Hilborn 302 Update - 2nd Go at old project

Finally after alot of years, going to finish the 302 sbc Hilborn.

Had pieces going together in 2006, changed direction on Gasser, sold this Hilborn to brother. He had it on his Nova, running on his 301, started as good as any carburetor, and idled great. He got some bad advice from a box bracket racer, removed it, and sold it to his friend. Fellow Hamber bought it, and I recently bought it back. I had sent nozzles and pump to Hilborn back in 2004 time frame, had flowed the nozzles, and inspected and flowed 150A pump. Purchased brand new barrel valve.

The 302 iron is running, and the cam Dialed into this system from jets, to stack length is in the engine. Ironically I bought 3x cam kits in around 2010 for this Hilborn: 0.500, 0.525, 0.555 solid FT dialed into this system via article from "ram tuning equations" ...

Basically it's pull tunnel ram system, and begin the install.

 

Picture when it was running on Nova 2015.

 

Mechanical systems are as simple as it gets. All the nozzle and by pass jets (pills) are dependent on pump output. Once dialed in, the only thing that messes 'em up is crud and fuel contamination.
They will not be fuel efficient on the street, but they can be made tame enough to do so.
The biggest set-up mistakes are stuff like too small, or too long a suction line to the pump. They DO NOT like restrictions, and while it may run OK at low load, it can ruin a motor at high RPM due to pump cavitation resulting in severe lean out. Another mistake is setting up high speed bypasses/lean out valves etc before getting it tuned in a basic configuration first. I've seen that dozens of times. MFI rookies will want all the bells and whistles before getting it dialed.
I would advise doing a basic set up first before trying the whiz-bang stuff. Also, err on the side of smaller nozzles. A smaller nozzle with higher fuel pressure will have a better spray pattern than a big nozzle and low fuel pressure.

 

Sounds good, Yes, agree no high speed bypasses, just the basic Hilborn Set Up.
I have -8AN and -10AN inlet lines.
Collecting spare nozzles, looking for some extra 6As.

 

Next, clean and install unit. Set on heads temporarily.

Old Tunnel gets a break.

 

Oh man, that takes me back! First time on the modified back in 75, I had no experience with injection and no one to help. One call to Hilborn, and they had me ready to go. 3/4 lines from the tank to the pump, 3/8 lines from the pump to the barrel valve, the bypass and the blowoff, back to the tank. That engine would idle around 800-900 rpm, and the cam ran out of pull around 7700 rpm. What a toy for a 19 year old…

 

Found markings on 150 pump. Yeah it's mine from 2004, pump cover, body and all fittings have identifiers I put on them.

 

Verified pump rotation, flipped cover, by relocating dowel, this repositions center gear to the correct belt drive orientation for Hilborn PD bracket which mounts to water pump.

 

Intake is on 302.

 

Stant Twist on breather looks correct.

 

That brings back memories!
Other than the type of fuel, essentially the same deal! Heads were the latter 492 castings ported by Mondello.

Make a video of it running, please! Got to get a Hilborn fix!

 

For sure...

 

Have some Moon breathers for these Corvette valve covers, been wanting to use.

 

Found my belt drive bracket.
Had the gilmer belt hanging for years.

 

That looks like the pump has been shown some love over the years. Some of the ones I have opened up look like they were rode hard and put away wet

cheers,
Harv

 

Had it inspected and rebuilt at Hilborn around 2006? Was flowed as well. Only used for a few hrs in 2015. Found spare parts from rebuild still in plastic bag.

 

Just a question. Who can make the nozzle hoses these days? I had everything R&Rd before mothballing them in the late 70s. However I didn’t expect them to stay that way until now. The hoses are 50 years old. They look fine, but I don’t think I want to use them…

 

Dave, you can make your own. I reused the fitting or you can buy new. I bought the brass parts at a rubber hose store and used a electrical crimper to attach them. I also made a crimper out of a old dead tubing cutter. Just took the cutting blade out, made a rounded one for it. it works great.
Or you can go to just about any in the fuel injection people and buy all new stuff.

 

When the time comes, I’ll be in touch. I have a 327 that is just screaming for the Hilborns. Gotta keep up with You west coast guys…

 

Few -8 hoses for coolant, and a new hose for inlet to low restriction screen filter.

Ignition Decision.....

For those interested, The 4 outlet Radiator was made specifically for run stands by the "Radiator Lady" in California. Best money I spent over 10 years ago.

 

If you hadn’t mentioned that, I would have never known. Looked at the picture and never saw the outlets until just now. Nice

 

Be nice to have a set of metal fuel lines like Blower Hats have.