1977 302 PCM Engine

I finally had time to get back into the engine repair, I have been trying to figure out what I want to do with the Camshaft. I found a company online (that is actually only a few miles from my house, I had no idea what they did). Its called LSM Engineering Systems, they make custom camshafts for pretty much everything, automotive, racing, agriculture, locomotives, etc. The owner gave me a tour of the facility, I have a lot of experience grinding gears and transmission/axle components and I was quite impressed with the facility.

I dropped my cam off to him yesterday, he is going to scan it and check it out on the CMM. He said he should be able to get back to me next week with a few options, Roller Cam, improved Flat Tappet, or making a new one identical to the original.

He also mentioned changing the firing order to match the 351 (same as the 302 HO engines). Has anyone changed their firing order on a 302?

I'll keep you updated, but if the price is right, I am going to upgrade to a roller.

Mille1sj wrote: I know we have been talking paint quite a bit on here but I have a few more engine specific questions. As I started tearing into the engine, I found a few concerns, burnt valve, pitted lash cap and worn rockers. I just dropped the engine off to a friend at his machine shop to take a look at the cylinder bores to see if they need to be opened up. We have been discussing roller cam vs flat tap. I would like to go to a roller if they are even available. So far my search has found nothing for a reverse rotation roller cam. Has anyone found one or are they just not out there. After reading a few other threads, I am going to the GT40 heads.

RH roller cams do not exist in the wild - a lot of money might get you a custom one built. You would do better with gt40p heads than gt40 for less money.   There are some aluminum aftermarket heads that are pretty cheap now as well that seem to be ok.

If you need rockers some 1.7 roller rockers (pedestal mount) for those gt40ps seem to be a good upgrade for the wussy flat tappet rh cams that are available...

89Nautique2001 wrote: Looks like John Deere Green

Here's a picture of my manifold from 1976 and a piece of metal painted JD green that I took today while doing some paint touch up on a JD tractor

Hardly any difference at all especially when doing touch up on the manifold

Maybe TRB is talking about the 72 Waukesha color being a lot lighter or something?

Maybe there are different shades of JD green

Mille1sj wrote: Did they leave the automotive plant the lighter blue then get painted again by PCM?

Quite possibly, the current PCM engines come in painted from the factory - modified to marinize and then repainted (usually wires/electrical components and all ) at PCM. I suspect all marinizers have basically been the same process..

No, it’s significantly lighter/brighter than Deere.

Oh my word . That color green on an engine sure is one of those " what has been seen can not be unseen " situations .

KENO wrote: Here's a real picture

I think this is a fake unless you include a picture of today’s newspaper in the foreground

KENO wrote: Here's a real picture

KENO wrote: Faceplant wrote: Does anybody have a pic of the green manifolds ? Just curious . If you were to check back later today, I bet you'll see some green manifolds

Ken.
Why didn't you post the picture 4 and a half hours ago?

IMG]uploads/253/pcm_green_exh_manifold.jpg[/IMG]
What else can I do wrong per Ken today?

Here's a real picture

Like TRB and others have said in the past, it's darker than Grabber green which gets mentioned in numerous posts as being something close.

Paint has held up pretty well for 42 years and lots of hours of use.

Does anybody have a pic of the green manifolds ? Just curious .

Mille1sj wrote: KENO wrote: Why do I have this wild urge to go listen to some oldies like "Fly like an Eagle"   "Abracadabra" and   "Take the money and run" ? It wouldn’t be a normal day if I didn’t get at least one Steve Miller comment.

Glad to make it a normal day

The whole engine was the same shade of blue, with those bright green exhaust manifolds

Over in the UK on things like motorcycle parts, they sandblast,zinc plate then power coat. That seems like a better way,but it was not cheap

KENO wrote: Why do I have this wild urge to go listen to some oldies like "Fly like an Eagle"   "Abracadabra" and   "Take the money and run" ?

It wouldn’t be a normal day if I didn’t get at least one Steve Miller comment.

8122pbrainard wrote: Steve, I feel you have the wrong idea about powder coating. The "baking" is not to adhere the coating but to melt it. It's basically a plastic powder sprayed onto a warm surface and then when it goes back into the oven the powder melts together. Adhesion has been improved through the years but it's still not as good as wet paint where there's a chemical bonding. Have you ever had the plastic coating on plier handles slip off? I always use that as an analogy.

All of the powder coating that I have had done had to be sand blasted first to give it a surface to bite onto. Questionable as to which method adheres the best when each is properly applied. Paint is probably easier to color match.
All my tools had a "plastidip" applied to them and not a powder coating. Apparently yours are different.