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Published on 22 April 2024

Getting more into the small stuff while waiting for the heads. About to install the timing cover and weighing up whether to use "Ultimate Black RTV" or Permatex form-a-gasket. I'm leaning toward form-a-gasket, I think the black RTV is pretty awesome stuff but when I pulled the big Hemi out of the 300 the oil pickup had quite a bit of RTV stuck in it, so I'm reluctant to use too much on the smaller paper gaskets where the pressure is fairly low (like the timing case). Front seal replaced as well, Ford engine manual says you need yellow dye #5 and special tool #487 to do that but I just pried the old one out and bashed (carefully) the new one into place. I did put a small amount of form-a-gasket around the mating surface of the seal and the timing cover. Hit it with a wire brush to remove the worst of the corrosion but it will be painted so won't matter too much on the outside. Thinking out loud...form-a-gasket on the timing case gaskets and then ultra black RTV where they meet anything at the edges should be plenty to keep it as oil leak free as I can. This picture is a trial fit of the fuel pump to make sure I got the eccentric right on the nose of the camshaft. This part is pure garbage, two stamped sheet metal pieces running one inside the other. They feel flimsy and they are flimsy and mostly kept lubricated by accident. It's stuff like that and that awful fuel pump actuator that make the 302 seems like a cheap and fairly nasty bit of gear. I probably should have researched a better solution for driving the fuel pump. The outer piece is like a shell that rotates around, I assume to act like some kind of primitive bearing so that the fuel pump arm doesn't wear through to the inner part of the eccentric. It sucks. Most cars will have a proper, machined lobe to do this, not some half cobbled together pair of cat food tins mounted off centre. The sooner I get that cover on the quicker I won't have to look at it!