Technical ford 302 overheating

Your rocker arms are held on with a stud and nut, so they are the adjustable design.

 

alright and the rockers i have are non rail type right? they look exactly like this, and to adjust i set cylinder 1 on tdc and adjust then move to next cylinder which will be 5 and place it on tdc and adjust and so on to the rest of the firing order right?

 

with early SBF firing order 15426378 you can save some time and adjust half at a time.
Not having to mark and turn damper 90* every time
No.1 TDC intakes 1378 exhaust 1245
No.6 TDC intakes 2456 exhaust 3678

 

I'm a little late to the party but would have recommended a leakdown test to help determine if you had a bad head gasket.

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Did you notice if a head gasket was on upside down on either side, as you pulled it apart?

 

before i pulled it apart i did notice the square piece of gasket sticking out through the corner of the front heads on both side. here are some pics before cleaning stuff up

 

yes, torque the rocker stand bolts and thats it. way easier than chevys. if and when you get it running again, start it up and look in the rediator fill neck to be sure the water is ciculating as it should. also, an old radiator man told me this years ago, fill the radiator with water with your hand over the lower outlet. then take your hand off the outlet and watch how fast the water pours out. it should gush out. if not it is plugged. Be sure of the roration of the water pump, and be sure the fan is on correctly. losts of things acn cause over heating, just remember the water has to flow and the fan sucks air.Henry

 

Sure looks like the head gaskets were leaking. Especially on the passenger side bank in the middle. The worst thing is when you take it apart and can't see anything.


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alright so i found this hole by where the distributor goes in too, is this suppose to be there? what is its function? looks like a chip

 

does the hole go thru the block, to the outside? if so, it might be the result of someone chiseling a stuck distributor out of the block.

 

it goes into the hole where the distributor goes and thats it, i read up on other ford forums that its normal for that hole to be there

 

just a drain back hole....really rough casting and usually a prime candidate to be smoothed out when blueprinting the SBF block

 

My 302 block had a small crack on the very back behind the flywheel. Never knew it was there until the block was at the machine shop. The motor never really ran hot but did have irratic readings at times.

 

alright so the ford is still overheating went up to 240 on the gauge, i got a new 3 row radiator for it, new head gaskets and they are on right, new water pump, hoses, and thermostat, i dont know what else could be causing it to over heat! any other ideas why? oh and its running a 4 blade with a shroud too, and fan is spinning clock wise if you look down on the fan from the front of the car. and over heats no matter if its going 30mph or idle

 

did you get the heads checked for straightness when they were off? with the hot area between the cylinders, it's possible they warped.

you saw the FRONT mark on the head gaskets, and installed that end to the front of the engine, right?

 

yes the i took the heads to the shop they were magnafluxed and everything checked out fine with them, and yes i did install them like that, which made it block the two water passages in the front of the block

 

4 blade fan isn't all that efficient, might try a few more.

 

Do you know how much overbore there is? Generally .030 is max. Once was talking to a machinist @ a shop & he was talking about boring SBFs to 60 & 80 over, needless to say I went elsewhere but if someone didn't know better... That would cause some heating problems...

 

im not sure if its been overbored, my coolant is still coming out orange so im sure the block is rusty im gonna pull some freeze plugs off and try to flush it all out hopefully it helps

 

so for a update, i stopped the overheating issue, i put some acid in the engine and let it sit over night for two days then flushed and installed 6 blade fan, now it stays under 160, and coolant is clean now

 

What thermostat did you end up with? should be in the 180-195 range. Under 160 isn't optimal temp range.

 

yeah its a 160

 

Not a good idea. Cyl wall wear is 3X more with a 160 than with a 180- or 195, engine runs too cool, increases chances of sludging up.