akaryrye Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Well, I Picked the car up for $2200 and drove it home a few days ago. As purchased, There were a few issues. Some ghetto wiring, crappy paint, exhaust rattling against the frame, passenger seat trashed, and some of the gauges arent working, including the speedometer and coolant gauge (yes i drove it home that way ). Luckily it was a cold night and a huge radiator sits where the stock one used to be ... heater was full blast the entire time as well. Even worse, the check valve for the brakes was installed the wrong way, making braking a scary thing until I figured out how hard i needed to push to get it to stop. Its got some issues for sure, but it did make the 200 mile trip home, and with around a third of the tank left. Supposedly the motor is a 302 with a block from a 74 and heads from a 68. It has an MSD ignition which I know very little about and an Edelbrock 1407 Carburetor. There is a very nice custom radiator setup with an electric fan. Suspension is definitely aftermarket as the car rides fairly low and I can see an aftermarket sway in the front. Tires are fairly new and there are cragers in the back which look sweet. My plans for the car are to eventually make it a streetable race car. Something I can take to the track or autocross on the weekends and drive to work if I want to. My short term goals are to strip the interior down to the metal, fix any rust, and lay down some POR 15. So far, I have found some rust, but I don't think any has gone all the way through yet. Getting the carbs in tune, Cleaning up the electronics and getting working gauges is also high up on the list. Seats, roll bar + door bars, and better brakes will come next. Beyond that ... flares and wide rubber, better camber/caster/toe adjustability? One thing at a time. Anyway, some pictures of the car that I have taken so far. Exterior Pictures (note the **** wing is removed and will be on craigslist) Interior Pics, taken post-gutting. Most panels are present, but I probably wont reinstall many. I like the look of the exposed shock towers also. Engine pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akaryrye Posted March 25, 2010 Author Share Posted March 25, 2010 Just found some youtube videos of the car. Claims it is a 500hp build ... good lord this thing is gonna make me crap my pants when i finally open up the throttle for real. I need to do a compression test on this thing. http://www.youtube.com/user/santacruz95949#p/a/u/2/JbMeS4npBa0 http://www.youtube.com/user/santacruz95949#p/a/u/1/bKeQxJ3_1mk http://www.youtube.com/user/santacruz95949#p/a/u/0/jVEOD_qE6Gg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sxynerd Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 500hp? Laughable. I've built a lot of fords and that's the a pretty tall tale. I'm not knocking it by any means but 500 isn't even in the realm of that little 302. If I were to guess, I'd say it's around 280-300rwhp. The compressions pretty mild and maybe around 9-9.5:1. Nice car though defiantly a worth project. Just found some youtube videos of the car. Claims it is a 500hp build ... good lord this thing is gonna make me crap my pants when i finally open up the throttle for real. I need to do a compression test on this thing. http://www.youtube.com/user/santacruz95949#p/a/u/2/JbMeS4npBa0 http://www.youtube.com/user/santacruz95949#p/a/u/1/bKeQxJ3_1mk http://www.youtube.com/user/santacruz95949#p/a/u/0/jVEOD_qE6Gg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akaryrye Posted March 25, 2010 Author Share Posted March 25, 2010 500hp? Laughable. I've built a lot of fords and that's the a pretty tall tale. I'm not knocking it by any means but 500 isn't even in the realm of that little 302. If I were to guess, I'd say it's around 280-300rwhp. The compressions pretty mild and maybe around 9-9.5:1. Nice car though defiantly a worth project. Oh totally, I know its bull. I am pretty sure it has a cam and ported heads. I think it either needs new rings or a valve seat since there's quite a bit of blowby coming out of the breathers so i may be pulling it out sometime and find out what work was actually done to the motor. Gotta do a leakdown and figure out what's going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erehemantresni Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 Please tell me what exhaust it has from the headers back. that is exactly the sound i am looking for! thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akaryrye Posted March 27, 2010 Author Share Posted March 27, 2010 Please tell me what exhaust it has from the headers back. that is exactly the sound i am looking for! thanks! Ok the entire exhaust is custom and it is going to one muffler. I don't know what muffler it is or the piping size but Ill try to take a look when I get it up on a jack next. Ill see if i have time this weekend, but no guarantee because Ive got bigger fish to fry with sorting this car out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erehemantresni Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 Ok the entire exhaust is custom and it is going to one