How do I make my 302 turn heads?
 

So I recieved a Ford 302 block and (2) sets of heads from my next door neighbor, and the 302 block is in the shop getting boured and all the surface rust taken off. I am rebuilding this 302, and have a current 302 5.0L in my 89' F-150 that runs but is in bad condition because of neglect and little maintenance, besides the oil...so the last owner told me. I'm here to ask you actual motorheads what certain terminoligy means and what makes a engine perform at its best, for me as well as others who may have the same questions I have.
So my first question in this paragraph is: What does a boured engine at 30cc, 60cc, or 90cc mean? I keep hearing it and I have no idea what that means.
My next question is: When I pick up my 302 block from the shop where it is getting redone I plan on dropping off my heads to get them done. What should I tell the guy who is cleaning and resurfaceing them to change about the heads to make this 302 a top performer? NOTE: I do not want to pour a load of money into this engine, but a respectable amount to make this truck just that...RESPECTABLE. Not a race engine or gas guzzler, but enough to make that other person look under the hood and see as well as hear what a great engine it is. As we all know when we build what we are proud of it is always nice to get THE WOW AFFECT! I would appreciate everything anyone has to say and any feedback is well thanked and will bee taken down in the next couple of months while building my streamline pickup. It is a 2WD and I know you 4WD buffs want to criticize at times but please keep your comments to a minimum. I have a great sense of humor, and don't mind the jokes every now and then, but this is something I would love to pass down to my kids. Go Virginia Chapter!!

Motorhead26

Engine boring is actually widening the cylinder heads to a certain size which is read ,by machinist standards in CC,s.

As far as 302s go, the heads have had a breathing problem until the show up of GT40 heads. It was more or less left neglected due to the fuel emissions or the well it works factor. This is the biggest problem Ford had. Sure you can buy cams and manifolds, but if you cant get it through the heads, its just not going to out perform. The cheapest thing I could find were a set of 70' 4v heads and my flat top pistons. this put my compression at 11:1 from 8:1 but it pinged terribly on low octane (93 octane and down) Let me know if you need more on this. So think heads, but the cost of new performance heads will be more than any crate motor, which is ashame.

Hey there,
One suggestion is to pick up a few books, like HPBooks How-To and Reference Manuals Book, "How to Rebuild Small-Block Ford Engines", & "How to Build Max Performance Ford V8's on a Budget". You can go to www.summitracing.com and search for "ford books". There are alot to choose from.
On another note, when an engine is bored oversize, it is measured in thousandths of an inch. So if your 302's stock bore is 4 inches (4.000), and you need to clean up the cylinder walls, the machinist will bore it out to clean it up. My 302 was bored thirty thousandths (.030) over. This means you'll need larger pistons & rings to match the new bored size. I hope you had the machine shop hot tank the block & change out the cam bearings & install new freeze plugs.
I would suggest a 3 angle valve job on the heads, and have them check the valve guides for wear. If you plan on swapping out the cam, then buy the manufacturer recommended valve springs & have them installed.
Mentioned above was "CC's".....I believe that is a volumetric measurement for measuring the head's size. I have to brush up myself!
Good luck...
Bob

Thanks guys, you are a lot of help when it come to explainations about what bouring and what to ask this guy doing my block work.
To Bob; he said he was changing everything on the block. New Freeze plugs, new cam bearings..everything that involved removal of the rust and. Now I do not know if he is honeing them of bouring them, what is the difference between the two?

There was some rust on one side of the block that was inside where the pistons go. I guess you could call them piston ports, dunno, but he is cleaning that too. He said the engine would look like this, as he pointed to a spot that was in good condition. I think I will be happy with the results, but shouldn't I ask him what the measurements are on the piston ports?.....or will he tell me everything I need to know about it once I pick it up? I have a lot of questions, but I want to know so I am not ordering stupid parts that are a waist of time down the road. I think you all can understand that.

Another question...man I am going to have to start numbering these...If I am buying a kit with a cam, pistons and the gaskets and all, how will I absolutly without at doubt know that it is the right one that is going to last and give me the performance I am looking for? Is that a question that can be answered, or is that one of those questions everyone shrugs there shoulders too and says, what do you want?
Thats just it, I'm not sure, I just want the thing to last and if I have to gun it, it gets up and hauls! Well, keep the answers comin' God above knows I need them. I will check up on those books too Bob, thanks.

Motorhead26

Hey motor don't buy anything until he is done with all your machine work, your going to have to buy the gaskets, pistons, etc to the new bore. Something else I didn't consider when I rebuilt my first and that was all the cost it would take to rebuild one vs. buying a crate motor with the performance already done. Save your receipts of labor and parts, you will be surprised how close or how much more the rebuild will cost vs. a crate motor already set up with what you want.

The new cam bearings & freeze plugs will be easy enough to spot when you pick up the block. The new cam bearings won't have any wear or scores, and since the block will be free of paint, the new freeze plugs will be nice and bright shiny metal. Your block will be rust free, and hopefully super clean inside and out. The machine shop will first bore the engine cylinders, then hone the cylinders to put a nice cross hatch pattern in the cylinders. As for the performance of the build, there are alot of questions to be thought through. Will you be towing, do you care about gas mileage, are you keeping the fuel injection, auto or manual transmission ...... and the list goes on. The most important question is how much do you plan on spending? Is this going to be a "show" engine, or hidden from view? When I built mine, I knew it would be in plain view, so the cost when up. The earlier suggestion of buying a crate engine is a good one, however building (and learning) your engine has its own rewards. For my next project, I'll build the engine. There is no better feeling than cruising down the road knowing you built it! I would call Summit Racing's Tech line, and they can help you make the selection of cam and other performance goodies. Look to researching headers, cam, valve springs, pistons and exhaust for a minimal investment to GO ratio. Those books I talked about will cover alot, but as you go deeper into the build, the questions and cost will increase.

