I have a 78 f-150 that has a 400 and I want to switch to a 302 that I have in another vehicle. My question is will the bell housing, clutch, and flywheel all be the same or do I need to find a different one?

 

Sorry, but you'll need to find those parts for a small block. Make sure the flywheel has the correct imbalance weight for the year 302 you're going to use.

 

The 400 has the big block pattern. Why in the world do you want to do such a switch? Even the stock 400 pulls the ***** off a 302, and the 400 can be liberated with so little effort.

 

I am having major problems with the 400. I have the 302 in an f100 and it only has about 15000 miles on an overhaul. It is a very good motor and gets about twice the gas mileage as the 400. Which can be a good thing with the price of gas, since I drive the f150 back and forth to work every day. I want to rebuild the 400. I just need to get a different motor into the f150 for right now and thought that would be the most economical choice.

 

Afraid it's not an option unless you want to pull the tranny and a lot of other stuff from the F-100 to make the 302 work.

 

From the little I have been able to find out the 4 spd I have in the f150 is supposed to work with the 302, as long as I change the bell housing, clutch, and flywheel. The f150 originally came with a 302, but was changed to a 400 when that one blew. I really like the 400 but it needs to be redone and I can't just let the truck sit as it is my main mode of transportation.

 

It sounds like you have all the parts you need to do the swap, just a lot of work involved. A few years ago I took '78 F250 with a worn out 400 and '72 with a fresh 390 and swapped the 390 into the '78. These were both automatics, so I had to keep the c6 with the 390 out of the '72 and change them as a package. Also had to change the motor mount brackets on the truck to stay with the 390, and I believe I had to swap the driveline as well. The '72 sat around for a few years, then I decided to get it running so I swapped in a 351c 4bbl that I had in a worn out '72 Ranchero. (The motor was fairly fresh) Since the 351c is essentially a small block sharing bellhousing bolt pattern and motor mounts with the 302, I used wrecking yard sourced 302 motor mount brackets and of course the trans that was in the Ranchero. I don't recall now what I used for a driveline, I may have used the original one that came with the truck, changing the front yoke, or I may have used one that I had laying around that was the right length. (I have a bunch of them) Anyway, my point to all this is that with some scrounging, and checking everything, anything is possible. To me it sounds almost like a bolt-in, if you don't mind not having the F100 running anymore at least 'till you have something else to put in it. -TD

 

I know that I may need to change motor mounts. I need to change the bell housing and clutch, as well as the flywheel. The 302 is out of a 1971 galaxie. Any one know what the imbalance on this should be? Also would the distributor out of the 400 work in the 302?? It is set up with points at the moment, so I need to change that also when I swap.

 

You will have to use an earlier flywheel to go with the '71 302, I think the imbalance is 28 oz. compared to the 50oz. imbalance used on the later 302 when they were designated as a 5.0. I don't recall the exact year of the split, but you should be safe with a pre-1980 flywheel, and certainly one from a 289 is ok. As for the distributor, no, the 400 won't work. Not only is it taller, but it has a larger oil pump drive. It is easy to convert a point dist. to Duraspark, I've done quite a few of them. And you can use the 400 dist. internal parts. Just get the two distributors side by side, and you will see the differences. The only modification required to the point-type dist. housing is to cut a slot with a hacksaw from the top edge of the dist. down to the hole where the wire to the points comes through. Just compare them and you will see what I mean. As for the rest, it's just a matter of swapping the internal parts, the breaker plate, point cam on the shaft, etc. If you decide to just get another dist, you want one off of a 302 only, the 351w won't even fit, for the same reasons that the 400 won't fit.