muffler. I don't know what muffler it is or the piping size but Ill try to take a look when I get it up on a jack next. Ill see if i have time this weekend, but no guarantee because Ive got bigger fish to fry with sorting this car out. thats cool . whenever you have time I would like to know. thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josephg Posted March 29, 2010 Share Posted March 29, 2010 Hay man I found my self in the exact same situation about 8 months ago, after remounting the engine, replacing the engine, fuel system, all the wiring and nearly everything in the car I am almost done and kinda feeling like I should have just started from scratch. But it has been a blast along the way. I would really like to see how the engine is mounted in your car as well as the slave cylinder for the clutch. those are the two thing I put the most effort into and I am always curious to see what other people have come up with. (good or bad). Good luck on your build and keep posting. PS. My trash can looked exactly the same within 10 min of owning my 280, its amazing what you acquire with a z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akaryrye Posted March 30, 2010 Author Share Posted March 30, 2010 Well I spent some time working on the car this past weekend. Most of my work involved compression testing the motor, continuing to strip the interior down to the metal, and electrical work. Bad news is that the motor has low compression in two cylinders and wet compression test tells me it is the rings. So, looks like I will be doing a rebuild. Good news is that I discovered the motor has 4v heads. I like the idea of having a fresh motor and knowing exactly what parts are in there anyway. Spring break is coming up and during that time, I want to rewire the car (the extent to which is yet undetermined), finish stripping the paint off of the metal in preparation for a sealing primer, and redo the exhaust with patriot shorties and 2.5" piping. Dont know if it is all possible, but I will be spending lots of time on it. A megasquirt efi system is also on the mind. Stripping interior more, next week I will be armed with dry ice and aircraft stripper. New window regulators on both sides, now they go up and down! hmm, signal converter + sell autometer or autometer tach that doesnt match but is more precise ... the cheapskate in me says keep em stock, i dunno. Rats nest: What the hell are those gold boxes on the drivers side wheel well? Ok ... seriously wtf man? that is not how you wire anything ever ... EVER! Wiring harness unbundled, more garbage. Here is how I left her until next weekend. This is my friends shortened subaru legacy lol. It runs beautifully, but it does not have a radiator hooked up right now so it only gets run for short periods of time. It was built to be basically a 4wd sandrail, but now it just sits and collects rust. This day, it was used to tow a chevy nova and an rx7 which did not run into the back yard. (pics are not me btw) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8INtheZ Posted April 4, 2010 Share Posted April 4, 2010 Wow, looks like that thing has a pretty violent launch! Im curious to see what the engine has done to it, since I have a very similar car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Zorro Posted April 4, 2010 Share Posted April 4, 2010 Looks like you've got a good start on your project. Stay after it, alot of folks get burnt out on one this size. Let us know how the dry ice works out. I've heard of it for years but never seen it actually work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erehemantresni Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 You ever find out what brand mufflers or what the exhaust setup is? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akaryrye Posted April 7, 2010 Author Share Posted April 7, 2010 its a flowmaster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akaryrye Posted April 14, 2010 Author Share Posted April 14, 2010 (edited) Been working on the car some more. The exhaust was a basket case, so I redid it with patriot truck hugger headers and 2.5" piping and mandrel bends (sorry no pics because I was in the zone). Exhaust pics show what came on the car complete with headers cracked in multiple locations, terrible welds, and sections left unwelded which left gaping holes for exhaust to leak out. This necessitated a new transmission mount with reliefs for the exhaust (again no pics yet). BTW, firesaw is a baddass tool. Some wiring work as well with relays for the headlights also. Anyway the pictures I took are below: Edited April 14, 2010 by akaryrye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erehemantresni Posted April 17, 2010 Share Posted April 17, 2010 Cool. I am working on my 302z too. Did the exhuast sound good in person? I like the way it sounded in the videos. I paid the same for mine and have to redo everything too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akaryrye Posted April 19, 2010 Author Share Posted April 19, 2010 it sounded cool i guess, if not a bit too loud. I am finally almost done with the new exhaust and headers and I hope it