Anyone have experience with the performance and reliablilty of a 302 stroked to 331 or even 347? Any suggested kit manufacturers?

I've got a good 302 in my 89 F150 4x4. It's got 125,000 miles on it, has a few oil leaks but runs good. Over the years I've aquired some performance parts for it, Edelbrock heads with 1.9/1.6" valves a Comp Cam XE256H, it's already Mass air. I will be rebuilding it when I install the above mentioned parts. Would it be worth it performance wise to stroke it to 331?

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks
Mark

 

Dude go with the 347 more cubes more torque. Coast high performance in California has there street fighter kit that has a custom piston that keeps the oil ring out of the piston pin hole -no oil burning, it also has an offset piston pin that is suppose to reduce the rod angle. Kit is like $2000 with the in house dish pistons -so you can run pump gas. The 331 in my opinion is not worth the time or trouble unless your trying to rev the crap out of it. There are a bunch of cheaper kits on the market but come with hyper pathetic pistons and will burn some oil. The kit I ordered was tight as far as machining goes very pleased . Also if you expect to make over 300 horsepower with your set up go with 24 pound injectors/recalibrated mass air and high volume in line pump.
I only have like 200 miles on mine so I cant vouch for reliability, I expect a hundred thousand with no problems. Performance is excellent.

 

Been to thier website. The 347 looks good, I'm just concerned with reliability. Read a response to my post in the 302 forum where a 347 went to 130000 miles. I may go with the 347 if i can convince myself it will not be a problem.
Thanks for the response
Mark

 

Actually that wasn't my post mentioned above, another one with a similar question.
Mark

 

clump, i gotta disagree with ya a little here. nothing personal. the 331 builds torque at a lower rpm then the 347 does. the 347 is great for the track or car but the 331 is a better motor for the trucks. ive done lots of research on this and have found it to be the better combo for us. im not saying the 347 isnt a good motor just not a good setup for our applications. the 347 torque doesnt come on till around 3000 rpm . while the 331 will start around 1600 rpms. ive read numerous 331 kits even out performing the 347's.

Mjb I will be installing a 331 this summer a feel its the better way to go. but you should do your research and figure out what kind of driving you plan on doing. mine is for towing and 4x4in so I found the reliablity and numbers of the 331 to match better for me. i want more then 20,000 miles out of my motor and have found most 347's dont last that long.

good luck

later

 

Kemical,
Where did you find the numbers, on the internet? The 347 has a longer stroke, I would expect it to deliver more torque at low rpm's. Do you have any links for info on the 331 vs 347?
I will be using this truck for 4 wheeling on trails and daily driving. I won't be drag racing. I'm looking for better performance across the board but mostly at rpm's below 3000. I do want the reliability of the stock 302 though which makes me lean towards the 331.
Thanks for your help
Mark

 

Kemical, you are entirely backwards here.

under no circumstances would a 331 of similar build (i.e. same heads, intake, etc...) make more torque than a 347. the 347 has an extra .15 inches of stroke over a 331. displacement is the easiest and most effective way to gain torque. given the same heads, a 331 will not make peak torque or horsepower until much HIGHER in the rpm band. wherever you read what you read, it was erroneous. you should forget it now, or youll end up with hurt feelings when your engine is complete.

the 331's, when built off of a stock block, are mostly hype. they are smaller, less powerful engines, and there is no way around that. the only advantage a 331 offers over a 347 is the ability to rev higher with the same piston speeds. this point is moot, however, since you will not be using an SVO or Dart block, along with billet internals. with cast cranks and stock blocks, both a 347 and a 331 will explode at roughly the same rpm.

much has been said about the fact that 347's generally drive the piston pin up into the oil lands, but there are several ways to avoid that. the first is to build it competently. well built 347's rarely burn oil. the second way is to use a shorter rod. thats what clump mentioned. both ways work well.

in a truck, it would be foolish to sacrifice stroke if you dont have to.

 

16 cubic inches isn't squat

 

negative.

