Just thought it worth mentioning a few things after my recent 302 issues. There's a lot of words as it's a long story.....
I had my 302 rebuilt to go in my Ranchero, the rebuild was thorough and done by someone who knows what he's doing. The block was hot-cleaned thoroughly and every single item fitted was new. It was bored to +40 thou due to marks in the bores, the crank ground to +10 thou and the rotating assembly balanced. Everything was rebuilt carefully, plasti-gauge used etc. I then added some new aluminium heads, intake, carb etc and dropped in. The radiator was an original item, twin electric fans fitted. It fired up straight away and ran great, BUT it over-heated with the gauge creeping up on a run. Despite being told by many to ignore the gauge I couldn't, something wasn't right. Timing was spot-on.
With the radiator being the only untouched part it had to be that, although an infra-red thermometer didn't give conclusive results. I decided to use some rad-flush. I used 2 or 3 lots and flushed the whole thing through afterwards. I even removed the insides of the thermostat and replaced the heater matrix but the damn thing still ran hot. Idling in traffic the engine started to sound "lumpy" as it got hotter. Another dose of rad-flush then some of the "water wetter" liquid in an attempt to lower the running temperature. Nope, still getting hot, still running lumpy when very hot, almost as if the engine was struggling to turn. Thoroughly pissed off now as I also had transmission problems (AOD).
COVID smacked us all in the face and it sat in the garage as the whole time around that just deflated me completely and I lost a lot of enthusiasm and it wasn't until 2021 that I went back in the garage to sort it. Some may remember the corroded aluminium heads, for those that didn't I removed them and found the water-ways badly corroded AND clogged with what looked like wallpaper paste, I put this down to corrosion caused by the rad flush (I had forgotten to add anti-freeze). The aluminium heads were replaced with cast iron heads and a quick peer down the block waterways seemed to show they were clear. Everything bolted up, fired up, overheating again.......
Water in the oil now so heads off, skimmed, bolted back on. Still overheating BUT a loud shrieking noise as well coming from within the engine. Nothing for it but bite the bullet and take the engine out.
So, stripping the engine completely (and removing the core plugs) has shown that the waterways are full of brown sludge and the bores scored. My conclusion after all this is that the original problem WAS the radiator, but using rad-flush, water wetter and then no anti freeze resulted in a highly corrosive cocktail rusting the engine up causing over heating. Constant over heating running it while trying to determine the cause caused the engine to partially seize (scored bores).
What's the point in all this waffle? Trust your instincts, if something doesn't feel right, investigate it and don't rely on miracle-potions to fix a problem, they could well make it worse.
I had my 302 rebuilt to go in my Ranchero, the rebuild was thorough and done by someone who knows what he's doing. The block was hot-cleaned thoroughly and every single item fitted was new. It was bored to +40 thou due to marks in the bores, the crank ground to +10 thou and the rotating assembly balanced. Everything was rebuilt carefully, plasti-gauge used etc. I then added some new aluminium heads, intake, carb etc and dropped in. The radiator was an original item, twin electric fans fitted. It fired up straight away and ran great, BUT it over-heated with the gauge creeping up on a run. Despite being told by many to ignore the gauge I couldn't, something wasn't right. Timing was spot-on.
With the radiator being the only untouched part it had to be that, although an infra-red thermometer didn't give conclusive results. I decided to use some rad-flush. I used 2 or 3 lots and flushed the whole thing through afterwards. I even removed the insides of the thermostat and replaced the heater matrix but the damn thing still ran hot. Idling in traffic the engine started to sound "lumpy" as it got hotter. Another dose of rad-flush then some of the "water wetter" liquid in an attempt to lower the running temperature. Nope, still getting hot, still running lumpy when very hot, almost as if the engine was struggling to turn. Thoroughly pissed off now as I also had transmission problems (AOD).
COVID smacked us all in the face and it sat in the garage as the whole time around that just deflated me completely and I lost a lot of enthusiasm and it wasn't until 2021 that I went back in the garage to sort it. Some may remember the corroded aluminium heads, for those that didn't I removed them and found the water-ways badly corroded AND clogged with what looked like wallpaper paste, I put this down to corrosion caused by the rad flush (I had forgotten to add anti-freeze). The aluminium heads were replaced with cast iron heads and a quick peer down the block waterways seemed to show they were clear. Everything bolted up, fired up, overheating again.......
Water in the oil now so heads off, skimmed, bolted back on. Still overheating BUT a loud shrieking noise as well coming from within the engine. Nothing for it but bite the bullet and take the engine out.
So, stripping the engine completely (and removing the core plugs) has shown that the waterways are full of brown sludge and the bores scored. My conclusion after all this is that the original problem WAS the radiator, but using rad-flush, water wetter and then no anti freeze resulted in a highly corrosive cocktail rusting the engine up causing over heating. Constant over heating running it while trying to determine the cause caused the engine to partially seize (scored bores).
What's the point in all this waffle? Trust your instincts, if something doesn't feel right, investigate it and don't rely on miracle-potions to fix a problem, they could well make it worse.
