Dan, I cant offer anything here. Just know that I have fought the 4 speed thing with my car for nearly 30 years. Man, does it get frustrating. In the end you will getter done, and have the satisfaction of doing so. Dan
Mr. Hines, I want to let you know that when the men in white coats come to take you away, I am willing to be the caretaker of your Mavericks until Coty reaches legal age.
ITS IN! ( Except I just noticed I forgot the spark plugs ... they were scheduled to go in before the valve covers ) My new dizzy should be here by Tuesday so I can crank it up ... I already primed it with oil and verified it has pressure. Now I just gotta figure out a way to get the spark plugs in without taking the valve covers off .... Dan ... you are right about the 4-speed ... it's definitely worth all the blood sweat and tears after all is said and done. It is an easy swap with a stock 302 and stock manifolds ... throw in the headers and you are in for a headache ... and now I know if you throw in a 5.0 roller with the z-bar bracket you are in for a migraine!
Dan, I believe you are the god of makeing them look stock. It's amazing that was a 1995 fuel injected motor. It doesn't look a day over 1971.
Thanks a lot, Jamie. Now, I'm going to have to get my engine hoist. There will no room for it in Dan's Expedition...after he fit's his HEAD IN THE TRUCK!!!!
The before and after look the same! All I did was replace the non-functional early 302 engine with a new crate 5.0 roller engine .... It will have a billet Pertronix Flame-Thrower distributor though ..
Dan, on a couple of my plugs I use a box end wrench on the end of a plug socket. Never need to remove the valve covers to put the plugs in. But now you have late model heads, what does the plug to header clearance situation look like?
If you ever install spark plugs with the valve covers on and then with them off ... you will never want to install them with the valve covers on again! There is much more room to get a ratchet in there with the valve covers off. The box wrench on the end of the socket is a good idea. The key is I don't want to scratch or chip the paint on my valve covers or shock tower ... The clearance for the spark plugs is no different on the late model heads to early model heads. Actually the heads on the engine I just pulled were late model.
I will keep that in mind about the valve covers. Wasn't sure which heads were on you new engine. I know the plug angle on the GT40P heads are different. I have a set of World Windsor J/R's that the plug clearance is very tight on. Didn't run them, bought AFR's instead.
I think there was an old country song writting for you. Goes something like, "if it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all"
Spark plugs are in ... just used two long extensions and left the valve covers on. Also wrestled the last two clips on the shifter linkage that I didn't have the patience to fool with the other day. Not sure what you other toploader guys are using buy my Hurst Competition PLus Shifter must be kinda old ... the shifter handle is welded to the shifter so I had to disconnect the shifter and all the linkage to pull the tranny out with the engine ... I think new Competition Plus shifter have a removable shift handle ... Got the engine set to top dead center and the dizzy is ready to go in ... Supposed to be here tommorrow ....
