Category: Engine

It’s Alive!

Posted on | by System Administrator
Got the motor back together, put it back in, and fired it up. Kinda of loud with open headers but it runs great!

Cleaning and Rebuilding the 302

Posted on | by System Administrator

Usually, engine degreaser would clean an engine up. For this, I got out the sand blaster and made sure it was clean.  For being 35 years old, the 302 was surprisingly clean inside. Since I already knew the engine ran well, and didn’t smoke, there wasn’t much reason to tear the bottom end down so I just did some cleaning and put it back together.

The transmission went out to be rebuilt, it should be done one of these days….

Sand Blasting and Painting Engine Bay

Posted on | by System Administrator
With the engine, fenders and everything else out of the way, we pushed the Falcon outside and did some sand blasting. Got it down to bare metal, threw on some seam sealer, and spray bombed it Satin Black.  Not professional, but MUCH better than it was…

Stripping it down again

Posted on | by System Administrator
Knowing that the engine, transmission and headers fit without any problems, they can come back out so they can be rebuilt and we can do more work. Then, stripping the car down so we can do some sand blasting and start making look more presentable. Might be nice to know where the shims were for the fender in case they have problems lining it up again later, always good to have original pictures to reference when needed.

Motor Mounts and Headers for the 302

Posted on | by System Administrator

The motor mounts for the 302 went in and bolted up without any problems (after I figured out left vs right).

The Hedman 88400 shorty headers slid right in from underneath and bolted up. Kind of tight with the shock towers but no modifications were needed. Still not sure if they will interfere with the shifter linkage but will deal with that later sometime.

Test Fitting the Motor & Transmission

Posted on | by System Administrator
Yay, it fits! No cutting needed, and there’s room for the headers  🙂

V8 Motor Mounts and New Crossmember

Posted on | by System Administrator
Nothing special going on here, just fitting the new motor mounts and crossmember that we’ll need to drop the 302 in.

1980 Lincoln Versailles – The Donor

Posted on | by System Administrator

  This car had been sitting for almost 10 years.

With a little work, I got it running again and drove it around the parking lot a bit before deciding the 302/C4 combo would be ok to use.

It also has a nice 9″ rear end with disc brakes that would be nice to use, will have to see how it fits.

The motor and trans are now out and ready to test fit into the Falcon.

This is how it starts

Posted on | by System Administrator

For the past few years, the Falcon has been sitting in the shop and was being used for storage.

Time to start stripping it to see what we’re working with…