I've got an 82 f150 short bed with a worn out 302/2bbl with a c6 and 3.25 gears. I've got a 302 out of an early 1997 (09/96) explorer that would be a nice upgrade over the wheezy early 80's smogger 302. The plan for the truck is to be a fun cruiser with a fairly healthy punch so I'm wondering if the explorer would do the job with the factory cam and maybe some 1.7 rockers and a mild stall converter?
I DO have a 351w out of an 86 f150 but I don't want to go with a flat tappet cam and I'm not sure on the long term durability of link bar rollers. What do you guys think?

 

The explorer 5.0 is a very good engine, if it wasn't for the cam and not having 1.7 RR you would basically have a 93 cobra engine. With headers and stock F4TE camshaft it can get right at 300 hp. Even if you go carb keep or save the intake as it is a basically a GT40 intake. The early 97 one should have the GT40 head not the GT40P. The P is pickier about header and plug wire selection. Look on the heads on the end and see if it has three bars (GT40) or four bars (gt40p)

Here is a quick dyno run info.
Make 503HP With A $350 Junkyard 302 - Hot Rod Network

"Test Day
We bolted the Ford to the dyno with a set of 15⁄8-inch long-tube headers and an 18-inch collector extension to help the low-speed torque, then we fired the small-block up. For the first test, we were reusing the stock, Explorer cam, so the engine didn’t need any break-in time. We we set the timing to 34 degrees and rejetted the carburetor to get our desired 12.5:1 air/fuel ratio. With the tuning finalized, the little cam made far more power than we expected, cranking out 328 lb-ft of torque at 4,200 and 294 hp at 5,400 rpm. We probably could have coaxed an even 300 hp out of this stock configuration, but with such good numbers, we decided to jump right into the first Lunati cam."

(OTHER DYNO INFO )"Edelbrock Performer RPM Air Gap intake and a Holley 750-cfm HP style carburetor. We also added a veteran Ford magnetic pickup distributor and used it to drive an MSD ignition system. set of 15⁄8-inch long-tube headers and an 18-inch collector extension to help the low-speed torque"

Another thing to note while the engine is out of the truck is the factory GT40 springs stock are known to be very soft so a upgrade is required even going to the stock mustang camshaft. (a cheap trick some 5.0 mustang racers use is reusing there factory springs off of the E7 head.)

Factory cam specs.
1996-2001 Explorer (F4TE-6250-BA)
256 / 266
186 / 197
0.422 / 0.448
116
(I have a found a few varieties of the above specs but it should get you close if that is not it)

I will be doing some of the above changes to my own 5.0 but it started life as a SO 5.0 from a 89 town car, I did find a 96 explorer in my local junk yard but the short block was damaged. I stripped the cam, heads and intake for use later on.

 

Yes sir, it's the 3 bar GT40 heads.. do you think that f4te cam is the way to go or do you think there's a better option?

 

The F4TE is a great cam, even better with 1.7 rockers. It works great with a carb too. I ran this same combo in an 89 Ranger with a Toploader and 3.73 gears, topped with a Ford A321 intake (same as the old Shelby "Cobra" intake) and a 570 Street Avenger carb. It had no problem boiling the 275/60's out back with traction loc. Make sure what flexplate and balancer is on your 82 before bolting it to the Explorer Motor. 82 was the transition year for the switch in counterbalancing from 28 to 50 oz/in

 

I haven't driven that cam personally on the street yet except in my dad's 94 f150 4x4 that is bone stock. It should give good street manners and a ceiling to 5000 to 5500 rpm maybe more. I plan to use the 1.7 rr with mine. (Had them all ready my gt cam I was saving turned out out to be a SO cam so I just got the F4TE cam to replace it) there are better cams out there but for the price you can't beat that stock one unless you are wanting to make power higher up in the rpm range.

 

I had planned on using the current flexplate that's on the explorer engine. Is there a way to swap the timing chain cover off of the old 302 and put it on the explorer engine that way I could use my mechanical fuel pump?

 

Yes, I forgot to point that out. I got to do this to my 5.0 when I do the cam/heads change to it even though I am running pro-jection EFI at the moment.

Yes you can use any 302/289 timing cover for the combo you need for mechanical fuel pump. You will also need the fuel pump esentric.

 

Yea, you can swap the timing covers, but I'd ditch the mech fuel pump in favor of a low pressure electric that flows in the 30-40 gph range. With an electric on a vehicle that's not driven daily, you can turn the switch on and let the pump replenish the fuel level in the carb before cranking it. And there's no need for a return line to the tank. Not sure though about the compatibility of the Explorer balancer with the earlier FEAD (Front End Accessory Setup) setup of your truck, so you need to check into this before digging deeper. When you do swap timing covers, make sure to reuse the locating dowels between the cover and the block, these give you a positive location for the front seal to the balancer.