He said he had a "H6" rearend code which would be a 3.50 gear. I put 31's on my f150 that had 3.50 gearing and noticed a big loss in throttle response. He has 32 inch tires on his. Besides that, they will rub some also during tight parking lot turns and hauling a full load of firewood.

 

Well, the tires are brand new so getting rid of them is not really an option, plus I have another truck to do my hauling with. I was just looking for simple affordable ways to help the little 302 out if it was worth the time and effort for the days I do get the ole girl out and drive it around.

 

It is a big drop. My 2.75:1 axle ratio dropped down to around a 2.55:1 going from stock to 31x10.50-15 tires. Big reason why I am doing an axle change as well as swapping a E4OD planetary gear set in a new C6 I am going to get along with beefing the engine up.

 

Did you ever say what year it was? I looked in your profile and you list a 1982. What transmission does it have?

 

It's a 1982 with 4 speed manual

 

I haven't read any of the other answers past the first 2 lol. You might as well ask what's the best position in the bedroom! That said, there are some old go-to options.

Engine: Heads/Cam/Intake/Exhaust...don't fall for BS when it comes to 302s. Underdrive pulleys aren't gonna give you 100 horsepower, no matter what the advertisement says. The cam and heads on 302s genuinely suck. There's some decent budget aftermarket heads out there. If you don't have the funds for new, GT40 heads are a decent power bump. GT40P heads are ok, too, but they have some differences that you need to watch for when selecting headers. They can still be found at the junkyard in Exploders and other vehicles.

For the carb, if you decide to go with a good 4 barrel, steer clear of mechanical secondaries. They work, I'm sure, and I'm probably going to catch hell from some Holley-boy for saying that, but they are heavy trucks that respond well to a vacuum-operated secondary. Especially if you have a stock (or close to it) cam, heavy truck, automatic, etc. Resist the urge to overcarb your engine. Nothing over 600cfm if it's a street truck with mostly stock parts and won't see high RPM.

Get you a good dual plane manifold, too. You don't need a $500 Super Victor on your GT40 headed 302 with a mild cam and headers.

Lower gears (higher numerically), depending on what you have right now. This may negatively affect fuel economy, if you care about that sort of thing.

When you get it back together, be ready to recurve the distributor and tune the carb for best power and mileage.

Or screw all that and go with a 408 Windsor with AFR heads and roller cam setup

Best of luck!

 

I hear great things about the Edelbrock E-Street heads they are aluminum flow better than stock and for a 302 you can pick up a pair for under $1,400. Just have to be careful they swear up and down that the heads cant be used with a roller cam as the spring pressure cant be bumped up to handle roller lifters. Its why I opted for the more expensive CNC machined AFR heads for $1,800 for my 302.

 

I had cast iron World Products Windsor Sr heads (200cc, 2.02/1.6 valves) on the 302 that came in my 95 Mustang. It was my dad's old dirt track engine. Had a huge cam, tho I don't know the specs. 0 power under 2500 rpm, but it pulled awesome from 3000 all the way to 7000. VERY fun. And that was with a Torker single plane intake, the one with the weird angle to the carb and an Edelbrock 750.

When I blew that up, I put an 11:1 compression 351 (.030" over) with aluminum World Products Windsor Sr heads (same 200cc, 2.02/1.6 valves). Same head, just in aluminum. Schneider solid flat tappet cam, 1.6 rockers on the exhaust, 1.7 on the intake, so .600" IN/.584" EX lift, 284/292 duration. With Victor Jr intake, BBK 1-3/4" LTs, and Holley Sniper EFI...it flys. Much more low end, but much more more top end, too. Still makes most power from 3000 up, but much more driveable down low. My tuner estimates around 500hp at 6800 rpm.

For a truck application, the World Performance 180cc are a much better fit, I would think. The 200cc was big for the 302, but then, they may have done better with a more reasonable cam. With the RPM they run on my 357, I doubt it.

I only bring all that up because I have been very happy with them on both engines, and they can be had (assembled) for around $1400. Unassembled for sub-$1000. You can probably find a decent used set online, they have been made for yeeeeears. Under the World Product name and under the Roush name. I sold the cast iron ones for $500 to a buddy, which I will probably kick myself for if I ever build another Windsor.

 

This is the main thing I always tell people when they want to spend money and improve the performance of their 302. It seems that most of the power than you add to the 302, is only added between 2500-5500 RPM. I spent a bunch of money on mine, had it broken in and tuned on the dyno, and at the end of the day it basically feels exactly the same as stock from idle to 2500 RPM. The engine works very well, and pulls nice and hard above 2500 RPM, but it is still kind of a dog below 2500.