so i bought an old 79' a few years ago, it ran and the previous owner installed a rebuilt "Jasper" anyone know the quatliy of the parts this company uses?

also the previous owner installed an offenhouse 360* intake with a 1407 brock (750 cfm) carb. he said they are hooker headers paired with dual 3.5 inch dual exhaust dumped behind the doors (infromt of the rear wheels)

I have bought but not installed:
~ A cam from a swap meet and its a comp cam part # 31-216-2 cam and lifter kit 260H. brand new in the plastic still.

~K&N air filter kit

~MSD Coil and wire kit

where should i start? I want to make 350-400 ponys. would it be better to buy a new motor and go with EFI or just rebuild my current motor and keet it carb?

 

To get 350-400hp out of a 302 you'll need new heads and a cam with more duration for starters. Probably new pistons to get the compression up. In a truck you'll also need at least 4.11 gears unless you want a total dog below 30 mph.

The cam you've got is good for a truck. It should make good power off idle. Does it really have 3.5" duals? Even 2.5" is more than a street-driven 302 really needs.

 

Wow, talk about a crap shoot here. You really need to figure out what heads and pistons are in there before going further with a cam swap. And the 3.5 inch duals ? WAY too big for a 302. Swap in a 514 stroker and it'll be the perfect exhaust. Or loose one side of the set and run a single 3.5" on the 302.

 

The heads are gt40 off an explorer. And yes he put 3.5" exhaust in it. No mufflers either. No balancer ( x or h) pipe. I have 3.93 in the rear now with a full spool for full time posi (which will be removed and a limited slip will be put in). The pistons are what ever jasper installed. I was looking into forged but was told it would be a waste I won't be pushing enough to need them and was told to go with hypers instead( pretty sure I have cast currently). I was thinking about sending it out and putting a stroker kit in it 347. And pros and cons about that? I'll get the numbers off the heads tomorrow and find out if they are 40's. So the cam I listed would be a bad choice for this or a good?

 

There's nothing wrong with cast pistons. It's the piston style (dished, flat topped,etc) and the pin height that determines the compression ratio (combined with the head's combustion chamber size) The 289 Hi-po and the 428 CJ came with cast pistons. A 347 kit is always an excellant choice, but I'd do a 351 swap before going that route in a pickup. As for the cam, whether it's good or bad depends on the rest of the combo and what he wants out of it. Be that as it may, I hope it's a new cam and not someone's used cast away. Never buy a used flat tappet cam.

 

Does the truck run and drive now? Manual or auto and what size tires?

If you're serious about 350hp it's possible with a 302, but it will happen at 5,000+ rpm. That means it's got to breathe and handle operating outside where it was designed for a truck.

Ford Racing sells a 340hp 5.0 long block for ~$4,000. Check it out for a idea of what it takes to get those kind of ponies.

I agree with the 351 swap idea. Get a late model roller block and 400hp is a walk in the park.

 

Man I really wanted to keep the 5.0 but for what I want it's probably not feseable.

The truck runs and drives great. Sans power that is. The tranny is a 4 speed manual ( 3s w/ od I beleive) out of an 84 f150 and the tires are 235/75/15

 

With 3.93 gears and 29" tires the truck is all setup for a healthy 302 IMO. All stock that vintage motor made about 150hp due to big chamber smog heads, a tiny cam and cork like exhaust. The heads and exhaust have been fixed but the stock cam is strangling it now so you stand to see big gains from swappin in that 260H that you have, and that should bring it up to somewhere around 300hp. But even at that level a 750cfm carb is grossly oversized, if the secondaries are vacuum operated and everything jetted appropriately it will still operate well but you'll have to spend some time dialing it in, if it's not a vacuum secondary chuck it and get a vacuum actuated 600cfm. And lose that monstrous exhaust system, dual 2.5" is plenty and will boost low rpm TQ noticably.. especially if you pair it with small tube(1-1/2" to 1-5/8") longtube headers.

 

port matching the heads are hidden HP.
bigger cam.
bigger valves.
edelbrock carb.
headers.
thats the road i took for my 302.