What is the typical amount of cold cranking amps used on a 302 5.0l motor? Mine motor is out of a 71 torino. My truck is a 55 f100. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

It somewhat depends on what other electrical accessories you will be running but if it were mine I'd run a minimum of 500 cold cranking Amps. You can't have too many. Even 700-800 is not out of the question. Usually, the higher the cold cranking Amps are the longer the battery lasts.

 

What group size battery are you looking at? I would consider the Group 65 it is easy to get compact size , top mount studs and can be had with 1000 CCA for about 79.00!!

 

The reason I ask is because my motor is new and it will barely turn over? And yes the battery is new. Its only 650 amp and I didn't know if that was suffecient?

 

Unless your engine is unusually tight, 650 CCA should turn it with no problem. I normally will try to find the largest battery that will fit the tray and with the most CCA.

 

Motor won't start, or does it just crank slow before it starts? New motors are usually a little tight....hopefully it's not TOO tight. 650 CC amps should be enough. You may want to check out your starter and make sure it's not dragging....

 

I installed a brand new starter witht the remanufactured long block. Its a pre-73 302. Idk if the compression is to high or maybe I just need to charge the battery?

 

Are your grounds and battery cables the correct size? Are the connections tight for grounds and cables? Some aftermarket battery cable terminals don't match the battery stud angles. (Surfaces don't match.) When someone turns the key to start, does the starter solenold sound strong or weak? Positive starter connection tight? chuck

 

Well the grounds may not be the best. And the solenoid sounds strong but I plan on replacing that also...I put the battery on charge and I'm gona leave it over night. I'll update tomorrow. Thanks everyone!

 

What GA are the battery cables?? At least 4GA i hope.

 

I think there closer to 2 there aftermarket. Copper connections.

 

I'm running a 1971 302 and it turns over no problem with a 600cca battery - in fact, it fires up almost immediately.

 

You have something else going on there since 650 CCA should be sufficient. I always run the battery ground directly to the engine not the body. A bell housing or transmission mounting bolt is a great place. Make sure the connections are good and tight. Starters can be bad right out of the box too. I'm running a group 65 650 CCA battery with a 350 Chevy and it starts fine...

 

Also check your neutral safety switch is functioning correctly - I just remembered I had a slight issue with mine that caused a few problems and once I'd reset it the problem dissappeared straight away.

Also, have you changed any wiring or was the wiring you already had correct for the 302?

 

There is no safety switch. I'm assuming I need that for inspection right now all I do is hit the ignition with no key and The motor is turning over now. It was the grounds... I grounded the motor and the battery to thr frame rail and made sure it was bare metal. Now it turns but won't start.... On to the fuel and redoing the points on the distributor. And hopefully I get that rigjht. Oh. And the wiring was already done for the 302. The previous owner drove it around for a while before I got the truck.