I know this is a truck forum, but I'm guessing that based on my past experience here with my 86 F250 460 questions, I will get better advice from this forum than I'm finding on any of the Mustang forums.

Some people are telling me that the 1982 Mustang 5.0 HO engine has an inferior block (thin walls). I assume they are comparing it to the later Fox Body years EFI blocks.

Do you guys agree with that assessment, and if so, what blocks (years or casting numbers) do you recommend instead?

I'm wanting to build a good performing carberated 5.0 Liter engine for my 1982 Mustang. Possibly go roller cam. I do have some E7TE heads from an 87 Mustang EFI engine. These are said to flow considerably better than the 82 heads. Are they Ok to use with a carb inducted engine?

 

A motor is the sum of it's parts, and the '82 was hobbled by low compression, a little cam and poor airflow. There was very little difference between any of the ford heads except for chamber size and shape for the most part, but The E7s are about as good as it gets for late model heads(excluding the GT40). I doubt the '82 block is any weaker than any other block, but it is not roller ready so that is a strike against it. Still, with a full rebuild it should be as potent and capable as any other. Do a porting job on the E7s and you will come close to flowing GT40 numbers, which is more than any other untouched factory head flowed. See here... http://www.tmossporting.com/tabid/3682/Default.aspx
There was another good link on the web but I can't find it now. The Ford heads benefit from exhaust side work the most, remove the air injection hump, smooth the bowl area and raise the roof slightly. Gasket matching and hogging out the ports to maximum size is counter productive and not advised. There are others on here that can provide more info if you are interested. All you need is a dremmel or die grinder, a couple carbide bits, and some patience. It may take a couple days to complete both heads, but the results are real.

 

If you want to go hyd roller, use a 87-89 block with forged pistons.

 

On the E7 heads I've done, I opened the port sides and roof to match the gaskets. I left the floors alone, other than to polish them. All the flow is up toward the top anyway, I don't see any benefit from modifying the floors. Mine work fine. I agree about the 82 block, it's only worth its weight in what it'll bring in current scrap prices. The 85 roller block has less iron than the 86-2001 blocks. These had about 4 to 6 lbs more added in the decks and bore bottoms. One over looked block is the D8VE block, these had 10 lbs more iron than the others. Sort of a Mex block but with std main caps.

 

Thanks for the info guys.

I do have a very early 5.0 (C8AE) block from 1973 that is bored 30 over and looks like it would only need to be honed. I also have C9TE truck heads. The guy I got that setup from ran it in a pickup.

What has to be done to a block to allow use of a roller cam?

Tom

 

It's not was has to be done, but rather how much it's going to cost to do it. You're looking at at least a 600 dollar bill to use a roller cam in a non roller block. Not cost effective. Roller blocks are dirt cheap for this.

 

Is the source for roller blocks craigslist and wrecking yards, or are we talking about repro blocks?

OK...thanks again. Like I said in the intro post....I get better advice here than the other forums. I do appreciate those taking time to share their knowledge!

 

You can find roller 5.0 blocks in just about all Ford, Lincoln or Merc cars and trucks from 87-on. They all used the same blocks, regardless of what cam they came with. Look for these casting numbers: E7TE, E6SE, F1SE, and probably a few others. Some of the non roller applications (86-91 pickups and vans have the roller block, but the two bosses for the lifter spyder hold down bolts aren't drilled and tapped and some aren't fully formed (I have one such in my possesion) These engines had roller blocks with flat tappet cams. The lifter bore bosses are taller on the roller blocks for the taller roller lifters. You can run a flat tappet cam with it's shorter lifters in them, but to do the reverse, takes more money for the mods.

 

Dont use the C9TE truck heads, they have huge 69cc chambers, the only 302 heads made from 69 to ~76 that had the 69cc chambers were the truck heads. use the E7 heads, there about the best your going to get unless you step up to the gt40 realm.

 

All the books I've seen list the C9TE's at 59 cc, not 69. I've had a set and the chambers are indentical to the 69 351W head chambers which are also 59 cc.

 

I have had a set too, they were way bigger than the 70 302 heads that I had. in fact I just saw a set a the JY a few weeks ago that were pulled and in a van, that chambers were huge. Even the Book I have, which I can find at the moment say that the truck heads had bigger chambers.

 

The Ford High Performance Interchange book(George Reid) lists them at 59-59 ccs. But it has been known to be wrong. But as I pointed out the C9TE chambers are indentical to the 69 Windsor heads in shape. It would surprise me to find they were 10 cc's bigger like the D8 heads are.

 

The chambers looked exactly like the D8 chambers.

Either way, E7's would probably be a better option.

 

You can buy a brand new 5.0 block from Summit that's already bored 4.000 and line honed.