Correct valve spring retainer for 1970 302

[JFO]

After putting about 150 miles on a 1970 frame up restore with rebuilt 302, it appears a valve keeper failed and luckily no major damage other than a few minor scars on the piston, bent push rod and banged up valve spring retainer (see photo).

I’m concerned with why it happened (poor valve job, wrong parts?). I’m concerned the valve keepers are not flush with the retainers as they were on the stock heads before the rebuild/valve job.

I’ve searched a good part of the day and can’t find a definitive replacement for the two valve spring retainer and sleeve I have. Does anyone have the Ford part number that is correct? Curious if the retainer should be one piece vs two piece (retainer and sleeve).

Any help is appreciated.

 

[.94 OR]

Mine is a '71 and had 2-piece retainers. After a rebuild, I had one come apart as well. I made a valve holding tool using compressed air so I could use the spring compressor and get all the parts reassembled. I punched out an old spark plug and soldered in an air chuck fitting.

 

[JFO]

Thanks for the tip and confirming my two piece retainers are likely correct.

 

[JFO]

Can anyone tell me if the following are the correct part numbers for a 1970 302 (stock):

Retainer: C6AZ-6514-A
Retainer Sleeve: D4AZ-6514-A
Keeper: 7HA-6518-A

These are the closest I could find, but nothing was definitive in my search.

 

[DirtDonk]

I can't say it's correct or not, but a D4AZ number did not start being used until the '74 model year. So it would not have been the original type.
But it might have been a replacement for your originals if they decided to run with it.

I didn't see if this was addressed, but with the engine being rebuilt and all, are these new valve springs and is it a new and uprated camshaft?
Any extensive milling of the heads and block, or more importantly a change of cylinder heads, that might dictate a different length pushrod from stock?

Did you assemble the engine after machining, or was it put together by the shop?
Sometimes in a valve job or head refurb job, we "swap" heads instead of retaining the originals. It's easier, quicker and often less expensive. But if it's done, it might be another reason to double-check the length of the pushrods.

Paul

 

[JFO]

Thanks for the response. Valve job included reusing/conditioning the heads and valves with new springs and keepers, new stock style camshaft, new lifters, reused pushrods and rockers. No mill work on heads I’m aware of as they were in fairly good shape.

I reassembled the motor and checked the specs to confirm original pushrod length was good.

The only thing I’ve noticed is the keepers seem to not be flush with the retainer sleeve as they were with the original hardware before the refurb, see picture below. I’m going to take another valve spring apart and see if maybe the wrong keepers were used. It’s the only thing I can visibly see that is different/concerning.

 

[.94 OR]

This is after I had the heads done on mine. Likely a new set of keepers when they were rebuilt and could just stick up a little higher than factory.

 

[JFO]

Thanks for sharing, that makes me feel a little better about the keepers. Maybe mine was just a simple failure.