16 inches is alot more than squat. its the potential for twenty more horsepower, and twenty more ft lbs. all over the power band.

but thats not the real point here. the gain from the 347 in this case is the extra .15 inches of stroke, which IS important. that is a huge gain for a small block. if it wasnt, ford would have never gone from the 2.87 inch stroke 289 to the 3 inch stroke 302. along with the obvious potential of more displacement, there is another gain that you will get from increasing stroke. increased piston speeds at lower rpms. while excessive piston speed can be a bad thing, a 3.4 inch crank wont generate excessive speeds before reaching the breaking point of the block (6000 rpm if youre making any sort of power). increasing piston speed down low is the absolute best way to increase torque and horsepower. the speed with which the piston accelerates away from the chamber is the determining factor in filling the cylinder with air.

btw, 16 inches will give you more power than any simple bolt on, short of GOOD cylinder heads.

 

I would advise you to stay away from Coast High Performance.....A good friend of mine purchased a 347....it lasted 500 miles before devouring its main bearings....and when he called to talk to them they gave him the "performance parts have no warranty" speel

In my opinion A company that is there to take your hard earned money and doesn't stand beind ther products, hasn't earned the business.....

As far as the reliability of a 347, make sure to get the connecting rods slightly shorter than 5.4 inches.....since this will pull the piston wrist pin lower than the oil ring groove....

this means the piston won't gouge the bores and will last longer...

a 331 is much more desirable for reliability and extra cubes....it is a torquey engine that won't dissapoint. Edelbrocks with the large valves will really wake this engine up....nd the mass air flow system will compensate automatically for added air flow...lovely!!!!

check Ebay for the slightly shorter than 5.4inch Eagle H beam rods...for the 347, use the 5.4 inch rods for a 331....

I vote for the 331

 

Well it looks like I am just gonna try for a 351 and possibly stroke it to a 393 if it proves to no be to much more cost . right now it all depends though on finding a 351 out of a van or truck that is efi so I have a base to work with and have all necessary brackets and such .

later

 

"A good friend of mine purchased a 347....it lasted 500 miles before devouring its main bearings"

that has nothing to do with the displacement, or the kit. that is from improper assembly. wiping out a bearing comes from oil starvation. those crankshafts, while hardly perfect, have no oiling issues. your friend should have invested in some bore brushes and a stick of Plastigauge.

"when he called to talk to them they gave him the "performance parts have no warranty" speel"

its not a "speel." its the truth. performance parts, by their very nature, reduce reliability, as they differ from O.E.M. parts, yet are used in O.E.M. applications. NOS would go out of business if they refunded money for all the pistons that got burnt up using their products, just like Coast High would go out of business if they had to pay for all the assembly mistakes their customers make.

"In my opinion A company that is there to take your hard earned money and doesn't stand beind ther products"

what youve failed to realize here, is that your friend was not paying for top notch parts. no small block ford stroker kit can be built with quality american parts for less than two grand. you friend bought a chinese sourced crank, chinese sourced rods, and off-the-shelf pistons. these are all compromised parts. a good american crank cannot be had for less than a thousand dollars. period. none are made in the U.S., from U.S. steel, for under the four digit mark. the same applies to rods, but at the 600 dollar mark. off-the-shelf pistons are not the last word in quality and fit either.

"As far as the reliability of a 347, make sure to get the connecting rods slightly shorter than 5.4 inches.....since this will pull the piston wrist pin lower than the oil ring groove.... this means the piston won't gouge the bores and will last longer..."

while the 5.315 rod does allow a piston height of 1.175, and therefore an unintersected ring (in low power applications), it does NOT reduce the side loading of the piston in the bore. the side loading is addressed by Probe in all of their stroker pistons, by offsetting the pin. however, this is mostly hype. side loading is not an issue in these engines. side loads are products of horsepower and combustion pressures. under no circumstances would a long rod produce side wall "gouging."

"a 331 is much more desirable for reliability and extra cubes"

negative. that is all hype.

the short rod 347 uses THE SAME PISTON as the 331. the difference in angularity is negligible. the difference in final displacement and stroke is NOT. there is NOTHING a 331 does better than a 347. they are NOT more reliable than 347's. that is marketing hype. the reduction in stroke by going to a 331 from a 347 will net you a tremendous loss of horsepower, and nothing more. the piston speeds and angularity both of these rotating assemblies see in an 8.2 deck is very similar. the 331 does not "rev higher." that is also hype. whether your crank is cast, forged, or billet, it will snap at roughly the same rpm, whether it has a 3.25 inch stroke, or a 3.4 inch stroke. thats how similar the stresses are between the two motors. its like going from a 302 to a 289. you arent gaining anything at all by doing that. thats why the 289 bit the dust when the 302 came out. ford even kept the shorter rod, which they didnt have to do. the reason why is because it doesnt matter. the final displacement and increase in stroke was much more worthwhile.

pound for pound, the 331 is a less powerful, less torquey, engine. it has no advantages over the 347.