will sound a lot quieter though. I think some of the mean sound was created by massive exhaust leaks. Anyway, sorry I have been slacking on pictures, but I have been working. I removed all unnecessary engine bay wiring now, installed all new gauges (oil temp, pressure, clt temp) and mounted the tach in the factory location. I got the interior lights working, wired the headlights through relays and beefy wires, and cleaned up the engine bay by shortening the heater hose, fuel lines, etc. Finished the exhaust, aside from a header primary tube which I am modifying to get steering rack clearance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akaryrye Posted May 9, 2010 Author Share Posted May 9, 2010 (edited) Well, last weekend I finally got it off of the jackstands and ready to fire up. At this point I have rebuilt the exhaust, made a new tranny mount, redid the engine bay wiring by removing unnecessary wires and adding some new wire as well, and installed new gauges and sensors and a few other this and that sort of thing ... but when I went to start it, the engine backfired out the exhaust and caught the filter on fire I forgot to mark the distributor when I took it off, and I am eyeballing it from my pictures above. Shouldn't that be close enough? OTOH, it wasn't the easiest to start up as it was so maybe a little bit off means no start? A little help would be welcome Oh, also what should I set base timing to once I get it started? I have a 4 bolt v-belt pulley and I am not quite sure what the timing mark indicates. I suppose I could always find TDC with a rod of some sort in the plug hole. Edited May 9, 2010 by akaryrye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akaryrye Posted June 20, 2010 Author Share Posted June 20, 2010 I just wanted to check in to let you guys know I have not given up on my project, I am in fact still working on it I pulled the motor a week ago to rebuild it and while it was not everything it was claimed to be, it did have some upgrades. The heads appear to be completely stock, no porting was done as was claimed. I did, however, find .30 over forged pistons and a "stage 1" cam from a company called Cam Dynamics which was apparantly bought out in the late 70's and I cannot get any information other than that the lift at the lobe is .464 if i remember correctly. There was a double roller timing set as well, and the crankshaft seems to have been balanced at some point. Further, all rod/piston assemblies have matching weight at 3.2oz. I also found two cracked rings and a bent pushrod, which would explain the somewhat anemic performance. So, I am just now finishing up some port work on the heads which involved removing the vlave guide humps, opening up slightly and blending the bowls, gasket matching the intake, unshrouding the valves, and cc'ing the chambers to 56cc (up from 54cc). I havn't measured the deck height, but it looks like this setup will be around 9.5 - 9.7:1 compression ratio. I am taking my time and want this to be done right Sorry no pictures, I look forward to getting this thing running again soon, but it may be another month or so because beside rebuilding the motor, I will be stitch welding the engine bay, adding some reinforcement to the rails, and repainting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erehemantresni Posted June 20, 2010 Share Posted June 20, 2010 You ought to look for a set of explorer 302 heads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akaryrye Posted June 20, 2010 Author Share Posted June 20, 2010 Perhaps that would be better, but I am going to stick with what I have since I have already done the portwork and they should flow better than stock gt40 heads. I might have been better off, however, to just buy an entire explorer motor and swap that in Oh well, Im sure this setup will be plenty fast for me and will work just fine. As for the block, the cylinder bores are straight, no cracks, and the decks are flat. The crank, rods, and pistons are in good condition, so I am only sending the heads to the machine shop. The rebuild will probably come out to around $500, including a valve job, bronze guides, and a replacement flywheel (old one has hairline cracks). I am yet unsure if any new hardware is needed, and that would add to the cost as well. I am not shooting for the moon with this car, 300whp is what I am hoping for and I see no reason why this motor wont be able to do that or more. The hardest part for me right now is deciding what parts are the best for the money as far as bearings, gaskets, and rings. Also not sure what flywheel to get as I dont know if the engine has been converted to a 28oz imbalance or retains the original 50oz. The markings on the crank pulley are very hard to make out, but the flywheel seems to be from a 28oz imbalance engine. This doesn't mean it is necessarily matched to the pulley though because the car was converted to manual transmission after the original engine build (in the youtube videos, the car rocks an automatic). lol, sorry for all the ranting ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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