Hello gents, This may not be a perfect forum for this topic, BUT I am certain that many members here will have a definitive answer to my question. My son has an old Fairlane. He is 19. He spun a rod bearing on the 302 from the car. The engine coming out is a '68 block, mated to a C4. A old mechanic friend of mine sold us a freshly machined long block for a song and dance. Super deal. It's a newer block. Has the following codes by the starter: 2F15 F1SE 8B. I'm no "Ford guy", per-se, so I'm not hip to all of the date code deciphering. Does this (F) mean that the block is from the 90's?? My mechanic buddy thought that he remembered it being an '82 block, from a fox body Mustang. From my quick searching, it seems that the "F" in the date code would make it a '92 block. Anyway, it has E7TE heads, ARP main and head studs, +0.030" forged pistons and a fairly mild Comp Cams camshaft. The engine came with a balancer. Its drilled on the back, suggesting that the rotating assembly was balanced, as I was told that it was. Came without a flexplate, though. Well, came with one, and the mechanic that I got it from (who took it in trade from another mechanic that he knows) used the flexplate elsewhere. So, with the date code being newer than '79, I bought a flexplate for a 50 oz. imbalance, instead of using the original flexplate from his old 302, that would have a 28oz. imbalance. The harmonic balancer also has much more girth to it than that from son's original '68 302. The new water pump that came on the fresh engine also had a smooth pulley for a serpentine belt, so we bought a new water pump, for the older engine, so its pumping water the correct way, being that we are sticking with the v-belt pulleys. Thus far, we are NEARLY ready to stab the new engine in place. I'm fairly confident that I've got the flexplate imbalance issue worked out. HOWEVER, I have two issues still.. First, on the drivers side of the '68 block, by the bottom most bellhousing bolt hole, there is a hole for a stud that protrudes out and provides a pivot point for the column shifter assembly. The new block doesn't have this hole. Any suggestions on a work around to keep the column shifter working? Perhaps a bracket that provides this pivot point in the same location, without this threaded hole in the block? The second issue that we are having is with crankshaft pulleys. Our original crank pulley (single groove) has three bolt holes, as does the '68 balancer. The new balancer on the new engine has four bolts, and the center indexing ring on the pulley does not jive with the new balancer. So, is there a vehicle application that I can get a four bolt hole pulley for a v-drive belt? I found one on Summit Racing's we site, but it's a $100 billet deal from March. We don't want that. Any suggestions on a four bolt hole v-belt pulley, preferably with two grooves, so we can one day add power steering? Thank you guys SO MUCH for any help or suggestions that you can provide. I'm outside of my scope of practice with these Ford small blocks. Oh, and sorry for typing so much!!! I added a couple of pictures. It's a little new for this site, but I know that there are a ton of super knowledgeable Ford guys here. Nik
Summit has the brackets for the shifter I just saw them this weekend but I don't know where to look so I would call them. The pulleys on sbf are a pain in the ass, your better off buying a set and adjusting your alternator.
Well this is a forum for '65 and older so don't expect to have this thread posted much longer. Cool car though but the wheels have to go... And while you, can paint that engine Ford blue!
Incredibly helpful info, thank you so much! Yes, I agree. Those wheels are hideous! They came on the car and my son likes them, so I try to ignore them. The PO told me that he thought that they looked like wheels that came on a "Hot Wheels" car. Can't say that he wrong, but they aren't my style!
