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I'm in the midst of my first ever engine build, and after lurking on this forum for a long time, I want to give back by documenting what goes into a basic 302 build up. Having no prior experience of any sort regarding engine building, this thread is to walk a first timer, like myself through the process in hopes of swaying someone like me who is hesitant about taking on such a complex project. I want to show this community that with careful planning and all of your support, great results can be achieved the first go-around.
The starting point:
I purchased an 89' F150 Lariat XLT 4x4 302 M50D, 164K, outstanding condition for an Ohio truck. The engine came rated from the factory with only 185 HP and although the old SD runs great, it's lacking any power worth mentioning. In the year I have owned the truck, the engine has been my reliable daily driver. Now I have always wanted to rebuild an engine, and I figured with the relative simplicity of these engines, and the vast availability of parts, its a good place to start. My gaol is to build a mild, street-performance engine with the road manners and reliability that a daily driver needs. Also, I haul very little and have yet to pull anything, so my original plans for a 351 swap were changed to save money, also did't want to have to upgrade the tranny right away.
The plan:
Obtain a 302 block, and have restored by professional machine shop to factory/my build specs, upgraded cam, long tube headers and full exhaust, and convert to MAF.
I came across a craigslist add where this guy had bought at "new-old stock" 302 crate engine from ford and installed in his 92 Mustang, but after 20-30K miles the oil pump or pump drive shaft broke, starved the engine, and fried the bearings. This was a perfect candidate as its low miles block, and as for the bearings, hell I want to rebuild it anyway. For the complete engine, harness, and ECU I paid $350. He also through in an explorer intake, 70MM throttle body, and 70MM MAF meter, so I decided to incorporate those upgrades into my build.
Teardown:
When I met the seller I inspected the block and internals for any major damage, cracks, sludge, checked the bores, and even a rod bearing. All appeared to seem OK, but i knew the block would need some machining to prepare for the rebuild.
92' OEM crate motor with 20-30K miles
No obvious signs of sludge
Factory hone still clearly visible, a great sign! No scratches in the bore or rut or pitting either
Those vertical lines are just reflection after I sprayed (and sprayed) the whole block and heads with WD-40.
One of the better looking bearings, to me verifies the low mileage
Factory forged pistons. Some buildup, but no scratches, the shop will verify if they are re-usable.
Before I sent out to the machinist, I had my buddy who's an industrial machinist come over with his tools for a preliminary inspection, because I dont want to be swindled as a first timer with unneeded machining. We checked the bores for wear and roundness, and they were only a couple thousands off as most, which may or may not need an overbore. We also took an industrial flat bar and checked the deck surfaces for flatness by going across, front to back, and at an angle across the block and heads. I was able to get my smallest of feeler gauges under the bar at a couple point.
Only the smallest of my feeler gauges would barely slip under the bar as a few points
So after some poking around with my buddy we check everything against the specs within my Haynes and it looks like the block is in good shape. As of now the machine shop has had it 2 weeks, and so far have magnafluxed for cracks, hot tanked it, installed new cam bearings, and verified the deck and bores are within tolerance, and that I should be OK with a good hone. He checked out the crank and after polish it will be good to go. He has yet to evaluate the pistons (this mustang motor comes stock with tougher forged pistons (compared to older cast ones) for re-use, and has not started on the head work.
Heads:
The E7 heads were in great condition like the block, and I planned on reusing them with perhaps new seals and having the shop look them over. I did some research and for the cam lift I'll be running (.510) I'll need a stiffer spring, which could mean machining the heads, new keepers, and new valves. I looked into it, and found a set of GT40 heads on CL for $200, which are supposed to flow 20% more air than the E7's, and I figure with all the other upgrades, the GT40's would tie everything together. I found a vendor who sells springs for my cam lift range that don't require machining, and he also sells the keepers, valves, and seals. Check out Alex's Parts. I did some research over the various forums, and no one has anything bad to say about him, so he my one stop head parts shop.
Any input or direction is greatly appreciated. I'm in no way an authority on this stuff, and I'm showing this build to gain you all's input and throw in my own questions throughout.
While the block and heads are at the machinist, I addressed the lifters. As this is the high-output motor that can be found in the mustang, it has full hydraulic roller lifters and cam. The advantage of the roller setup over the flat-tappet style (currently in my 89') are HP gains from reduced friction with the roller tip lifters, and greater longevity/less wear. Although I'm replacing the "F-series" mustang cam, I can reuse the original rollers if they're in good condition. Note that flat tappet lifters can only be re-used with the cam they were broken in on, and in the same bores as each cam lobe and lifter wears differently from each other. So here's how it went:
Roller lifters: Inspection and cleaning
No need to keep your lifter's in order, but it certainly wouldn't hurt if you did. I pulled mine and inspected the lifters for signs of wear, as well as the lifter bores within the block. No surprise that everything looked good. Next, check the roller bearing tip for wear and slop. The bearing surface looked smooth, and none had any sort of slop in them. Start with a small flathead screwdriver to remove the retainer while you push down on the plunger. Don't lose the retainers! See picture below. The top cylinder will slide right out, but to remove the lower plunger and spring, a shot of compressed air will make it fly right out, be careful!
Roller lifter part laid out.
I scrubbed the inside bore with a wire brush then blew out an residual oil with compressed air.
Wipe down and blow out all internals. I also hit the roller tip bearing with brake cleaner and blew it out; there is old oil in the bearings that you will want out of there! Double check the roller bearing action, the roller tip should spin freely, with zero slop. I reassembled then dropped them into a container of full synthetic until use. Now your rollers lifters are refreshed and good to go!
