New motor bought of market place

[Joe Travers]

I'm in Lower Red River valley, AKA 'way down South in the land of cotton'. Originally from Florida Keys.

Have those heads been set up correctly for the cam? Beware the rail rocker......

Joe

[19cometman63]

That is an issue I will have to address. They are in the shop being checked. It does not have the rail rockers. Took a while to figure out what that was about. Was really thinking about either roller tip or full roller rockers. But with roller rockers, does the studs need replaced. Heads have pressed in studs for now. Another concern I have, the heads have the round hole for the push rods. Does that mean I have to have some sort of guide plates for them. Finding different answers to that. Still in the investigation side of it for now.

[Joe Travers]

Guide plates, hardened pushrods and screw-in studs is preferred if you want to keep it reliable.

Me? I'd get estimate on all of the machine work and compare to the price of decent aluminum heads for 289.
If you go 260, going to be stuck w/ the machinist due to the smaller bore.

Joe

[19cometman63]

Machine shop says over 300 bucks to put the screw in studs. With a mild build they said it would be ok. I'm sorta leaning toward screwinstuds because of what you said, reliable. I only want to do this once. Hardened push rods is a given, edelbrock recommends them with the cam. Rockers are still a decision waiting thing. If it's roller, then screw in studs for sure. Just way to many decisions at the moment. I have transmission cross member to figure out. Clutch assembly with z back and brackets and adjusting rods. Sure isn't working out like it did 40 years ago when I swapped motors and tranny. But I found out that 4 speed on floor and 2 speed on column are different underneath. Worst of all. People working behind counters at parts store aren't much help. If computer doesn't show it, it doesn't work. Where did the cross reference books and all the old guys that knew all the combinations go!

[SASSY]

Screw in,,, then it's done imo.
The old guys are sitting here waiting to help. Be specific in your questions, pics are a big help, someone here has been there.

[19cometman63]

Well thank you very much Sassy. I going to need all the help I can get. One of my biggest questions at the moment concerns the heads. Later 302 heads on a '63 block. Will they actually work and perform the way it was intended. They are stock cast iron heads. The casting numbers are different than what I have seen so I haven't actually gotten a good year on them yet. The info I have found says 302 heads on a 289 will drop the compression ratio. Is it enough to be concerned? Again, not a racer, just a nice dependable cruiser that will get the occasional lead foot. It has to be dependable enough to make it to one of the comet gatherings some day to meet all the great and wonderful people here. Should have joined years ago.just a quick update, 2nd set of rods were good, short block is put together, heads haven't had any issues come up yet. Should be ready by the first of the week.

[SASSY]

The 260 has a slightly smaller bore so I'd be checking the valves clear the block.

[19cometman63]

Sorry about that,it's a 289 motor. The 260 was yhe original motor that I had to use the rods to fix the 289.

[Joe Travers]

Machine shop says over 300 bucks to put the screw in studs. With a mild build they said it would be ok.

I've run press-in studs on a couple engines w/ soft RV type cams that didn't require much spring pressure years ago. No problems.
My wild little brother tried to use press-in studs with a huge cam and he couldn't keep the valvetrain from flying apart.
There's a line to be crossed that can cause a lot of damage. Like Fred said, go screw-in and forget to worry.

Yes, compression ratio will drop below 9:1 w/ those heads on a 289. The '68 289 & 2V 302 shared the same head.
IIRC, 289 was 8.7, 302 was 9.0. The best inline valve 302 head was the '68 4V head but they are scarce.

Joe

[19cometman63]

And thanks for the info. Basically confirms my research and everything I've found. So the next question, after market heads. Any preferences or thing to look for and what to avoid. Even though I have 2 sets of 260 heads that will definitely bolt down and work great. There are in sad shape. If they would pass mag and pressure check, the cost to bring them back I would guess would be far more than aftermarket heads. New valves, springs, seats, guides, decking them, big ouch to the pocket. Starting this project I knew it wasn't cheap. The sticker shock kicked me butt. I'm a darn good machinist. Been doing it for 35 years now. Definitely know and understand the cost of materials and shop rates and all. Machining isn't cheap, nor should it. It takes skills and carrying and pride to make everything we see and use. Any how, thanks so much for the info and insights. Old? Most are older than our cars. It's sorta cool to think that my car was born in the same generation. She is only a year older than...thanks

[Joe Travers]

So the next question, after market heads. Any preferences or thing to look for and what to avoid.

Some heads require certain piston profiles for valve clearance.
Look @ the camshaft/piston/head package as a whole.

Joe

[19cometman63]

As I am learning. Already making some very common rookie mistakes. I'm not one to hide mistakes or use excuses. 1st big mistake, planning. I now understanding why it is so important. Everything has to work together and planned or the optimum will not be achieved. As of yesterday, I am starting to think and work toward getting things back on track. I haven't gotten the motor and heads back, so I can't run some numbers to see where I'm going to land. Hopefully not on my head. I will get back later when I have most all the info. Then, hopefully someone can help make a good sound decision and direction to run. Well, walk, running is over rated and I'm just to old for it.

[Joe Travers]

I've been quite fortunate thus far with my '63. The car didn't come w/ a build sheet for the engine, so I had to keep digging to figure it out.
Some items are still a mystery until I bust it apart. It doesn't leak or burn oil so I've been very hesitant to do such just for curiosity sake.

Irked a bit @ the last owner. He promised me on three separate occasions to mail me the info and he never got around to it.

Joe

[19cometman63]

So true. Lack of information on what you have is a killer. My situation is no different. My person didn't have the info and possibly withheld Information. Cylinders being bored oversized from piston spec's. In a way it's hard for me to believe that the machine shop that did the work did not tell him what had happened. And then to find the rods were junk because of the same shop didn't pay attention to heating them up and distorted the pin holes. I held back and did not contact the person. But when the rods came back junk, I could not resist. As this is what I sent him...Good morning Tim. This is Rob, the guy that bought your motor. For what it's worth, and yes it was as is purchase, who ever did the machining and assembly to this motor,and excuse my language, F...... IT UP BAD! Cylinder bored way oversize. They heated up the rods and distorted them. The pins are now sloppy as hell. The rods are junk!. I would highly advise to stay away from them and put the word out...I am so glad I didn't just drop the motor in the car. Far easier to work on it on a stand than in the car. Thanks again. May be a bumpy road, but I sure am enjoying the learning and growing phase.

[19cometman63]

I have a question for you Joe. Since you have the same car I have. Are you running hears on it? If so, any issues getting them in and any issues with the z bar and linkage for the tranny? What brand and type if you are? I'm still up in the air on this. I have the stock manifolds, which is easy going back together. I have also found header/manifold which is easy going back together. Lots of questions and planning yet to come.