Interestingly, the new engine has a hydraulic flat tappet camshaft! Its a Comp Cams cam. That's what mostly made me think that I was reading the date code incorrectly! The valves are of the non adjustable variety. The whole valvetrain seemed odd to me. But,I know little about these particular engines, so I was trying to reluctantly trust the work done, as I trust the source of the engine. Hopefully the camshaft/valvetrain setup was well thought out and planned. I considered figuring out chucking our our current front pulley on the lathe, finding center and marking to drill the 4 bolt pattern. One of the current holes seem to be lined up perfectly. Can be any of the three holes at a given time, so pattern seems to be of same diameter. If I could find a way to chuck it up safely, I may be able to cut the center to the correct dieter for the old pulley to work perfectly! But, that'll only work if the 50 oz. And 28 oz. Balancers have the same forward pulley mating surface depth. Regarding the flexplate, I will inspect. I believe that we asked for a Flexplate for an '82 Ford Mustang. It appeared identical to the older flexplate, aside from the weight being larger. Worst case, I could buy another new flexplate with a 28 oz imbalance, grind both weights off, and weld the 50 oz. Imbalance weight in place of the 28 oz. Weight. Not ideal, but I am a very competent welder, so I am not worried about integrity of the welds. I understand the forces applied up that weight at high RPM. I FEEL like this flexplate is correct, but will match them up to confirm that they are of the same diameter and will also measure the exact offset or backspacing of both to compare. Will be looking for an aftermarket clutch pivot bracket. Will also look at fabricating something myself. If I can't find a solution that works to my liking, worst case there we ditch the column shift, and put a hated ratchet type shifter on the floor. I'd rather not go that route, though, as we're trying to keep this swap as cheap as we practically can. Being that this is my 19 year old son's car, I will likely end up funding any extra expenditures like that. Nik
I also had to swap the older water pump housing out, in place of the newer one. I needed (wanted, to reduce expense) a mechanical fuel pump, especially since son had just replaced the old one with a new Edlebrock pump. I had to swap over the fuel pump eccentric from the old engine, along with the longer pin that drives it. Swapping this over also involved machining down the lip inside of the cover, to clear the gear drive timing set. This set was already on the built engine. When I described the sound that gear drive timing sets make, his face lit up in joy! Nik
Here's your clutch pivot bracket.... Scott Drake C5ZZ-7A531-LM Mustang Clutch Equalizer Pivot Mount Bracket For Late Model 302 Engines 1965-1973 (cjponyparts.com) Do check your flex plate very carefully as there has been reported issues with using a AOD flex plate with a C4 in some cases.
Northern auto parts (www.naparts.com) lists a PowerForce Hi-Performance street balancer that uses bolt in weights. So you can change from 50oz to 28.4oz, it comes with one weight when you order it whichever you choose. I believe this damper is also drilled for either 3 bolt or 4 bolt pulleys, they have spacers as well to move the pulley out from the balancer as necessary. The last Northern Auto parts catalog I have (old) lists the damper for $79.99. Google PowerForce 80007 balancer and check out the listings, they give a lot of information on the spacers and dimensions and you can see what it looks like. Two groove pulleys were used on a bunch of old small block fords but the four bolt seem to be easier to find since these were used on 70's small block pickups.
Depending on which trans you have, you could need either a 157 or 164 tooth flexplate. Check your old one to compare. Your valve train is called pedestal. If the valve seats have been sunk in the head, you could need shorter pushrods. The e7 head is what came on efi mustangs and trucks. To the best of my knowledge, the rocker height is the same as the earlier versions of the same valve gear so a standard length pushrod should work.
Fairlane’s started in 1963... HAMB friendly in my book even tho we don’t see many....we do see a lot of 65-67 Corvairs.
I don't make the rules nor am I a member of the HAMB police but I don't see where in the OP it mentioned what year Fairlane was being asked about. I do see there was a mention of the wheels on the car in question but the photos don't show up for me, only the 2 of the engine. So maybe it is after '65 but as @jimmy six said Fairlanes started in '63. Regrdless the guy has an engine question that could apply to a HAMB era car so why not use the power of the HAMB to help a guy out? JMO.
I agree regarding the engine but not as to when the Fairlane line was established ('55). If we went with when the Make or line was established then we would be seeing 2021 Fords, Chevs, etc. '65 is the cutoff and someone can't even post regarding a'64-65 Mustang! I'm not the HAMB police but thought the OP should know when he couldn't access his post. Ironically the post is still up!
My bad. I misread your post I thought you had a stick shift. Pioneer has the flexplate you need to mate your 50 oz engine to a C-4.
Your are conflating ‘trim level’ with a totally separate body series that used the same name. Two different animals. Ray
What are you guys thoughts on pivoting the inner pivot point of the column shifter off of the frame. I imagine that Ford did it the way that they did to minimize inadvertent shifts, related to torque movement of the engine. But, with good engine mounts, I cannot believe that the transmission is moving enough to shift the transmission. Thoughts on this? I may just go to a floor mounted cable shifter. Seems that in order for those clutch pivot brackets to work, youd need to sandwich them between the engine and transmission bellhousing. Can't imagine where else they bolt on?
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