My buddy's dad has a 302 he yanked out of his work truck because of a blown head gasket (he had a whole new engine to replace it) and well it's been sitting for some time. I have my 1995 f150 with 302, and I've always wanted to build an engine i could throw right in one day, so I figure why not. So now I've got this 302 at my place and I'm wondering where to start. I'm not necessarily look for speed or towing, more a combination of both. In general a more powerful engine that can not leave me stuck on the highway taking off.

I'm not looking to spend thousands of dollars, in fact I'd like to keep the build under $1000 and rely on good ol craigslist and junkyards to get the parts I need. I've already got a pair of long tube headers that I've had sitting around, but there were some other questions I had about heads and HO5.0's.

Id like to put a pair of gt40 heads on the 302, but what vehicle could I get them off of?

Along with that where could I find a cam/rockers/valves for it?

And what gears would you guys recommend running in the rear? I don't plan on running anything over 32s.

 

Get 4.10 gears for the axles and yes also get some GT40s for it. Hopefully this motor is an '87 or newer and if so get the whole roller cam assembly from a Mustang for it, that is the only part in or on the HO that is better than what came in a truck.

 

'96-mid '97 explorer/mountaineer.........3 bar angle plug.........P's are 4 bar straight plug late '97-'01....bars are located on front/rear of both heads........... '93-95 cobras and gen 1 lightnings had them but you aint finding those in a jy.......change springs if they're stock garbage.........

 

Any idea on the power gains by switching parts over?

 

The motor should make something like 275hp 350tq give or take with those engine mods and a set of longtube headers.

 

Paul:

I think you historically have told folks to go with a truck cam for the low end torque, am I mistaken or are you suggesting something different now ? What do you mean by the whole roller cam assembly ?

 

I would.. if a person says they want to tow with the truck but the OP says he wants more speed or performance so the motor will need more cam... and he already has a 5.0 with the truck cam.

Cam, lifters, pushrods, spider and dogbones.

 

So, other than the cam which would clearly be a different grind, the other HO parts truly are different than the truck parts ? As you probably know I am considering options for a similar path, 302 and 351 build, if I go with guideplates and maybe roller rockers will need hardened pushrods, any suggestions for these ?

 

No the other HO parts aren't different than what is in the truck 5.0 but I'm assuming he is going to build this motor before taking the original out of his truck so he can't use any parts from that motor.

Guide plates are typically used with aftermarket heads and yes hardened pushrods will be needed with those, but if you're using OEM heads like GT40s they aren't needed.