Breathing deep (porting my heads)
 

I have a couple questions about porting my heads, which if all goes well I will be starting tomorrow. I decided it would be alot better idea to take my valves out to port my heads easier, and not screw up the valve on accident. Taking them out, the exhaust valves come apart really easy, but i cant get the intake valves to budge. I can get the spring compressed, but for some reason the little cap and clip things wont come off. Is there a trick to this?? Also, I was looking over the inside of the exhaust port, and that big hump that everybody told me to get rid of, and it kinda has a transistion to the valve hole. Is it ok to grind this down also?? I would think it would, but want to be sure. One more thing, a bit off topic. Does anybody know if the motor mounts for a 65 stang 289 will accept a 79 302?? Or any mounts that will. Thanks for the help all. I will hopefully be getting the machining work(to the block) started on Friday (pay day). I am getting pretty excited, i think it will be a real screamer. Thanks all!

On some old 72 351C heads that I had, it took a 15 pound deadblow mallet to get the valves out. If the engine has not been operated in a while....this happens on occasion. Reason is that there is no clearance in there so it is very easy for things to rust together. You're dealing with valve locks. Now I'll be darned but those shouldnt stick for any reason!

Do this: Stand the head on it's end so the cylinders are not against any surface. Get a small hammer and tap the intake valve tops on the other side (where the valvelocks are) to get the spring to compress a bit. Basically you are shaking them up a bit. Do this to your heart's content. Maybe a piece of wood inbetween so you don't chip the valve stems. They should be much more agreeable.

Careful....there might be coolant passages underneath huge bumps....keep that in mind.

This is for E7 heads but the principles are the same, they are smogger heads. Read this page and all of it's links:
http://www.diyporting.com/E7prj.html
http://www.cmc.net/~xero/Mousesporting.html
I ported up my gt-40p's based on what I read here.

Concentrated on the short turn floor, the bowl area and grind the guide boss down for best results. All of these smog heads are anemic in the exhaust ports so spend more time there than in the intake. I recommend 40-60 grit metal sanding sandpaper, rolled into tubes, for the intake runners, sanding flapwheels+dremel for the combustion chambers, rotary file+dremel for the bowl area. Substitue die grinder for dremel if available. Dont forget to gasket match both the heads and the intake

Good luck!

Crazy Pete

The 79 302 should bolt up to the 289 mounts. Seems to me like the 65 mounts lowered an engine a bit more then the rest, but anyway they should work.
yes you want to grind the bump in the exhaust port out. Just be carefull when u get next to the valve seats....if u mess them up to much, the machine shop will have to do some work to get them fixed. U r gonna need to take them to a machine shop afterwards, just no need to cost yourself more money then needed.
Ryan

I forgot the valve locks. I sat my heads down (combustion side down) with a block of wood underneath them. I used the spring compressor to compress the springs, which allowed the valve to go down so it was touching the wood. Using a small screwdriver, and several swift wacks of the hammer....u should be able to break them all loose. After a couple hits to one side, hit on the other side of the retainer. Hope this might help ya.
Ryan

valves
 

After you get the valves out make sure and check them out.
When I took the valves out of '79 302 2 of them we're mushroomed, and it seemed like just about everyone of them them were bent quite a bit, just put them in a drill one by one and watch really close for any wabble. you can buy o.e.m. valves for 3.95(intake) and 5.95(exhaust)

Is there any water jackets below that hump thing?? It seems that the humps and valve holes are level, so do i grind down the valve hole, or leave it along?? Thanks for telling about the motor mounts, havent been able to find that info anywhere. Should i be using the spring compressor up against the valve?? That is what i did for 4 of the valves. They seem to have some carbon build up on all of them, so can i just scrap that off?? thanks again.

Ok, I used a srew down type spring compressor....what kind are u using? If there is carbon built up, I would hit that with some carb cleaner to try to get some of it off there. PRobably not really a big deal though.

As for the porting, and valve hole...are you talking about the valve guides? as for grinding the exhaust bump out, u should not hit water in just taking the bump out. It is suppose to be in the short turn radius' that you can come close to hitting water.....and in the combustion chambers......dont know for sure though, I have yet to hit water.
Ryan

a picture
 

This pic should show the valve seats in red, this is the area u need to be carefull around. What area were u thinking of?
Ryan

forgot the pic
 

oops

I am using a spring compressor that is shaped like a C. It has a large bolt thing pretty much, that you turn and it pushes againts the valve and valve spring. Well, i got one exhaust port Huge bump thing grinded down, and it looks pretty good. I think that I will just grind those down and then just smooth everything else out. Im not going to touch the combustion chambers, they seem scary, lol. One question that i have now though, is that the hole for that sensor thing that that hump is made up of is long and oval, do I want to try to get rid of that as much as possible, or leave it be?? I have been doing all of my grinding thrus far from the headers/heads port side. As for the area i was thinking of, was just any area! All a bit scary to me yet. The funny thing is that I am doing all my work on it at school, so all the other kids think Im some kind of genius of engines now, haha. I just hope the thing runs when I am done with it...............Thanks for all the help.

I am not sure on the area that you needed help with. Can you explain it a little better?
Ryan

The area i am dealing with is that thermo-air hump in the exhaust port. It is the hump that is on heads after 68 or around there i believe. The only thing i am really concerned about now is if i need to do anything with the now oval hole of that thermo-air thing. If i leave it, i think i will be ok, but just want to be sure.

The hole is gonna be there to stay...just smooth out that part of the port as best as you can.
Ryan

thanks for all the help. I believe that I am now good to go, concerning my head porting anywho. I have one port done now, with two others about half way. So i still have alot of work to do! thanks again.