First off, This is my first project truck and the first time I have done anything more than a tuneup.
I finally got around to putting all the parts that I have been saving for the past 4 months, on my engine. Yesterday we tore down my whole engine (1979 302ci) I got a set of 1968 302 heads, that were ported, and polished- took them to the machine shop, and had them dialed in. Got a new double roller timing chain, new lifters, pushrods, roller rockers, new cam, gaskets, ARP head bolts- I mean all the goodies.
We went and looked at my cylinder walls, and they are smooth as butter, and I noticed flat pistons.The timing chain that was on my engine was so loose, it was about to fall off the gear, and the teeth were made of PLASTIC?! Everything went really smooth, no usual hangups- broken bolts, wrong parts etc. Today We got it all together, and tomorrow we are going to fire her up for the first time.
My question is, how do I break in this type of rebuild, and Does anyone know if the 68 heads will give me better compression than the 79 heads I had on will? Also will the performance upgrade put too much strain on my bottom end? The engine appears to have less than 50k on it according to my buddy who is an expert at doing this sorta thing.

Thanks guys!

 

Those plastic teeth on the stock cam gear are actually a nylon composite and, yeah, they still s**k. Assuming you've torqued everything to specs and have used plenty of lube on the lifters and rockers, prime the engine by spinning the oil pump (an old distributor with the gear removed works great for this). Replace the distributor and fire up the motor and take it to 2700-3000 rpm for 20 to 30 mins to break in the cam. Watch for any leaks, especially fuel and oil. If all is well, shut the motor down, replace the oil and filter and retorque the head, exhaust and intake bolts. Fire it up again and check ignition timing. You should be good to go. Drive it under various loads and rpms for the first 500 miles; no WOT yet. At 500 miles, replace the oil and filter again (cut the filter open and look for obvious metal shavings); do a torque check on the bolts again. After that, enjoy.

 

Well, I started her up, and she sounds BEAUTIFUL! No leaks, no bad stuff. I let her run at 2500-3000 rpms until she got up to 195 degrees (15-20 min) I am going to do the same tomorrow and then the day after that, I will change the oil and set the timing. This is my first rebuild, and I wanna break her in nice and slow. I am really glad I got to tear her down to the block to see how my engine works and looks. I really learned alot this week, and Im sure there will be plenty more engines on the horizon. I did really well this time being my first, and I have the bug- BAD!


I LOVE MY ENGINE!

Thanks for replying, I appreciate it. Its 2:45 am, and I think Im gonna go out to the garage and just look at her.