket made me feel better about dry cylinders after sitting. Checking timing a few times & very carefully setting it just about 12 BTDC apparently is to the motors liking for a 1st start as it started &ran without changing yet.Adding Lucas break-in oil to the Castrol GTX 10W-40 hopefully was a boost to the zinc cam & bearing concern.The new carb bought & swapped ,and the used Edelbrock sold as I really didn't want to grind away for hours on carb snags with unstarted engine (worried about cam/bearing lubing again).I guess my whole thought would be,like you said, that yes it is GREAT when a plan comes together!! I ordered a Holley 10" air cleaner yesterday, You know you are getting close when the last thing you need on a new motor is just order an air cleaner! Gary