Got a question here.. I'm aware that a 302 is a 302 .. But my question is when I look up rebuild kits.. Nd it says "car 302" or "truck 302" what's the difference? And are they all the same???for example certain rebuild kits are for 1977 to 11-30-82 Thanks in advance

 

There were little differences between cars and trucks. What do you have and more importantly what are you wanting to do with it?

Year model? What did it come out of?

 

I think the later ones might have had narrow, metric piston rings, among many other differences through the years and applications.

 

77 to 82 there were no differences in the long block as far as truck vs car goes. The blocks changed in iron content beginning with the 1980 model year. Ford removed 16 lbs of iron out of the block. That created it's own problems. If you have an E0AE casting, I'd look for something better to rebuild. Anything from 1980 to 1985 is a turd as far as the block and crank gores. Both were weak.

 

The motor year is a 79 and it came out of a 78 f150... Idk if the motor came out of a car or truck.. I guess the only to tell is by looking at block numbers

 

Now that you mentioned that I seem to remember pre 80 the cranks in them were consider heavyweight crankshaft... Then in 1981-82 they went to lighter weight cranks

 

That's right about the crankshafts. It's the reason why Ford switched to heavier counterweights in the flywheel and vibration damper, in order to make the crankshaft cheaper (I mean lighter).

The change was around '82.

Unless you are going to race the engine or use forced induction, the lighter castings are probably fine. For example, a stock 1985 HO 5.0 is a great engine for a stock unit.

 

As far as a rebuild kit goes, I wouldn't think there would be any difference in what you could put together. For instance, you could use the modern 5.0L piston in the older block to be able to go with a better metric ring package.

Seems like trucks in the 70's may have had lower compression (dished) pistons but I'm not sure. I want to say that when I was researching rebuild kits for my dads '75 302 F100 some footnotes mentioned about the mid 70's block having a slightly taller deck height than 8.206, probably due to smog regulation. But I don't remember what it was.

 

The problem with the rings that could arise is if the pistons and bore were still within wear limits, and only the rings were replaced.

Another change in the engines over the years is a one piece or two piece rear main seal.

Late engines used a one piece oil pan gasket which will fit all years and is a good upgrade.

 

Felpro lists two different numbers in the one piece oilpan gasket so there is some minor difference in the pans or could be the cutout in the block for the dipstick.

 

Check the casting numbers above the starter, if it's a D8VE-6015 A3A, then that's the HD block, same as the 289 Hi-Po and the Mex block with the thick main caps. The 3A suffix is the same block but with the std main caps. Both are "keepers"

 

I'm glad you brought up that unusual block, Baddad. The D8VE-6015 A3A a weird oddity.

Why did Ford make this particular engine, especially in the late '70s when power outputs were, um, modest?

Were they just running short of cores and patterns at the foundry so drug out the old 289 Hipo patterns to tide over until the E8OE castings came out?

Do you know which foundry cast those? i.e. Windsor (WF), Cleveland (CF) or Dearborn (DIF)? Actually Dearborn might be Mopar, I don't remember for sure.

 

It's cast with a crankshaft position sensor boss above the rear main for the Lincoln line's electronic feedback carb (hence the D8VE prefix), other than that I see no other purpose. The block itself has the same iron content as the previous 70's blocks (136lbs, yea they were all the same weight, including the Mex and Hi-Po block) The caps and the sensor boss are the only difference vs the rest of the 70's blocks, ditto for the mex block, it had those accessory bosses cast in front with thick main caps. The E0AE block weighs 16 lbs less, so it had nothing in common with the D8VE block, other than they're both 302 blocks. And if someone wants to know how I learned all this, I weighed 4 302 blocks myself, one was a C8OE block, one was a D2 block, and two were D8VE blocks, one 3A and an A3A. That and some of this was mentioned in Ford's "Mustang 5.0" tech manual published by Ford Racing several years ago. Everyone's always thought that the Mex and the Hi-Po blocks were something special, but aside from the thick main caps, they're the same as the rest of the 68-79 302 blocks (excepting the Boss 302 block of course) I didn't take note as to what the foundry marks were on those blocks. I stumbled onto this by accident, having gotten the 3A block out of a 68 Mustang I had bought as a project car, then the A3A block came in a bunch of parts I picked up, what piqued my curiosity was after tearing down those engines that came with that parts lot, when I removed the oilpan on the A3A block, I was quite surprised to see those caps. I had the same thing happen years before in tearing down a 302 out of a 68 Galaxie, it too had those main caps. But I didn't make note of what casting numbers were there. Could have been a Mex or Hi-Po block, in any case, Ford built a 302 out of it and stuck it in that Galaxie.