How To Rebuild Your Small-Block Ford

engine, then bring it up to the full mark. Carburetor-Carburetors have varied widely over the years during the existence of the small-block Fords-from the perfor- mance-oriented high-performance 289 with its four-barrel carburetor and manual choke to some of the later emissions and mileage-oriented two-barrel equipped 302s and 351s. Regardless of the engine, most use a spacer between the carburetor and the intake manifold. This insulates the carburetor from the intake manifold and provides an inlet for the PCV system into the engine's induction system. Install a gasket on the manifold followed by the spacer and then another gasket. You can now position the carburetor on the manifold, or spacer and secure it with the four attaching nuts. Go around the carburetor tightening each one a little at a time until all are at the correct torque. Don't exceed 15 ft. lbs., they are easily stripped. Progressively tightening the bolts eliminates the possibility of breaking the carburetor flange.

Crankcase Ventilation-Hook up the lines to the carburetor starting with the PCV valve and hose. First check the valve. Shake it andlisten for a rattle. If it rattles, the valve is OK t o install. Otherwise, soak it in solvent until it loosens up. Replace it if it doesn't rattle after soaking. Plug the valve into the valve cover, usually at the right rear. Connect the hose from the valve to the carburetor spacer. If you have one of the earlier small blocks, the crankcase portion of the PCV system ran to the back of the intake manifold and used a valve which spliced into hose. These can be found on some of the 221s, 260s and pre-1966 289s. Those engines not using a PCV system used a road-draft tube instead. It replaced the PCV system at the manifold and vented the crankcase to the atmosphere. If yours is this type, I suggest changing it over to the PCV system because of the emissions aspect and to keep the engine cleaner inside. It will also get slightly better gas mileage! The harmful fumes circulating in the crankcase will be drawn into the combustion chamber and burned rather than contaminating the crankcase oil or venting into the air.

Choke-If you have a high-performance 289, hook up the choke cable and adjust it. With the choke knob all the way in, clamp the cable conduit after securing the cable end to the choke-plate lever with the choke open. On the other hand, if you have an automatic choke, connect the heat tube from the right exhaust manifold to the choke. Some engines have another tube which parallels this tube. Connect it to the tube coming from the right-rear underside of the carburetor base. This tube provides filtered air to the choke heat tube at the exhaust manifold. easy to cross-thread it. Just make sure the

tube is bent so it has a "straight shot" at the choke. Not all engines, but some have another tube which parallels this tube. Connect it t o the tube coming from the right-rear underside of the carburetor base. This tube provides filtered air to the choke heat tube.

Carburetor Linkage-You will have either a single rod connecting the carburetor t o the accelerator-pedal lever at the firewall or it will go to a bellcrank with mounts on the intake manifold and then a second rod connects the bellcrank t o the accelerator. In addition, there is a rod which parallels this one which connects the bellcrank to the firewall. If you are puzzled by this arrangement, it's to cancel the effect of engine roll on the position of the throttle. The latest linkage used is the cable type. When a cable is used in conjunction with an automatic transn~ission, you'll also have a kick-down rod to attach to the throttle-plate lever.

For attaching the simple lever-type linkage, position the retaining clip over the throttle-plate-lever hole first, then insert the bent end of the rod in the hole. You can now rotate the clip over the rod. For the bellcrank type, mount the bellcrank to the intake manifold and then the rod to the carburetor unless you removed the bellcrank from the engine compartment rather than just rotating it up out of the way. If this is the case, you'll have to hook up the other two rods, also.

The final customer is the cable type. Just insert the cable through the cable bracket attached to the intake manifold. Push it far enough so the end of the cable conduit clips into the bracket. There'll be a ball-pivot extending from the throttleplate lever. Push the end of the cable over it until it clips into place. If you have an automatic transmission, hook the kickdown rod by slipping it over a pin on the throttle-plate lever and retain it with the clip you should've left on the carburetor. The last thing to do with the throttle linkage is to install the return springs. Earlier rod types have a bracket at the right-rear carburetor-mounting stud. Attach the spring between. this bracket and the zig-zag in the throttle rod. The bellcrank type has its return spring on the bellcrank itself. It should still be there because you didn't have to remove it. The cable type has one return spring as part of the cable assembly and also uses an additional spring which hooks between the throttle-plate lever and a bracket on the left-front carburetor-mounting stud. Install the spring between these two points.

Ignition Coil-Mount the ignition coil to the intake manifold or the front of the left cylinder head. If your coil was originally mounted to the manifold, relocate it to the head, or t o the A/C bracket in a vertical position. The reason for this, particularly in hot climates, is that under-

trimmed, it will kink and restrict proper coolant circulation through the engine when the thermostat is closed.

ACCESSORY DRIVE INSTALLATION The degree of difficulty of installing your accessory drive can vary from a fiveminute job to the toughest part of the engine installation. I'll treat the installation like your car is loaded and you can simply delete those sections that don't

apply to your installation.

A/C Compressor and Power-Steering Pump-Rather than treating the A/C compressor and power-steering pump separately, I'll have to deal with them as a team because they use common mountings-not totally, but enough so one can't be mounted without the other. This is only true when you have both accessories.

Your A/C compressor should still be hanging where you left it when removing your engine-on the fender apron. Whlle it's still there, install the mounting bracket to the bottom of the compressor, the big bracket. Make sure you use the right bolts. They are the short 3/8-16 bolts with the integral serrated-face washers. Ford terms these UBS bolts, meaning uniform bearing strength. Make sure you use the correct length bolts, install them carefully to check for "bottoming." The very short ones are used to mount the adjustable-idler bracket to the compressor bracket. Torque these bolts 20-30 ft. lbs. You can mount the compressor to the left cylinder head. Torque the bolts 23-28 ft. lbs. When initially mounting the compressor you need an accomplice to start the bolts while you support the compressor. An A/C compressor with its clutch is a little too much for one guy to handle alone.

