When the previous owner dropped this small block engine into the car after removing the original
straight six cylinder he was under the impression that it was a 302 and the casting numbers on the block and the intake manifold
do support that. So we purchased the car with a 302 engine that was basically in stock form.
It ran ok but was lacking power. After having the car at home for a while my husband did a
tune-up on it and found that the vacuum hoses for the distributor had been incorrectly routed. He also reset the gap
on the points and found the timing to be way off. After everything was set to the proper specifications the car had a new
vitality. It sounded much better and the acceleration was what you would expect from a 302 in such a light car.
Of course this was all well and good, but at the first show we went to at Carlisle, Pa, the
car was obviously lacking in the "wow" department when it came to the appearance of the engine. We knew this was going to
change.
Here is what I had to start with. The only change to the engine from when we got the car was
the chrome air cleaner.
