Posted by Old Guy (216.152.14.91) on February 19, 2001 at 20:26:35:
In Reply to: Engine Question??? posted by Jeri on February 19, 2001 at 13:48:05:
: Hello everyone! I am going to be rebuilding my engine for my 73 mav very soon. I was talking to the guy at my local performance shop about upgrades (ie. cams, intake manifold, etc) and he said that because my car has a different engine than it came with (originally a six cylider) that I need to make sure what year of maverick that the new one came from. He mentioned something about 73's having a long block and that it doesn't get the same compression? How can I tell what year engine I have? I bought the car last year and really have no idea if the engine that is in it is even a Mav engine. Will other Ford engines fit in a 73 (originally six cylinder) mav? Thanks for all your help. Any suggestions about anything would be greatly appreciated and welcomed. Thanks again!
: Jeri
The guy at the shop was relating to the 73-76 302 blocks, they have a taller deck height which puts the piston farther away from the head and thus lowers compression ratio. Along with bigger combustion chambers this really lowers the ratio. All in the name of "Emission Control", you can either use domed pistons or when rebuilding the engine, have it decked down or you can even mill the heads to raise some compression. Good machine shop should check all this for you if you tell them about your performance plans. One other thing though if you bump up the compression ratio to much, you will have to run high octane gas to prevent detonation (ping).