Fortunately when I bought the donor engine, they guy threw in the fuel rail and injectors. Injectors are the Bosch style OEM and flow 19#. There were a couple variants from different generations, from truck to mustang, ect, but if you have a fuel injected 302, chances are you have 19#'ers, which I've read are good for over 300HP. Here's how I cleaned and rebuilt, and bench tested mine....
Fuel injector refurbishing:
This picture charts is a handy reference...
Start by removing the plastic caps and O rings from top and bottom of injectors. There is a small filter insert at the top of the injector that needs removed, I used a screw to pull mine out, take care not to scratch up the injector inlet. I then poured in some Berryman's solvent and let them sit overnight to dissolve any varnish.
I used Berryman's, but Seafoam or other solvent can be used
While they soak is a good time to run to the parts store and pick up and injector pigtail to bench test, or use one off a spare harness. Now time to blow them out; this was a little tricky to do by hand, so there's room for improvement. I dialed down my compressor to about 40 PSI closer to fuel pressure at the rail as to not damage the injector internals, the rubber tip works wonders for this application. With the Berryman's in the injector inlet, press the rubber nozzle to the injector, and apply the air. Nothing should happen as the injector is closed. While pressure is applied, touch the pig tail wires to a 9V battery and give it several pulses. You should hear a crisp click when you apply the voltage and a glorious mist of solvent should shoot out the injector. I pulse the injector a few dozen times till its dry, then repeat. Now I didn't test for flow rate but all injectors had the same, consistent mist pattern when opened.
Note the rubber nozzle on the air. Pigtail can be picked up at any local parts store, I used a 9V battery as its enough to open the injector without risking too much power from say a car battery...you cannot go wrong with the 9v!
Now that the injector are stripped and blown clean, I ordered a rebuild kit from Mr. Injector. They sell complete kits for all applications, filters included.
Now I haven't rebuilt them just yet, but word is the plastic caps should be heated with warm water to expand them a bit and just a dab of oil to get them on without breaking. It should be at tight fit but these caps are brittle so proceed with caution.
I have done a few sets of injectors with that exact kit and had no problem getting the caps on.. just be careful not to bend the pintle sticking out the bottom of the injector
to tell you the truth first thing I was worried about was you deciding to go with a non-speed density friendly cam but once I saw that you were looking into one I knew you have done your research.
Are you staying the single pintle injector or upgrading to the 4 hole injectors?
I did the 4 hole injector on our 92 F150 I6 and I love them. I should have done it on my 88 truthfully.
Trav
That's a pretty good write up you've done, Glaser. A tip for cleaning injectors that I found is once the screen is out, the spray tube attached to an aerosol can of carb cleaner fits in tightly when jammed into the injector, and seals quite well.
So on my injectors I stuck the carb cleaner can with its straw inside, held the nozzle down and tickled the injector with the nine volt battery.
It's a bit tricky to do all this with only one set of hands but it is a very satisfying cleaning procedure. The carb cleaner under pressure really cleans the units out and you can observe the spray pattern quite well. I put the end of the injectors into a small jar to catch the spray.
The spray on all my injectors, after cleaning, was excellent. I would like to have one of the four hole injectors on hand to see its spray pattern for comparison.
Like you, I have also dismantled and cleaned lifters, both flat and roller. This was on a high mileage engine that had developed lifter ticking however, so the lifters were very dirty and gummed up. I used varsol and very fine emery paper to clean the inside and outside surfaces.
The biggest problem I found was getting the units apart. I bent up a length of coat hanger wire and ground the tip small enough to engage the little oil hole of the inner plunger of the lifter to pull it out.
Cleaning the lifters works well, and I prefer reusing good original parts over buying new parts that are probably made offshore and likely to lower standards than original.
That's a pretty good write up you've done, Glaser. A tip for cleaning injectors that I found is once the screen is out, the spray tube attached to an aerosol can of carb cleaner fits in tightly when jammed into the injector, and seals quite well.
So on my injectors I stuck the carb cleaner can with its straw inside, held the nozzle down and tickled the injector with the nine volt battery.
It's a bit tricky to do all this with only one set of hands but it is a very satisfying cleaning procedure. The carb cleaner under pressure really cleans the units out and you can observe the spray pattern quite well. I put the end of the injectors into a small jar to catch the spray.
The spray on all my injectors, after cleaning, was excellent. I would like to have one of the four hole injectors on hand to see its spray pattern for comparison.
Like you, I have also dismantled and cleaned lifters, both flat and roller. This was on a high mileage engine that had developed lifter ticking however, so the lifters were very dirty and gummed up. I used varsol and very fine emery paper to clean the inside and outside surfaces.
The biggest problem I found was getting the units apart. I bent up a length of coat hanger wire and ground the tip small enough to engage the little oil hole of the inner plunger of the lifter to pull it out.
Cleaning the lifters works well, and I prefer reusing good original parts over buying new parts that are probably made offshore and likely to lower standards than original.
You know, while you mention it I did do that with the carb cleaner, (thought it couldn't hurt right?) for that extra cleaning, and you're right: its satisfying to see the brake cleaner mist out under pressure knowing your injectors are clean as a whistle!
I may step up to the 24#s I have at a later stage in the build as they will definitely require a tune, which I dont want to shell out for. After I try out the 24's that I already would I consider the 4 pins. I'll let you know what happens...
So the block and rotating assembly is due back from the machinist today, and I'm fortunate enough to get away with a hot tank, and bore hone. Given that I kind of verified the dimmentions before hand and the overall great condition of the engine, this comes as no surprise, and I trust the machinist I've chosen.
So let talk ab out bearings:
Re-using stock forged heads, stock crank, and block only honed for moly rings.
I've seen both King and Clevite bearings are both recommended, and its hard to mess up ordering stock replacement parts, but my god there too many choices! What do you guys think about the man and rod bearing sets from Summit (summit is preferred as I can drive to the store and pick up)
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