Engine Assembly, continued
56. With the lifters in place and heads on, we're ready to set the intake gaskets in place. We're using Fel Pro 1262. Use a thick RTV bead rather than the cork end seals.	57. The Edelbrock Vic. Jr. intake is carefully set into place, and intake bolts torqued in sequence to 18 lb. ft.
58. If done correctly, the RTV sealant will form a perfect seal between the intake and block.	59. Because our heads have been milled 0.040", the stock 5.0L pushrod length (6.375") was slightly too long. We ordered a set of Crane 6.250" hardened pushrods after verifying that length would yeild optimal roller tip placement.
60. Shown here is ideal roller tip positioning on the valve stem. The roller wheel should be just slightly towards the intake side of the valve stem, when the valve is fully closed. At max lift the roller wheel will be about dead center. The objective is to select a pushrod length that minimizes the "sweep", or movement of the roller tip or wheel across the valve stem.	61. With the stock 5.0L pushrod length the roller tip was positioned close tot he outer edge of the valve stem. As the valve opens the wheel will travel even further outward, resulting in excessive preloading of the valve guide.
62. Most stroker kits for the 302 utilize a 28oz balance factor. As we showed in the part 1 of this series, we had our flywheel balanced to 28oz. At the front end we ordered up a 28oz hub for our existing Fluidamper. The 50oz hub is removed and the 28oz piece bolts right to the outer ring.	63. One of the few surprises we encountered with the 331 project was discovering that the 28oz hub is nearly 1/2" shorter than the 50oz hub. This is done presumably to maintain the stock pulley alignment on early 28oz Fords. For us it meant having to order a custom spacer to work with the single v-groove, 4-bolt pulley we had made specifically for the 50oz hub.
64. If you look closely you can make out the timing tape we applied during the previous 302 buildup. This was necessary because the timing marks on the FLuidamper, when clocked with a 50oz hub, are intended to match up to a late-model timing pointer -the kind that bolts the timing cover, when the waterpump exits on the right. Well with the 28oz hub we did not need the timing tape, the scribes on the damper ring were dead on with the cast timing pointer on the early timing cover -why? Again we presume Fluidamper makes the 28oz hub to work with the early applications.	65. Shown is the Auto Specialties pulley spacer. This will enable us to line up the crank and waterpump pulleys, and at $35 it is much cheaper than locating a set of single groove, four-bolt pulleys (no car came with such as thing stock as far as we know.)

There you have it, 331 cubic inches cleverly disguised in a 302 body. As you have read, building a 302 based stroker is not drastically different from a proper 302 rebuild. There are some areas which require added consideration during the assembly process.

In the next article we'll discuss the final touches to the induction and exhaust systems supporting the motor. We'll also have the motor installed in our '67 Mustang and hopefully bring you some preliminary track and dyno results.

In the mean time look for some articles on what we're doing to prepare the '67 for it's new powerplant. F/M