Some time over the next two or three weeks I may have the opportunity to look at and maybe buy a 72 2wd Ford truck that the owner states it has a 502 CID Engine and a 3 Speed Automatic Transmission. The engine was said to be built for a Stock Car. From my understanding a 502 is a 460 Stroker Motor, correct?

My question is, what should I look for on the engine. Any specific block or head codes. If I pull a plug and check the stroke, what would the stroke be for a stroker motor. It has been sitting for 2-3 years and was said to be running at that time and was parked because they got tired of replacing rear ends (so they say).

The truck is pretty rough, but I could salvage a few parts and scrap the rest. I am mainly interested in the engine.

 

Is that supposed to be the 502? Doesn't look like a 460 based engine to me.

 

You'd need a 460 to get up to 502. But I've heard of more from the ford. The 502 is popular as a chebbie motor, but as it doesn't have it's distributor in the wrong place it can't be one of those. The stock stroke is 3.85''. To make 502 you'd need a stroke of 4.2''.

 

yeah I got done looking and the smallest stroker that I saw was a 514. I think either these guys don't know what they're talking about or it's a stroker kit I'm not familiar with.

 

Something just dont look right on the engine for it to be a 460. Valve covers different & the water neck outlets different place on the intake.

Could it be a 390 FE stroked, just guessing.
Neil

 

That's a FE series motor. The owner is blowing smoke up somebodies ???

 

It could be a stroker FE, but most likely a 390 engine. I am sure we have all heard more stories on engines, like it was used in a NASCAR race or some other BS. You never can tell, until you pop the engine apart. At the very least you need to take the oil pan off to check the crank, but really need to check the cylinder bore too.

 

If I can get the engine to run where it sits after checking it over, I may offer some cash depending on what my findings are. I just don't have much room for an extra truck at my house and I don't really have the need for the transmission, just mainly looking for a running engine. If it ends up being a 360 or 390 that's fine, I like them both. Thanks for all the imput.

 

Just keep in mind the FE engines use a different bell housing bolt pattern than the 460 engines. The 351M 400 429 460 use one transmission bolt pattern, then the 352 360 390 406 410 427 428 use another bolt pattern. Then the small blocks are different also. May be a factor in what trans you were wanting to use for your project.

 

It is defnately an FE Engine. I looked at a picture of the Edelbrock Performer 390 manifold that I have at home and the intake blots are in the same place. Most of the trucks I have looked at have a 360 or 390 in them and I want one with a 4-Speed. I am building a 68 F100 2wd and hope to be soon building a 73 F250 4x4. So I have been looking at different parts for both builds.

 

Ok lets get this down into the FE forum for you.

 

Thanks for the move.

Heck, I didn't even have to pack....

Now that I'm here, Is there such a thing as an FE Stroker Motor that would be a 502 cid?

 

It theoretically would be possible using a 427 block bored .040 over to 4.272 and a 4.375" stroke crank which is available. This would yield you a 501.67 or 502.

Now with that said it's probably doubtful and from what I can tell it would require the use of the 427 block

 

"502" used to be the code for a drunk driving ticket in California. The guy is probably from California, and got a DD ticket in the truck, thus, it's his "502" motor, and he's strokin' you in an effort to sell it and pay his bankruptcy lawyer.

Just a theory......

 

You could try the screwdriver in a spark plug hole method while turning the engine over by hand to approximate the stroke.

Just my 2 cents