I have this fantastic old beast (which my partner absolutely hates!), 1970 ZD Fairlane, if I can work out how I'll attach a pic.
Its running the O'l 302w, its all standard bar a 500 Holley and extractors. When she's running spot on she is quicker than my VS Commodore (6).
Its been rebuilt not that long ago but I think its been done with dodgy parts as the guy reckoned the old rings and bearings were good so he re used them! The rest was done properley as there are receipts for block machining, crank checking, new flat tops on existing con rods etc etc.
As this was only done not long ago (approx 18 months) and the car only only driven on the odd weekend I would imagine all the machining would be still ok.
As the months went by, it developed a bit of fuel smoke, then one day heading up noth the radiator blew and the engine got a bit hot. It got to about 4/5ths by the time I pulled over. Patched her up and was fine. Since then it has started using a touch of oil. Later I changed the 350 to a 500 Holley using the 350's jets and power valve (this made substantial imporvements everywhere and recommend it for a 302 w) but it started blowing even more fuel smoke and using more oil. It was still good enough to run around in so I have been driving it. It has developed a couple of knocks, one of which I found out to be a couple of lifters as the rocker nuts were not used. I replaced the lifters and tensioned them down and that made it a bit quieter and more powerful but it still blows smoke, chews oil and has a knock. Oh and when it overheated a head cracked, thats been fixed.
I reckon its got a couple of cracked rings (or they weren't put on right) and or the big ends are just about gone, OR the gaps aren't right for the crank and its developed some slop.
What do you guys think?
Ya reckon the easiest way is to pull her down, get some plasti guage, check all the clearences, throw in some new bearings and rings and find another set of heads. What do you guys think?
Any opinions would be great. I want it to be my daily "in style" driver as it chews less fuel than me commodore, has a tonne of guts and turns heads so no changing the cams or head work etc will be wanted.
Hope you guys can help as it is a fairly limited budget.
I have this fantastic old beast (which my partner absolutely hates!), 1970 ZD Fairlane, if I can work out how I'll attach a pic.
Its running the O'l 302w, its all standard bar a 500 Holley and extractors. When she's running spot on she is quicker than my VS Commodore (6).
Its been rebuilt not that long ago but I think its been done with dodgy parts as the guy reckoned the old rings and bearings were good so he re used them! The rest was done properley as there are receipts for block machining, crank checking, new flat tops on existing con rods etc etc.
As this was only done not long ago (approx 18 months) and the car only only driven on the odd weekend I would imagine all the machining would be still ok.
As the months went by, it developed a bit of fuel smoke, then one day heading up noth the radiator blew and the engine got a bit hot. It got to about 4/5ths by the time I pulled over. Patched her up and was fine. Since then it has started using a touch of oil. Later I changed the 350 to a 500 Holley using the 350's jets and power valve (this made substantial imporvements everywhere and recommend it for a 302 w) but it started blowing even more fuel smoke and using more oil. It was still good enough to run around in so I have been driving it. It has developed a couple of knocks, one of which I found out to be a couple of lifters as the rocker nuts were not used. I replaced the lifters and tensioned them down and that made it a bit quieter and more powerful but it still blows smoke, chews oil and has a knock. Oh and when it overheated a head cracked, thats been fixed.
I reckon its got a couple of cracked rings (or they weren't put on right) and or the big ends are just about gone, OR the gaps aren't right for the crank and its developed some slop.
What do you guys think?
Ya reckon the easiest way is to pull her down, get some plasti guage, check all the clearences, throw in some new bearings and rings and find another set of heads. What do you guys think?
Any opinions would be great. I want it to be my daily "in style" driver as it chews less fuel than me commodore, has a tonne of guts and turns heads so no changing the cams or head work etc will be wanted.
Hope you guys can help as it is a fairly limited budget.
Regards.
does it knock all the time . more on acceleration or decel ?
where do you think the knock is , I have had several of these and they all when tired dropped piston skirts so the question is how old are the pistons really ?
good luck .
I left a few things out, sorry. I bought the car about 12 months ago and when I got it he had receipts for over 2000 on engine work done about 6 months prior to that. So they SHOULD be ok.
Rather than all this hit and miss mumbo jumbo, I am thinking of just ripping it out and rebuilding the whole thing. It would be nice to have enough power to light up the treads at will but it is only a 302.
You say you have had quite a few of these? What quirks etc have you found with the windsors? I am used to clevelands but I love the windsos very revvy nature. I have been thinking recently and I would love to put in a smallish cam and maybe a 4 barrel, perhaps the street avenger I keep hearing about.
I've been told you can get around 300 fly hp out of these without too much trouble and without sacrificing any driveability or reliability. 300hp with nice torque would be plenty for this old girl.
I left a few things out, sorry. I bought the car about 12 months ago and when I got it he had receipts for over 2000 on engine work done about 6 months prior to that. So they SHOULD be ok.
Rather than all this hit and miss mumbo jumbo, I am thinking of just ripping it out and rebuilding the whole thing. It would be nice to have enough power to light up the treads at will but it is only a 302.
You say you have had quite a few of these? What quirks etc have you found with the windsors? I am used to clevelands but I love the windsos very revvy nature. I have been thinking recently and I would love to put in a smallish cam and maybe a 4 barrel, perhaps the street avenger I keep hearing about.
I've been told you can get around 300 fly hp out of these without too much trouble and without sacrificing any driveability or reliability. 300hp with nice torque would be plenty for this old girl.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
You just do the usual formula , the newer pistons are better of course , cant beat cubes to consider a 347 motor or go buy a 351 wheezer , one of mine ran a 302 with forged pistons lotsa head work etc etc ( got it out of an xtgt) and a 750 vaccum secondary holley , the top loader sucked but it would spin those 225 x 14 though the 1st couple of gears so easily it was funny :)
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