Repair-It

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QJLCSyfLE0

Also, watching this is painful after watching the Sloppy Mechanics 36 minute cam swap video.

Ford jab: the oil pan on that T-bird 302 is the dumbest thing ever, because it needs two drain plugs.

kevm14 wrote: Ford jab: the oil pan on that T-bird 302 is the dumbest thing ever, because it needs two drain plugs.

Fun fact: The 302 in my '80 T-Bird had that. It made oil changes stupid.

Also, I like how they were very concerned about the pushrod location, unlike Sloppy Mechanics.

That's what I meant by my comment.

Although, somewhat ironically, all that care was warranted as this engine had a tough life.

What's better, that people who do turbo LS swaps are using engines that have these issues and it still makes 700hp reliably?

Or that people who do turbo LS swaps are using engines from high mile vehicles that DON'T have any of the issues that this random 302 did?

Either works for me.

kevm14 wrote:That's what I meant by my comment.

Although, somewhat ironically, all that care was warranted as this engine had a tough life.

What's better, that people who do turbo LS swaps are using engines that have these issues and it still makes 700hp reliably?

Or that people who do turbo LS swaps are using engines from high mile vehicles that DON'T have any of the issues that this random 302 did?

Either works for me.

Do LS truck engines have a history of blowing coolant all over the place? Or have carbon buildup issues on the piston?

Although for that second thing I think there might have been an oiling issue in that 302. Probably bad valve seals for tens of thousands of miles to get that much buildup. Probably also needed a tuneup for a while so it was never able to properly burn off the oil that was there.

Here is a story from my T-Bird ownership:
Some time after I got it, the engine developed a lower end knock. So I went to the junkyard to get a nice replacement engine. We found a lowish mileage '78 Ford Granada with a 302. After pulling the engine and taking it back to my uncle's garage, we pulled the manifolds and valve covers to clean stuff up, we found there was a lot of carbon deposits all over stuff under the valve cover. We guessed the engine had some extended oil change intervals. I ended up doing some low-interval oil changes for a while once I got the engine back in my T-Bird and it seemed fine for the rest of its life.

I still have that engine. The block can be seen in front of my Monte Carlo in the "assessment" thread. The heads and other bits are on a shelf on the side of the garage.