U/SA 302 ffffford build

[goinbroke2]

I might have to car the car "a comedy of errors"

To start off with, as I back the car out of the bus, I see my toolbox slid back and rubbed of a spot on the front bumper the size of my hand...glad I painted it with tremclad and didn't pay a painter $10,000 to make it pretty!!

Fri night, first pass, leave it in drive for it's first pass since 1997. Do the burn out and see one tire spinning, then the other kicks in...ohh yeah, I have a traction loc not a spool in this rearend! Whatever. Go to stage and anything over 15-1800 and my 3000 stall converter pushes me through the lights....hmmm...whatever.
Launch at 1500 and it gets to 4000 and shifts....ok then, pull the shifter back into 2nd and hold it to 4800....4900...5000...shift but man it didn't seem to want to go over 5000. Real struggling like too much timing. First pass, a stunning 16.66@77.45mph. Wow, that's sucks. Pull the shifter and nothing?? Idle back to the pit and find the shifter dogs are gummed up with crap and after spraying brake clean on them, working good again.

Timing is..60* when I rev it??? That's weird too. Pull it back to 38-40 and make a second pass.

Seems hot to only go from pit to staging lane but whatever. Make a pass and run a 16.04@83.38mph and it's up to 200!! Apparently my fuse for the water pump blew. Got towed back to the pit and find the electric pump drive motor is blowing fuses without the belt even on. (I think I might of had the belt too tight?) Got a pump from Bruce Riley parked next to me and all is good...wait...my fan is blowing it's fuse too? I reach in and the electric fan spins easily, but I sliced my finger on something and now there's blood all over the fender.

I have a 40amp circuit breaker so I put that in and the fan runs 8 seconds and then trips....great....

Saturday is rained out so I check the timing..it's at 50* again??? I thinking maybe my timing light is broke? Do some more adjusting but it just doesn't sound right. Pull the distributor and see the pick up is touching the reluctor at the top?? Turns out, the little plastic push thing that holds the weights on has disintigrated and let one weight fly off and bend the breaker plate, which bent it, causing the pickup to tilt and get hit by the reluctor as it passes. You can't make this crap up, lol!! Pull the distributor all apart and flatten the plate out, reassemble with only one weight. Set total timing to 35*. Also saw a bit of brake fluid leaking from the new line lock, apparently the bottom plug was seeping, took 3/4 of a turn to tighten.

Sunday;
Scale the car and I'm 2993. So I'm 117# light for U (3110) and 30# heavy for T (2963)

It's running better, do my one wheel then the other wheel burnout, stage at 1500 and....start off in second gear because the shifter never put it in to first even though I pulled it 3-4 times as I staged. Lovely, a sluggish 16.29 at 85.22 at least the mph is slowly climbing, lol.
Second pass, burnout then stop and physically watch the shifter stick it in first. Good.
Same goofy looking burnout procedure which I'm sure everyone was laughing, but anyway, stage at 1500 and launch (.043 light..like that matters at this point, lol) and a clean sounding but still slow 15.54@86.54mph. On the return road...no shifter again!! I can't watch it as I drive so as I'm moving the shifter I push the cable end and...go right into reverse! That stopped it in a hurry from about 20mph! Finally got it working and went back to the pit.

At this point it's obvious I can't get within 7 tenths of the index and pull out of S/SS and stay in sportsman.

First round sportsman, I'm dialed 15.55 against a fwd buick street car at 16 something. (At least I get to pretend I'm a fast car as he leaves first and I come after him, lol) As he was a friend I told him I was going to run it out the back door to get data. He got me on the light .055 to my .080 as I had no idea where to leave. Regardless,I ran a "clean" 15.65@85.42 in the afternoon heat.



So, what did I learn from my experience and the wisdom of the others there?
1) need a new converter
2) New shifter
3) New distributor
4) instead of getting a spool, etc for the 9", I'm pulling it and going 8.8, just need, well, everything! Including new rims for the slicks.
5) my 29.5x9 slicks on steel rims are WAY to heavy/large and slow and I'll get some more fitting to a v8 with no power.
6) new fan for the rad
7) found a small leak in the tranny pan so that will have to be welded up.
8) Seperate switches for the fan/pump

There's more but that's enough for now.