Bob

A Lot to Think About!!!
 

Wow, I guess to put in lamens terms, I never really thought about all that. To answer some of those questions.......
- I would like to tow although it is only a 2WD. If I had to tow I would want the torque enough to tow another car. I am in the military, this truck makes my third vehicle and if I have to attatch a trailer and tow my little Nissan Sentra(work car) to my next duty station then I want to have the power and dependability to do so. I'm sure you all can understand that.
- I would like the thought of knowing that I built it.
- I do want my engine to look very nice, but not as nice as something show. Something that I can lift the hood to for friends, or what not, and still see something nice to look at, but not entering it in any competitions.
- And, YES I know not to buy anything for the block until I get it back, thanks for the hook up Boltbuster, I definitely would have needed to know that but I've got some friend that are helping my out with a couple question along the way. This site gives me options and other answers. I can jot down the questions to right away, when they pop into my head, and it is nice to know when someone has been there and knows what I need to get, and what I need to check on before i spend money that might be useless spending money on.
As of right now Bob I have an Automatic with EFI, my question to you is, What do you mean by keeping the fuel injection? I had kind of planned on it because I do not know if I wanted to deal with a carburator or not. I have heard that they can make a car/truck a pain to deal with, and can suck more gas than if I was to keep the regular intakes. Then again if it is going to help my performance/power then I better go salvage my next door neighbors carb intake for that 302 that he is never going to use.
I like the automatic because I honestly hate shifting. I do know something will have to be worked on the trans. because when I shift from Drive to Park or vice-versa it is slow at times, getting to its destination. Just another problem I might have to deal with. I may be possibly moving in 9 months and if that is the case I want my engine installed by that time. It would be nice to have the engine done, and then later work on the little things that involve the COMFORT of the drive.
You guys are so much help, please keep it coming. Opinions matter especially if you have rebuild one before. Since I have already started the refurbish/rebuild process I am not about to get a crate engine. I thought long and hard about it. I will actually save money if I build my own, for the simple fact I have a decent block that is not in any bad shape, and I DID NOT PAY FOR IT. It's nice to get things for free, especially if they can be salvaged and put to good use, ya know! Let me know ya'll!

Motorhead26

By all means, keep the fuel injection. I asked, because a buddy just swapped out an EFI for a carbed set-up. He wanted to run a dual quad tunnel ram set up, and use it for the drag strip. I know what you mean about the moving, I retired from the Navy in '03.

Bob

I would have gone to summit & bought a ford motor sports engine stock or a 331ci engine. It's cheeper & new

Don

331ci? Will that even fit in my truck, and it may be new, but whats the cost for this?
Good on ya Bob. I've got 7 years and still a couple of moves and a lot of trails to cover. We'll see what is next. So keep the EFI, I thought it would be better. So what about towing capacity, how is that going to work? I don't want to put wear and tear on my motor or run the possibility of tearing up my tranny. The last owner pulled things all the time, only with a bumper ball hitch. Put a nice dent or two in the bumber, not to bad though.

Motorhead26

Actually a stock injected 302 will tow a smaller car easily. I had a '93 F-150 with the injected 302, bone stock, and drug a few cars halfway across the states with zero problems. I still say to call the Summit tech line and add that to your list of engine characteristics you want.
A 331 is a stroked 302, ie same block.
Bob

carbed ,efi engine are the same the only thing you need to worry about is the comp. of the engine. you realy don;t wan't to go over 9.0 comp then it will interfear with the comp. on the truck or car you are puting it in. If you buy a carbed. engine just use your EFI intake on it .

331 ci has lot's more tourqe, than a 302

CCs means cubic centimeters...Both cubic inches (ci) and cubic centimeters (cc) are used to measure the displacement of an engine. Cubic inches were often used in cars and trucks, and cubic centimeters have always been used in motorcycles, dirt bikes, atvs, and lawn equipment. In newer vehicles that have the displacement shown in liters, such as 5.0L, the liters number is simply the cc divided by 1000. A 5.0 liter engine is roughly 5000cc. Also, a 5.0 liter engine is 302ci.

In addition to all these words being thrown around...one cubic inch is equal to approximately 16 cubic centimeters. So if you were trying to find out how many cc a 302 is, you can multiply 302 by 16 to get a ROUGH estimate.

Thanks, guys for all that information. It is nice to have someone knows wat this stuff means when I have a problem figuring something out, or just wanted to know. My 302 block will be bored out when I pick it up, and I will have to buy a kit from Summit or Jegs to make sure that it is the right one for my block. I am going to take your advice Bob and call Summit and get some estimates on what it is going to cost me. I want everything with the kit though. I don't want everything here and there. All the gaskets, pistons and cam with a high volume oil pump should do the trick. After this engine come together I will probably get it hooked up to the original tranny that is in it now, but I will have it looked at and maybe some upgrades if I can. This way I can get the torque without messing up the tranny. It's pulled before, thats what the owner said, but I don't want to push it off the cliff if you know what I mean. I don't want worn parts if I can help it. A nice engine compartment, and newly rebuilr engine, with plenty of work to put forth in the body and so on. It will be a transformation guys. I hope you all see the finishing pics.

Motorhead26

Hello again!!
Need a helper in rebuilding my 302. I have most of the parts necessary but I am trying to work out a deal with a dealer on pistons or possibly a kit to rebuild. :-banghead
The block I want to rebuild is a 5.0L 302 which the deal I am trying to make is with the same dealer I am picking my cleaned block up from. I'll find out about that Monday afternoon. Even if I do work something out I still need a helping hand. Anyone know what thier doing and live near Williamsburg, VA? I can work something out!:)

Motorhead26