Went and talked to a guy that knows alot about 302's, he used to race them in Mustangs. He was saying that the engine isn't all that bad for mileage (225,000 kms 140,400 miles) and same with the compression numbers. He was also saying that the motor could be too dry that I should try synthetic oil in it. He suggested Mobil 1 but said that anything would be okay for it.

Is this good for a motor that has 140,000 miles on it ???????

He said that he could phase the distributor correctly so that it wouldn't arc so far at a specific rpm. That the two contacts would be basically together which means more power is going into the spark plugs. Anyone know if this is a good thing to do or not ????? I have never heard of it before.

He also said along with some others on here that I really need to get the leak down test done first. This will give a better idea of what the cylinders are actually doing. With a leak down test, how do figure out what is causing a problem if the pressure drops. Is it the rings or is it the valves ?????????

He mentioned about putting an oil additive in the oil to allow the rings to seal better. I suggested "Restore" but he mentioned another product. You generally see it in stores with a display that has a couple of gears that you turn by hand. I can't remember what it is called though. Are these good for this situation ??????

I mentioned that I was looking into a E303 cam for the truck. He said that it is a good cam for the mustang's but not for trucks. He said that they are too heavy (trucks) and they need the torque. Suggestion for the best cam was the Lightning cam. He tried three different cams and he said that the Lightning cam was the best in his mind. Any comments of this ????????

If the leak down tests are good then the heads and MAF as the places to make more horsepower. He said that the MAF doesn't flow enough compared to the twin-barrelled throttlebody that I have on the truck. And I already knew that the heads suck on these trucks. Any suggestions on what heads and larger MAF to go to ?????????

And one last thing, I spotted that I don't have a module on the side of the distributor. I do remember having one on the side of the dist. on my '87 300 I6 but never checked this one. I also have talked to people that say the OBD-II came in vehicles '96 and up. He thought that I may have the OBD-II system on the truck. Is this possible and if not, can you explain where the module went to ?????

Sorry for it being so long but he set a lot of questions into play after our conversation. Thanks for any help that you may be able to provide. Also let me know if you have anyother questions.

Have Fun & Keep on Truckin'
Dean

 

OBD-II came in 96, you dont have it. I thought that the Gen 1 Lightnings came with the same cam as the regular trucks. I though all they had was the GT-40 lower/ upper intake, and a single blade TB. What module are you referring to?

 

With a leak down test you set the cylinder your testing to top dead center, and pressurize the cylinder, if the gauge shows more than about 20% leakage you can look various places to find the problem. If there are bubbles coming out of the radiator filler neck you have a blown head gasket. If you hear air hissing out of the spark plug hole of an adjacent cylinder then you have a blown head gasket between cylinders. If you hear air from the tailpipe there is a exhaust valve problem, from the throttle body is an intake valve problem. If you hear air from the oil fill cap the rings are shot or theres a hole in the piston A leak down test is mostly to pinpoint a cylinder problem, it would be easier to do a compression test, then do a leakdown test if needed.

I don't believe in the products that help to seal the rings, nothing can fix worn out parts, switching to heavier oil would do the same thing.

As far as the distibutor thing goes, if i understand correctly he is trying to increase the spark duration. If you were to look at the electrical signal coming out of the coil's secondary circuit on an ocilloscope when it fires you would see a vertical line called the firing line then a horizontal line called the spark line. The firing line is the amount of voltage it takes to overcome the resistance of the ignition circuit (plugs, wires, distributor points). The spark line is the length the spark takes place at the plug. The coil produces it's maximum voltage every time it fires, so if you can reduce the resistance and make a shorter firing line you will increase the spark duration at the plug. This is good for high compression or forced induction engines that have trouble igniting the air/fuel mix. On a relatively stock engine you won't really gain any power.

He's right about the cam, mustcng cams are made for high end horsepower, on a truck you want something with low end torque to get that 3,000 pound beast moving.

It seems you are looking to spend lots of cash on a high mileage engine. Instead of putting in a cam and performance parts you would be better off with a rebuild. Although it still runs great with 140k miles it won't hold up very long with performance mods. Just a basic rebuild with new rings, pistons, bearings and maybe some head work will give you lots more power.

-Jon

 

I would agree. You already have a lot of bolt on mods, but you could increase your intake system with intake/TB mods. Your full potential on a all of this will not be reached however until you do some head and cam mods. My recomendation would be to do a rebuild when you do this as well.

My guess is that the distributor used in your truck is called a "closed bowl distributor" as opposed to a "universal bowl distributor." The closed bowl has a remote ignition module. The factory manual states that "the system used depends on the engine calibration." I am guessing that the "universal" is used for many applictations while the "closed bowl" uses a seperate module for specific calculations/applications. As stated, your truck is not OBD-II. Ford just used this setup on your vehicle.

 

With 140,000 miles you may not want to switch to synthetic oil....

I did that in an '88 Lincoln at 117,000, and had nothing but troubles with oil leaks....it was with Mobil1 (which I use in my '98 Continental with no problem), but I am sure any synthetic would act the same....

The synthetic oils are so good at lubricating, they try to get into every nook and cranney...the result is that they find places to leak that weren't a problem for regular oils.

First I had to change the valve cover gaskets...a major job on an EFI engine. then the front seal started leaking like it was wasn't even there....at $5 a quart, this got real expensive. The good thing is that I changed the timing chain and gears while I replaced teh front main seal.

When the rear main seal started leaking, I switched back to conventional oil, but that did not stop the leak...I spent several months cleaning up oil on the garage floor...the olny fix was to remove the transmission or engine to replace the seal, or to sell the car....I traded it for my '98 Continental...at 38,000 there are no leaks with Mobil1.....

I agree with the above advice, probably time to overhaul the engine, put in new seals, and then go with Mobil 1......just my $.02

 

Sorry guys, been on vacation for since last Saturday (week ago) and have been doing a lot of little things. By the time, I get ready to slow down, I generally end up heading to bed. I appreciate all of the comments so far.

The distributor thing, he was saying that the coil is about to fire that these two pieces are so close that there is very little resisitance between them that it fires almost all of its energy through the wires to the plug. Instead of jumping a larger space which inturns takes alot of energy out of the shot to the plugs via the wires. It is set up at a specific rpm so that I can get the most HP & TQ out of the motor before it shifts into the next gear.

I talked to an engine builder here in Windsor and he was telling me that if I had 70-80 lbs of pressure that the truck wouldn't be running right. He figures that the tests weren't done correctly, so basically I am back to square one on this issue. I will have to find some place that will do a leak-down test and see what comes out of that. He suggested that I go to 10W30 in the winter time and then switch to 10w40 OR 20w40 for the summer time. 20W40 would be if I am going on a lengthy trip on the road. He also said that I should shorten my oil change interval some, as I put on more miles. He said that I should be taking care of the engine a little bit more now that it has more miles on it.

What I really want to do with this motor is find out exactly what is going on with it? What issues it has other than some blow-by which the guy said any motor that has 225,000 kms on it will have. If you guys really want to know what I would REALLY LIKE to do, is drop a 514 (460 stroked) in it. They start off with 600 HP from SVT and then keep going from there. Drag calculations says that I should be running around 12 secs. in the 1/4 mile with that HP & TQ. And if I really get bored, I can always drop a charger on it and really see how fast a 5000 lbs, 20 ft long truck can move with the proper attitude.

Have Fun & Keep on Truckin'
Dean