Next customer is the power-steering pump and bracket assembly. It mounts to the A/C compressor bracket and to the water pump. The bolts at the water pump not only support the power-steering pump, they also mount the water pump. Torque the bolts at the water pump 1520 ft. lbs. and the one at the compressor bracket 23-28 ft. lbs. One thing to watch out for at this point is what looks like a thick washer on one of the water-pump bolts. I say "looks like" because it's actually a spacer and not a washer and it goes on the bottom power-steering-pump- bracket-to-water-pump mounting bolt. Leave it loose, it mounts even more!

A/C-Compressor Idler-Pulley BracketTurn your attention back to the A/C compressor. Install the bracket which mounts the adjustable pulley. Three UBS bolts mount this bracket, two on top of the compressor and one which is effectively hidden behind and under the bracket. Don't miss this last one. Also, install the clip for the compressor's magnetic-clutch lead and the A/C specification tag under the top-rear mounting bolt. Torque the

bolts 20-30 ft. lbs. and make certain the bolts are short enough so they pull down on the bracket rather than bottoming in the threaded holes in the compressor housing. If it's not already on the bracket,

ing equipped engines use a back-side idler pulley. This fixed pulley stabilizes the belt to prevent it from whipping. If yours has one, you can easily recognize it by its bracket-it looks like a three-legged octopus. This is because of the different planes in which the bracket mounts as well as the spread of the mounting holes. The top leg mounts to the adjustable-idler- pully bracket and the lower-inboard leg to the water-pump bolt with the spacer. Make sure this spacer goes immediately behind the idler bracket, otherwise the pulley won't line up with the other pulleys and will result in excessive belt wear or a belt which is constantly jumping its pulleys.

your engine, connect the compressor's magnetic-clutch lead. Do it now because it's easy to forget. You'll wonder why your air conditioning won't work the first time you try to use it.

Air-Injection Pump and Alternator/Gen- erator-Just like the A/C compressor and power-steering pump, if your engine is equipped with an alternator and an air pump, they'll use common brackets. However, unlike the A/C compressor and power-steering pump, the position of the alternator and air pump can be different, depending on the year and model of your vehicle. Because you should already have your alternator mounted, you'll just have to install the air-injection pump. If yours is the type which mounts above the alternator, it'll be a little easier just because of the easier access. Regardless of the relative positions of the two units, the air pump mounts off the alternator pivot and is supported on the opposite side by an adjustable arm similar to that used for the alternator. Mount the air pump, but don't tighten it up yet. Route the air-pump hoses and mount the bypass valve if there are provisions for doing do. Bypass valves used with air pumps mounted above the alternator are usually supported by their hoses. The others mount from a tab supported by the top thermostat housing bolt. One hose runs from the air pump to the bypass valve, but one or two go from the bypass valve to the check valve/s. The type using one valve is internally manifolded and locates its check valve at the back of the engine whereas the others are externally manifolded along the side of each cylinder head. Before you install the air-pump hoses, inspect and replace them if cracks appear when you squeeze

them-in this case, they're about ready to fail.

Spark Plug and Coil Leads-Turn your attention back to the ignition system. Make sure the rotor is fully installed-all the way down on the distributor shaftand install the cap and secure it with the two spring clips. If they're not already there, install the little plastic ignition-wire- retaining clips. Starting with socket 1 on the distributor cap, route the wires in the engine firing order as you go around the cap counter-clockwise, point the wires in the general direction of the valve-cover clip they will have to be routed through. Remember, the firing order for all small blocks except the 351 is 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8. The 351 order is 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8.The order for the wires in the right valve-cover clip is 1-2-3-4.

Because of the difference in firing orders between the 351 and the rest of the engines, the order for the 351 left valve-cover clip is 5-6-7-8. The order for the rest is 7-5-6-8.The reason for the odd order for the left-hand valve-cover clip is to separate the wires running to cylinders 7 and 8 which fire right after one another, for all small blocks except for the 351 and 6 and 5 for the 3 51. This prevents a possible misfire in the second cylinder caused by induced current in the second wire-number 5 in the 351 and number 8 in all the others. An induced current occurs when two wires are close and parallel for some distance. Current flowing in one of the wires automatically induces current to flow in the other wire, enough to cause a weak spark and a misfire.

Spark-plug wires have different lengths. Consequently, the easiest way to install new wires, if you're doing so, is to install the old distributor cap and wires. Now, all you have to do is replace each wire one-at-a-time by comparing the lengths and duplicating the routings. However, if you've discarded your old wires you'll have to do a trial routing. Install the wires loosely at the distributor cap. They are difficult to get off if they are fully installed. After you are satisfied with the routing, push down on the molded cap at the end of each wire to seat it in its dis- tributor-cap socket. It's not easy because, as the cap goes on, air has to be forced out. As for the spark-plug end, push until you feel the connector click into place, then give it a little tug to see if it's on all the way. Pull on the molded sleeve, not on the wire. Don't forget the coil lead. It's easy to install once the plug wires are in place.

Heater Hoses-Install new heater hoses as you would a radiator hose. If they are over two-years old, replace them and use the old hoses to determine the length of the new ones. The heater-inlet hose is routed from the intake manifold fitting to the bottom heater-core tube. The