Overall it was what I expected it to be, a test day. The learning was great and to listen to some of the legends speak in the evenings was priceless!!

Time to drain the bank account again! (never spent so much to go so slow!, LOL!!)

[Mark Yacavone]

Hey, what's up with that block pic and # 8?
What # pistons are in that engine?
What rear gear ?
What 60' ?

[BRETV]

When you get the distributor figured out put 30-32 total timing in it. That's all those 302's like.




Bret Velde
2003 I/SA

[goinbroke2]

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

Hey, what's up with that block pic and # 8?
What # pistons are in that engine?
What rear gear ?
What 60' ?

Hi Mark, pistons are factory 302 cast pistons.
Rear gear is 4.86 in a 9?.
60? is too embarrassing to admit (2.2 I think)

Edit: the block pic on the other page? When i pulled the intake and heads, i was pleasantly surprised to see at some point i ground down the oil return holes and epoxied screen over the holes.

[goinbroke2]

Originally Posted by BRETV

When you get the distributor figured out put 30-32 total timing in it. That's all those 302's like.




Bret Velde
2003 I/SA

I just ordered a new ford distributor today. I’ll set it up to be all in by 3000 and total will be 32 or whatever it likes. ( it does NOT like 60*)

[Mike Graham]

if your 9 inch is 28 spline I have a spool that you can have. U pay shipping.
We back to backed 8.8 to 9 inch. 8.8 no faster.
With that cam use locked out dist. and 35 deg total.

[goinbroke2]

Thanks (again) Mike! Hopefully today my new distributor will arrive. Also have a dual fan set up and a shifter coming.

(You spent How much to go 16 seconds?? Lol!!)

[goinbroke2]

Ok, time for an update.
Got the new distributor (stock from car quest) and dropped it in, engine runs much cleaner. Not done with it, just now I know I have a new distributor to work with.

Shifter..since my ancient b&m shifter was acting up. instead of rebuilding it, I followed Rory's advice and got a stock mustang shifter, notched it for a reverse pattern valve body and then ordered a reverse pattern valve body from Broader Performance. I added in the shipping notes some..shall we say..."shipping instructions" and ended with "God bless Texas" Shortly thereafter I got an email notice saying they were refunding $90US for shipping! Total, even with customs/exice/duty/ups/weather/placement of the moon...it was still less than half of buying it here locally!

Replaced the modified clutch switch I used as a neutral switch with a stock neutral switch.

I contacted Dave Turner in Ontario who sold me the correct converter for my combo, he got from Mike Graham (leaving tomorrow to visit kid in Ontario and pick it up...no I haven't told the wife yet, she still thinks it's just a random vacation we need to take right now, lol)

Installed the adjustable rear upper control arms.

Replaced the stock 42 year old electric 4 cyl fairmont fan that was blowing fuses with a dual fan unit from a newer pontiac G6.

Replaced the fan and pump motor wiring from 14G to 12G.

Pulled driveshaft and rear centre section from the 9" and found the 4.86's in it are WORN OUT! Like, worn so bad the teeth are wavy and the casting that holds the pinion bearing has fine cut marks from the ring! Soooo, have to order new gears.

Got a mini spool coming from Mike Graham (thanks again Mike!) to replace the worn out traction/loc that's in it now.

I'm pushing to hit the two national opens coming up in August, we'll see how that goes as the wife just found property she wants to buy in New Brunswick. (she's into off roading and mud trucks as opposed to my drag racing, lol)

More to come, but life gets in the way. Like dropping everything to replace the rad in the 86 mustang as it's the car we take to the drive in, so in her words, "THAT HAS PRIORITY", lol!

[Larry Hill]

I think you and your car are becoming one. It gave you a shopping list and a to do list. Race cars only want three things; Time, Money, and Attention. Good luck all of us have been there. It took me almost two years to get the Cuda competitive. Good luck and keep going!

[goinbroke2]

Thanks for the encouragement Larry, on the road right now heading for Ontario to pick up the converter?. Oh yeah, and to visit the kid😂😂😂