302 Cubic Inch Engine Startup

Bored&Stroked

Bored&Stroked

Well-known member
This is an engine that I've just completed - as a project to mentor a friend (Andy Huck) on how to build a performance street flathead for a 50's style Hotrod. He has an original 32 Roadster that came from his Uncle - which is where the engine is headed.

After this brief run, we installed a radiator such that we could break-in the CAM and run it for 30 minutes.

I put a bunch of work into resurrecting the Harman Collins dual coil, so I wanted to ensure everything was setup before putting the radiator on the stand. These old Harman Collins dual-coils can have a lot of issues with the secondary high-voltage yellow mid-plate - they want to leak the spark energy to all sorts of places other than to the plugs. I'm working on 4 of them at the moment - I had to do some "mods" to the plate on this unit to get it to fire correctly on all 8 cylinders. Thank gosh I have a Sun distributor machine with a 'Frankenstein' adapter to test the spark plugs - otherwise the chances of getting one to work correctly would be slim . . .

Enjoy the video!

https://youtu.be/u_5RrwzT2tc
 
Great to know Dale. I may have to send the pile of them to you now your an expert on them rather than spend time educating myself. Well done mate.
 
Here are the specs:

a) 59AB Block
b) Bored to 3.361", 1.5, 1.5, 3.0 mm rings
c) Stroke 4.250 - New Eagle crankshaft - reground and polished with .010 rods and mains and SCAT H-Beam rods with Buick bearings.
d) Fully ported and relieved
e) Square Decked
f) .040 piston to head clearance.
g) Potvin 3/8 cam installed at 111 degree intake centerline (thanks Pete!)
h) 1.5" valves installed with LZ springs, 65 - 70 lbs on the seat
i) Bronze lined guides - thanks Gary (RIP)
j) Edelbrock heads and intake with three new Stromberg 97s (thanks Uncle Max!)
k) Harman Collins Dual Coil, 22 degrees of advance
l) 49-53 Oil Pump with a baffle installed in the pan to keep oil on the pickup during braking.
m) ARP main studs with a center cap support, ARP head studs
n) Line bored and honed (due to center cap support and new studs)
o) Custom 25 lb steel flywheel from RAM
p) Lots of gaskets, hardware and other goodies from Mike at ThirdGen and Mac VanPelt ( a big thanks to those great guys!)

This is a high-performance street engine - should do the trick for Andy. :D It is his first engine build, first HotRod, first 32 . . . he has really gotten into this stuff and has been working side-by-side with me on this for over a year.

It is nice to mentor somebody who "gets it" and really wants to get his hands dirty and learn . . . makes all the time worth it. :rolleyes:
 
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How heavy is the vehicle it is going into? Was curious about the somewhat heavy flywheel. What dia clutch are you using? I would thing a 32 roadster could handle a light flywheel with ease, but that is just how I think. My brain is stuck in the 50s and max performance even on a street engine, LOL.
 
Very nice Dale especially knowing Andy will get to enjoy this crazy flathead performance stuff we loose sleep thinking about. Boy I hope his Deuce has some stout axles and transmission gears or a good supply of extras because you know that engine can break parts easily. :)

Ronnieroadster
 
A "5 Liter" Ford. What's old is new again!.

I would also like to see dyno numbers (only out of idle curiosity, of course).
 
KiWinUS said:
Great to know Dale. I may have to send the pile of them to you now your an expert on them rather than spend time educating myself. Well done mate.
Click to expand...

Thank you sir! I've spent a couple weeks on these damn Harman Collins distributors . . . and that was AFTER I thought I knew what the situation was.

Have learned a ton about their issues and have created multiple work-arounds to get them back in service. There are two different mid-plate designs - each has its own set of shortcomings.

I love getting these old ignitions working again (though it takes a lot of time), so if you want to resurrect some of yours, lets chat. Maybe we can barter a bit! Hell - I still want to run one of your cams. :D

One thing I know - you have the same "Ignition/Magneto Sickness" that I do . . . and there is NO CURE! LOL
 
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