Ford 360 help

is there any alternative other than pulling the heads off and having a valve job done? the compression is fine and i know the heads need done but i dont have the experience enough to do it myself and i dont want to pay $600 to have it done. and that was the cheapest quote i have received so far.

what is it doing that you need to have a valve job done? running rough? smoking?

its smoking... alot now. and i still put in lead additive and i have even put in thicker oil but it still smokes when i stop at a light or sit with it running for a period of time.

You may have a cracked ring. If it smokes on startups it may be the valve seals. If it's the valve seals you can replace those without taking off the heads. You have to use air to fill the spark plug hole. I can tell you how to do it and what you need if you choose to try it.

Do you have a breather on it with the hose still on it from the valve cover? Is there any oil in it? Can you see smoke or oil coming from the dipstick tube?

no breather and no smoke coming from the dipstick tube. smokes alot when started up and a little while driving but i dont ever thinking about going through a drive thru because with the turn downs at the axle... it tends to smoke up the whole resturant. as far as performance, its still a very strong running motor.

how difficult would it be to do the valves? i have a compressor but not very large, how large of one would i need to do this? i'm willing to give it a try, but would need some serious instructions.

If you ware talking about the valve seals you can get everything you need at Autozone. They rent tools to do the job. You get a full refund of your money when you return the tools. Kinda like a tool borrow program they have set up.
You will need to get the hose that hooks to your air hose. It screws into the spark plug holes. You will also need a valve spring compressor. Buy the valve seals while you are there.
Take the valve cover off and the first spark plug. Remember you can only do two at a time. After the first two move the hose to the next plug hole.
You are filling the piston hole with air and the air hold the valve up in the head. If you let the preasure drop off the valves will fall down in the engine. Then you will have to pull the head anyway.
When you start you will have the hose screwed in and the preasure up as hi as it will go.
take the nuts off the rockers and remove them. Wait until the air shuts off and when it does use your valve spring compressor tool to tighten the springs. The end of the stem of the valve is in the middle of the spring, held on with small half moon shaped keepers.The spring keeps preasure on the keepers that or in small groves at the top of the valve. Do not smack the top of the valve stem with anything, you will cause it to fall down. sometime you will have to wiggle the keeper to get them loose. Don't loose them. Set them off to the side and take the round top off the spring. You will see something around the shaft of the valve. That is the valve seal. Carefully slide what is left, if any up off the shaft. Install new one and reverse everything you just did. Do only the two at a time. After you do all 16 you will have to adjust the rockers. I'm not sure how a Ford is done. Some of the Ford guys can help you through that. If it's like a Chevy I can tell ya.
I'm not sure it's the valve seal but what it does is the rubber gets old and after shut off the oil puddles in the head before returning to the pan. Good valve seals keep the oil from sliding down the stem of the valve and into the head where the plug fires and burns the oil, causing smoke. The new valve seals should stop this if that's what is wrong. also look for an overheating problem when you take off the valve cover. if it has a lot of baked on thick oil you may have you return holes blocked up some. if so you can try to clean the crusted oil off but don't let any loose pieces fall into the engine and don't leave any loose piece in there. if it finds it way to the pan it could get stuck in the oil pump screen and block the flow of the oil.

If I left anything out someone please correct me!! Frod guys how do you adjust the rockers? Are they adjustable like a Chevy?

um... wow! so when are you going to be in Springfield next? you know, in all the questioning i have done regarding this, noone has ever suggested doing the seals with the heads still on. why is that? is this an old-timey solution or is it something that noone really wants to do? thats definately something i dont want to take on. so, lets get back to the question at hand! Springfield? haha

LOL I'm not sure when I'll get up to Springfield. It's not as hard as it sounds though. Doing it with air just saves you from taking the heads and intake off. Everything else you still have to do. I heard that the old timers use to take clothes line and shove as much as they could down through the spark plug hole while the piston was down in the bore. Then they when hand turn the engine until it stopped. the rope would go up the bore and hold the valves in. They would do their seals and then reverse the turn of the engine and pull out the rope. I've never done that one though
The seals my not be your smoking problem either. Just what come to mind when you were saying how it smokes. Junk Yard Jeff my have a better answer for you if he see this and replies.

i have a fuel injected 302 from a mustang with a 5 sp with only 76,000 on it that i could put into it but even that i would need some welding done and a little more expertise too. oh, and more importantly... time.

I have all the tools needed to install the valve stem seals without pulling the heads,the 390 in my 65 country squire needs them too and maybe they both can be done on the same day. Jeff