[Ryan_65Stallion]

Originally Posted by racer99

Sounds like its plain worn out.
Ring seal,or valve seal are non existant
or so it seems.A bad lobe would only affect
1 cylinder.
Did you do the compression test the right way?
Dry. then shoot some oil in the plug hole and redo it.
Does it pick up any cranking pressure?
Seeings how its all 8 cylinders I would think either rings,
excessive bore wear,or valve seal is gone(valve job at best
or heads at worst).
Does it still have the original heads on it?If so I would bet the
exhaust seats are gone unless someone put hardened seats in them.

Never done a compression test before but I don't think I did it wrong.
One plug hole at a time, dry. and I did each one 2 to make sure I was getting correct numbers. Yes, it has the original 289 heads on it still.
So if it was the valves would I better better off not messing with the cast iron heads and just get a used set of better heads?
Would a leak down test tell me if it's the valves or bore? I don't want to buy a set of heads and it end up being worn bores.

Originally Posted by H0SS302

whens the last time your motor was rebuilt? tear it down have the cylinder walls cleaned up and rebuild it. this could also give you a chance to add some better internals, im sure those are worn to shit to.

no idea.
I could tear it down and rebuild it but whats the point if the bores are worn or the valves are bad? I wish I had the extra cash to put internals also but don't right now.


I think I might just look into buying a short block, I'm finding plenty of 302's on craiglist for a $100 or so.
Or find a set of e7's or better.