guess I'll try that 302 firing order. Won't hurt anything. Right?

 

I wish I had checked the casting #'s before assembly. I'll try to check the pushrod length and 302 firing order before taking the intake back off.

 

is this EFI or carb'ed

 

It's carb'ed

 

is the carb fresh.....off a runing engine? or has it been on the shelf for 5 years as well?

if it's been on the shelf try and borrow one.....

What size spark plug does it have.....5/8 or 13/16

 

No, it's fresh. Took it off the 302 I just pulled out of the truck. Ran fine until the crankshaft snapped in two.

 

cool that helps a lot.

what size plug ....?

 

Plug? Spark plug? Dont know. But the part number on the Autolite box that O'Reilly's gave me actually cross over to what my Hayes manual says goes in a 302. Will that matter?

 

Motorcraft AFS42C

 

If it had 13/16 spark plugs (wrench size) I think the heads would be the older ones D0OE C9OE 1969 and 1970 heads. They had bigger valves and the intake port was bigger. I was trying to find out why you have stud mount rockers as these early head were stud mount and as mentioned you should have pedistal mount.

 

5/8 wrench size on the plugs.
This is quite a confusing engine. To get the distributor that matched what came out of it I had to get them to go back to a '75. That shouldn't matter should it? It had a different cap style. So the distributor is for a '75 and the cam is supposed to be for a '79 351W. They didn't change the firing order at any time did they. I guess it wouldn't matter, cause the dist don't care what the firing order is.

 

only reason I mentioned the 302 firing order is because a lot of kits are cheap and they use what they have on the shelfs to fell an order. the 302 cam will work just fine in a carb'ed or batch'ed fired injection systems all you have to do is change the plug wiring at the cap to the 302 order.

I learned about the batch fire injection here on the forum.....

I had a 9? van I did an engine swap on and the motor came with a 302 cam. Ran ok but it would not idle right, turns out it had sequential fired infection. had to change the cam to a 351W order........

 

Seems like they went to the 5/8" plugs in the 78 heads, but I could be wrong. Distributor cap isn't an issue, you can install the EFI post (large) cap on the older distributors with the cap adapter. Also suggest going back and checking the plug gaps. I had a rough running 400 once that gave me fits, till I isolated the problem to one cylinder. Pulled that plug and sure 'nuf, the plug gap was closed. It somehow got bumped while the engine was in storage in my shop (heads were off the shortblock)

 

Wow, I tried loosening the rocker arms to see if that would make a difference. And it didn't.
Changed the fireing order to a 302 and WOW. Smoothed right up. I love it. Still have to put the valve covers on it and add more oil. Lost quite a bit checking the rocker arms and pushrods. Then she will be ready to go. Guess I need to check the timing as well.
Thanks everybody for the ideas and tips.
Hemi-eater you were dead on with the 302 cam. Thanks again.