My original 300 was dying on me, and I can across a good deal on a rebuilt 300.

Here's what happened in a nutshell (for you guys and gals that like progress pics):



Low and uneven compression, missing and terrible gas mileage. *yoink*



New engine the day it showed up.





Mounted and ready for all the little stuff and painting





First shot of Old Ford Blue







Many coats of Hi-Temp clear






Swapping the valve cover






Valve cover refinished and installed, pulley painted, new fuel pump cleared and new feed line made (excuse for a new tool)



Freeze plugs polished and cleared...

 

Engine back in the bay... Radiator painted, new hoses, new fan, new water pump, new solenoid and regulator, half a million things painted included the jack storage bracket that was annoying the hell out of me being all rusty ...





Most of it done. I still have to upload the rest of the pictures, but you get the idea. I took it upon myself to replace the tank sending unit while I was waiting for something else over Memorial Day weekend. Turned out that what I thought was a leaky filler tube was actually the gas tank leaking through three pin holes. I already had new straps and hoses ready to go, and I got the new tank in a hurry from Advanced on Sunday afternoon (which impressed me). $250 bucks later, I was ready to rock. Fired it up the next day. Simply awesome. The Fel-Pro intake/exhaust gasket I used sucks. It leaks pretty badly, torqued and even re-torqued after heating. I've ordered Mr. Gasket #260 to correct this problem; that's what came with the headers (I'm assuming for this very reason), and it worked flawlessly.

 

The new engine has been bored .030 (304.6 cid) and 9:1 hyper pistons installed. It now has a comp 268H cam, a valve train set up that I'm not familiar with, and a gasket port-matched head (done by the machinist). It runs really really good, and sounds like a WWII fighter in the 3-4K RPM range.

Brings me to the long winded meat of the story. I want to supercharge it. Yep, instead of turbocharging it. Supercharging because I like the lower cost, simplicity of the engine bay, the lack of lag, and that good old Eaton whine.

My buddy has a stock Eaton M112 off of a '03-04 Mustang Cobra he said he'd sell me for a very reasonable price. I've contacted a few companies, and found the petroleum resistant seals I need to run this thing in a draw-through carb arrangement. I'm looking to make a decent amount of power out of it, hopefully enough to run with a stock 2nd gen Lightning.

Anybody else supercharge there 300, and if so, any advice? How did it turn out?

 

I really like it! I have about the same set up, but with a couple of variations. I shaved the deck and head to bump the compression, with an 8.5:1 piston. And with the head I went with the sbc oversize valves, p&p, but with a smaller Isky cam, 256. I'm wondering if you re-curved your distributor?

It looks really good, and makes me want to hurry and get mine fired up. I also like the Holley 390. I went with an autolite 4100, which should be coming back from Pony carbs soon.

Thanks for the tip on the exhaust manifold/header gasket. I also like your p/s bracket. Mine is from a '78, and looks like a dam wing hanging off the side of the engine! I wish I'd known of that p/s bracket model.

I have had problems for many years with Ford exhaust bolts loosening up, so with this rebuild, I'm going with studs and crimp nuts to hopefully solve the problem.

Regarding the supercharger: go on utube and search Ford 300. They had a video of a bad *** engine on there. Good luck.

What type of plugs are you running, with what Gap?
thanks.

 

Nope, no ignition work done on it yet, it's all stock; even the coil, which I just repainted cause it was in perfect condition. I still have the stock head off the old engine I want to have majorly reworked by a pro (not really comfortable with doing my own P&P yet).

I went with a Holley 470 Truck Avenger, instead of the more typical Holley 390.

My reference to the alternator bracket was really just a joke. It is a '79 cast bracket, same wing that you have, but I ran into major clearance problems with the header. I "sawzalled" off the smog-pump part of the bracket a little above the alternator mounting point, at about the perfect curve. I left some of the material on and smoothed it out to look like a stock casting line, and used carbide bits to round off the rest. There whole idea I had in mind is to make everything look like it could have been ordered from Ford with a special HiPo 300 package or something. I'm still looking for a stock snorkel 302 air cleaner to put on it so I can put my custom sticker on it:



The plugs are just your standard Autolite 45's gapped to .044"

This weekend I'm swapping the manifold gasket, so I'll be able to tell what it really runs like...

 

Whoa! That sticker is priceless. Where did you get it? That is not OE. You have to tell me where you got it, excellent!

 

I thought I'd show you a few pix of mine before the drop-in.

Mine is going in a '75, so smog is not an issue: exempt.

File #1: http://www.fotodump.net/images/1237988834.jpg

File #2: http://www.fotodump.net/images/1238057939.jpg

File #3: http://www.fotodump.net/images/1238057419.jpg>>

 

Photoshop. It's actually two 1970 Ford Mustang 302 4V stickers. Cut the one "0" out of the one, and apply over the other decal's "2" and bam. I have the two decals ready to go; I just need an air cleaner assembly. If you know of a nice 14 inch for sale, let me know.

I restored one last year for it:




But my stupid-self forgot to measure the distance between the carb center and the heater box (my first inline six ). It was an 18 inch unit off of a late 70's 351, I needed a 14 inch off of an early 70's 302.

 

sorry to hear it. Your restoration looks great. Too bad it didn't work.

 

Hey FiftyFordFloored, that's a beautiful job on the engine. Is the truck an 80 or an 81? I only know because you have the F-O-R-D letters across the hood. I particularly like it because it's the same color as my Bronco and is pretty close to the goals I have of my engine when all is said and done. Nice work! That black/red fan catches my eye in particular.

On another note, if you find someplace that will make that custom sticker for you, let me know. I have a 300 H.O. sticker I custom designed myself waiting for when I find someone to make it.

 

very nice

 

It's a 1980...



I loved the fan too. I was going to order the standard blue or black, then I found they made one that matched the color of the truck and I just had to have it. Took a lot longer to get, but I think it was worth the wait. As for that sticker, I'm dead serious. It's a stock (repro) 1970-71 Ford Mustang 302 aircleaner decal that I'm going to cut the one up and put the "0" over the others "2".

Side by side:




As for the decal you designed, you can probably have a print shop (online or local) make one for you.

 

Beautiful truck you have there. Kinda fun to see what the front end of mine would have looked like when it was new.

Cool idea on the sticker, I thought when you said you photo-shopped it, you were looking for a place to take your picture and convert it into a sticker. Makes sense the way you're doing it though.

 

I am so jealous. I want your truck, I want your motor. Man I love these old trucks and I love a stout I6. My kinda ****, baby!

 

**** is when I put the M112 blower on it...