Elain

Hey gents, I haven't posted in a while.  I, uh, have something that qualifies as a project!  

I want to follow this post up soon, have to upload the photos, but last winter I decided that the 302 in Elain was just too tired and started collecting parts.  It's a good thing I did because it was a miracle it was still running (after seeing the state of the internals).

In the winter I acquired some E7 heads for almost nothing and hand-ported them (very lightly, mostly removed sharp edges and the smog bumps), back-faced the valves, checked the valve guides, and put new valve seals in it.  I also acquired and touched up casting defects on an Edelbrock SP2P intake manifold (good for torque and MPG's, bad for HP - this is a truck after all).  

In March I pulled the motor, completely stripped it, and sent it to the machine shop.  In the meantime I prepped and painted all of the parts I planned to reuse (valve covers, oil pan, brackets, etc).  I put the motor back together in June/July and got her running about a week ago - it's PERFECT - great torque from idle all the way through highway speed RPM (my truck has no Tach, yet).  I can't stop driving it.  I'm also continuously tempted to play with the distributor curve, but trying to convince myself to leave well enough alone.  

There's a lot of neat stuff to show.  The block had incredible amounts of wear, the ring ridges were so huge we had to go .060" over just to clean up the cylinders.  The timing chain was the worst I've ever seen because the stock composite gear was completely knackered.  The oil pressure sensor mounting location was cracked (!) because someone tightened the sensor in wayyyy to tight.  The crank needed turning, as you might expect.  

Aside from the sense of accomplishment of building my own engine (and apparently doing it right), I also learned so much about how these things actually work, it was great fun.  I hope to follow up with pictures soon.  

I guess I'll have to change my signature - not almost completely stock anymore!

John - Good job!  Isn't it a wonderful feeling when it fires up?  And then when it runs so well it is a marvel.

Post some pics!

Good job on the engine build, congratulations!

I just rebuilt mine as well, although it was the 3rd motor I have rebuilt, so I kind of knew the way, although it had been a long while. It's a good feeling!

there is truly a sense of accomplishment when you get it right. it does not matter whether it's your first or your fiftieth. good job!