 

ADAM, what do you drive. I notice your sig isnt filled out. You may know alot but for being farely new in this room you sure enjoy butting heads. do you even run anyone of these motors, or know someone that does? because there is a difference between what you read and real world results. Are you an engine builder/mechanic or just a ford guru? as far as the previous post about them not warranty his motor, there are lots of shops that stand behind there stroker motors and offer some warranty with them and are still priced decent. anyone can build and engine ive done around 10 and frankly i feel that any company that sells a product no matter what it is should stand behind it. Thats customer service and that is what brings the business. now your whole NOS comment is just lame because it is not related to anything to do with the motor. that would be like vortex being responsible for a motor lossing its bottom end while going down the freeway. Im not trying to flame here just stating my opinion on how you have come into this arena and attacked people .

not kewl

 

"ADAM, what do you drive."

several vehicles. the one you would be most concerned with, as this is the "performance" section, is a 90 Mustang LX with a 15.5:1 compression, 455 inch alcohol small block. im in the process of building the car up for general 9.90 throttle-stop bracket use, and IHRA Super Rod competition. i also have two F150's, and another 90 LX 5.0.

dont take my word for it. Clump can vouch for me.

"You may know alot but for being farely new in this room you sure enjoy butting heads."

i can see how you would think that. however, you have misunderstood the situation. im not "butting heads." im correcting wrong, or otherwise flawed, statements.

"do you even run anyone of these motors, or know someone that does? because there is a difference between what you read and real world results."

my race engine is an SVO-blocked, Moldex-cranked, Groden-rodded, Wiseco-Customed 4.25 inch stroke bullet. so no, im not running a 347, right now. however, i have plenty of experience with these motors, or for that matter, every ford small block. if i had not previously read your misguided posts, i would have taken offense to that statement. i might not be Jon Kasse or Billy Glidden, but ive forgotten more about Ford small blocks than anyone else ive seen on this board has ever known. that might not be a very nice thing to say, but its true. and im not saying it to make myself look "cool." im saying it because your time would be better served by paying attention to me, then trying to protect your ego.

i didnt come here to be your friend. im not looking for hugs and kisses. i came here to keep whatever flawed logic youre sharing from infecting the minds of those who dont know much about ford engines yet. i can only imagine the number of morons that are out there right now, thinking that a 331 is the best choice to put in between the frame rails of their full-size, 4000 lb pickup trucks.

dont be mad. im just here to save you from yourself.

"there are lots of shops that stand behind there stroker motors and offer some warranty with them and are still priced decent."

negative. no legitimate shop warranties a stroker motor. what they warranty is the CRAFTSMANSHIP OF THE PRODUCT, AS DELIVERED. i can destroy any engine ever made, if placed behind its throttle. as can anyone. no warranty will save me from receiving the bill on its repair.

"now your whole NOS comment is just lame because it is not related to anything to do with the motor."

how do you figure? are you telling me its impossible to install a kit on a motor with a warranty? is there some sort of device that doesnt allow it to be installed? of course not. nitrous is part of racing, and its a common aspect in high performance engines. just because YOU want a lazy, 150,000 mile slug doesnt mean everyone else does. its just one example of how someone cant take something and run it to its limit. expecting a warranty on a performance product is ridiculous. there are people out there who could break a bowling ball in a sand box.

"Im not trying to flame here just stating my opinion on how you have come into this arena and attacked people ."

i hadnt attacked anyone, up until now. i simply have no use for the misinformed, or their statements. we are talking about parts that cost alot of money here. im sure the person who reads my post and buys the RIGHT part wont mind whos feelings i hurt.

do yourself a favor. copy and paste my posts to a word file. in a few years, when its time to rebuild another motor, pull it up and look at it.

you can send the thank you note via email.

 

I have built a 427 stroker motor from a 351 using a coast kit.This was for a buds 69 mustang.We had alot of customer service related problems with coast.They sent the wrong rods and bearings several times.We also had a problem with rod side clearance that required machining to fix.

Bill

btw that's brass ***** in a sand box with a rubber hammer,and damn proud of it!