Hey guys my wife has a 89 f150 with a 302 in it , she don't use it no more so i was thinking of making it into a drag truck since it basicly a mustang with a frame n truck body n cuz she don't want to sell it. I wanted to know how horsepower these motors can put out.any help would be nice

 

As much as you want , 600-800 HP , what kind of truck is it , reg cab short bed is the best for weight , theres alot of ways to reduce the weight to , fast ford fiberglass.....Lew

 

Stock internals? Maybe 300-350HP. After you put aftermarket forged internals in it, the blocks will typically start cracking in half around the 500HP mark. 302s, while good engines are just not that stout.

If you want anything much over 500HP with a 302, you'd have to go to an aftermarket block.

 

Im running a stock HO bottom end with 400HP no problems , you can use a dart block , i know a guy that runs the 289 block , its well above 500HP , 9 sec 1/4 in a fox body....

 

It's a extended cab long bed

 

So should I look under mustang engine parts when I go to buy parts

 

Yeah thats a heavey truck , yes mustang parts , the motors the same...

 

I agree, or they will end up like this:

 

That must have made an interesting noise when it let go.

 

Wow , thats not good , i have heard about that happening , im not pushing my 302 hard enough to do that . only 6000 RPM , what about the girdle ?? , are the older 289 blocks stonger ? , a mustang that runs 9s with a NA 289 , that turns 9000 rpm has to be pushing atleast 600 HP or better i would think , i have seen the car at the track...Lew

 

Blocks like the 289 and early 302 blocks were heavier castings, and there is the famous Mexico 302 block, but I would still not push any of them beyond 500 HP! The only production 302 block that could take beyond 500 HP was the 69-70 Boss 302 block. Ford rated them at 600 HP. Ford does have a new racing block in the 302 size good for 800+ HP but the bare block with the requied machine work will cost you over 2 grand! Dart makes a good racing block but it's not much cheaper.

The thing is a lot of people who want to build a HP Ford 302 based engine start with a late model 302 block which is the weakest point of the engine, well that and the cast crank! If your going to go with all forged internals then get a block strong enough to hold everything together.