Buy Used or Home Rebuild 302

[LJH]

Bag and tag the parts where they go. Cardboard helps also to push things in to keep them in a specific order. Now this is all just hearsay because I like to take my chances and strew parts everywhere like a giant puzzle. lol

You are the man! I don't like puzzles. I am a bit on the organized side, not quite obsessive, but close. I know the cardboard trick, and use it quite a bit on small parts. On big parts I use foam board.

 

[Dcav]

magnetic trays work well too, the foam board deal is great too.

 

[M. Sage]

Never mind the idea of swapping to a 5.8. Looks to be too much of a pain because of strange variables with fuel injection and wiring harnesses.

The front exhaust pipe is also different, because the 5.8 is like 4" wider than the 5.0.

Forget the wiring. Put a carb on the SOB.

 

[TexMex247]

If you wanna do it on the cheap. I think SRS engine exchange in S Austin is a good option. They will take your block(if it's not cracked) and sell you a rotating assembly w/cheap pistons installed for like $350. It's true, you'll get a punched version of what you have from who knows what year but as long as you re-use your flywheel, harmonic balancer and timing cover you should be GTG. I dropped one into a 1/4 mile car I had years ago and didn't blow it up in over a half dozen passes at WOT and drove it to and from the track at little river a few times. A 302 build can become a huge expanding money pit if you get hung up in making it bulletproof. Sounds like a fun project.

 

[Jason]

The F150 lower intake looks a lot like the Edelbrock intake for Stangs... the Exploder 5.0 intake was a GT40 staggered round hole intake... the standard EFI Stang lower is ovalish holes all in a line...

If you convert to the Mustang intakes I think you have to convert to the throttle body system also... the Exploder intake would probably be better though... or getting a performance upper for the stock truck lower... but then you have the throttle body issues again...

I have a Cobra short block in the garage... I'll check out the condition and maybe snap a picture...
I'm looking for someone to do a head gasket swap on the engine in the Cobra... maybe we could work something out on a trade...

 

[M. Sage]

The F150 lower intake looks a lot like the Edelbrock intake for Stangs... the Exploder 5.0 intake was a GT40 staggered round hole intake... the standard EFI Stang lower is ovalish holes all in a line...

If you convert to the Mustang intakes I think you have to convert to the throttle body system also... the Exploder intake would probably be better though... or getting a performance upper for the stock truck lower... but then you have the throttle body issues again...

I have a Cobra short block in the garage... I'll check out the condition and maybe snap a picture...
I'm looking for someone to do a head gasket swap on the engine in the Cobra... maybe we could work something out on a trade...

On the engine in the garage, or is the engine in the car?

 

[Jason]

The engine with the issue is the one in the car... the engine in the garage is the original one that is extra...