Just got an '80 Econoline Chateau and will rebuild to use as a daily
rider and will put on a fair amount of mileage in the city as well as on the highways. Currently stock with 302/FMX/2.75.

I want more torque and to achieve this I plan to make it a 331 stroker,
install an RV cam, and change the rear gears to something like 4.11.
A large 2-bbl carb and stock intake should be sufficient since I'm not getting into the high rpm range. I'll also swap in an AOD trans with a slightly higher stall speed torque converter.

I have some concerns such as... should I use the original '80 block or
is there one that's more desirable? Which stroker kit? What about
heads and compression ratios? My objectives are durability,
reliability, and low-end performance.

Y'all have taught me a lot with your past posts on this sight and I'm
hoping you have some opinions, suggestions, or recommendations
regarding my current project. Thanks!

 

Low end aftermarket heads or ported stock should do the trick for what you want. edelbrock performers or you could probably find a set of ported E7's that flow real close to the performers on the intake and probably better on the exhaust (if professionally done).

You might opt for a small 4 bbl vs a large two barrel...with the 4bbl you don't have that much cfm to play with during normal driving, until you put your foot to the floor and open it up...know what I mean? That way its there if you need it....not uncommon to hear people claim better mpg going to a 4bbl vs the smaller one or two barrel stock carbs.

75-84 are the ones people claim you'll wanna avoid but your not wanting to create a high rpm engine either. If you would like to go roller then the 84 and later roller or at least roller compatible, would be good to get your hands on.

Keep the compression healthy but not crazy 9-9.5:1.

Stroker kits by scat or eagle would be the way to go, they are considered to be of better quality.

Then your gonna get many that will tell you, ford made a tall deck 302 with increased stroke and larger mains, its also reliable......351w

Good luck with your decision

 

Thanks for the good tips, jw.

I was thinking of a Hawks Racing Crank from The Mustang Depot which
seems to be of excellent quality. Are you familiar with Hawks?

Also, how do I determine cr? The E7TE heads are 62cc and I'd like to
have a cr of 8.5 or 9.0. Is there a formula to use to figure this?

 

For an around town, daily driver after market cranks or stroker kits seem a bit excessive. You could start with either a 5.0 or 5.8 roller cam motor. Rebuild the short block with stock stuff, except a marine or r/v cam. Top it off with AFR aluminum heads (C.R. @ 9.5-10.0), dual plane intake, small 4v carb, and headers and you would be amazed at the torque you would be making. You would also get very decent gas mileage (running 89 octane) wheter loaded or unloaded. The downside is that such a motor would only last about 200,000-300,000 miles before you had to work on it. Just my 2 cents....

 

I have heard hawk cranks from ebay are junk...takes too much time to balance the assembly which equal more money out of your pocket.


you will need to know piston to deck height, piston cc, gasket compressed thickness (usually they will list cc), then your head cc. there is a formula if you do a search on your favorite search engine it should pop up. you may wanna cc or have your heads cc'd, they vary from the factory, 62 cc is a good guesstimate but no telling what it is in reality.


I think stock stroke and better heads would be slightly more dependable than a stroker but if assembled correctly...not much. When you add bigger heads to a certain stroke it moves the peak rpm up. If you stroke the engine, you add torque and not much in the way of hp, unless you upgrade the heads, so IMO more cubic inches is always better, torque is what motivates these suckers. Try and keep your peak tq right around where your average cruising rpm is, thats one way to keep it more mpg friendly. Keep in mind, I am not saying Twinscrew is wrong, its just when it comes to pulling or adding tq the only way to go is stroke it IMO.


Give the company of your choice a call and they will set you up with the right cam, be prepared to tell them your rear end gear ratio, tranny/converter, and also the entire engine combination.

Once again good luck

 

Hey JWT, i agree completely with regard to more stroke= more torque. However, stroking a motor is a trade-off in one way or another starting with high cost/shorter life. This is just the beginning. When I suggested AFR heads I should have been more specific. Stock E7's have intake runners that are 147cc and flow not very well. AFR 165's have runners that are 165cc and flow very well. Even though they are BIGGER they carry higher mean port velocity than the E7's because of their shape. The result is more HP/Torque everywhere. They are still small enough that the usable power curve is dictated by the cam-intake-exhaust combination. On a 5.0 the torque is excellent, on the 5.8 it's awesome, right from an idle in both cases with the right combo. Your posts are good information. Cheers....

 

Whichever motor you decide on, DO NOT guess at a compression ratio.

You must match the cam to the CR. The best thing to do is choose what cam you WILL use then build the motor with the compression ratio to match the cam.

Download and use this Compression ratio calculator. http://www.geocities.com/my90lariat/Project1.zip

Then read about compression for pump gas. HERE

Then for ****s and giggles, download the Engine Analyzer3.0 from my homepage. (some reason unable to link to it)
Homepage

 

Twinscrew

I am not so sure the 331 would decrease the life of the engine that much but I understand what your saying. later

 

90f150moneypit

How would a person go about installing that analyzer3.0?

I downloaded the files but then there were three or four folders, then many folders inside each of the original folders. later

 

on disk one click on setup that says setup launcher if i remember correctly

 

I clicked disk 1 then clicked on the blank screen icon with SETUP written under it, seems to work.

Appreciate it though. later

 

Thanks, Twinscrew, for the good info on the AFR heads. I know that putting on a bigger intake would be somewhat detrimental to low end torque but these AFRs look sound great. I didn't realize the port velocity was that high. Seems like the way to go. Either those or some slightly ported E7 heads. I'm not looking to create more high rpm power so maybe the E7s will do.

JW, yes a small 4 bbl instead of the 2 bbl also seems like the way to go. As an added benefit, Lokar makes an adapter bracket for their AOD Trottle Valve Cable (for my FMX-->AOD swap) that fits the 4 bbl carbs. Saves me the trouble of fabricating a special braket for the 2 bbl.

I'm looking at the Crane 260H10 cam (#130032) which has an rpm power range of 1200-4200 and needs a CR of 8.0-9.5. Seems like this is what I'm looking for, "Brute low end torque" they say.

Been looking for some kind of free flowing single exhaust for this ol' girl but looks like it'll have to be custom made. I can't find anything available for these old vans. Duals would be nice but single is said to be better for the low end.
Project is starting to take shape and I do appreciate all the advice and tips. Thanks!

 

You might give crane a call, I know what your saying, the advertiser says brute low end but I would bet crane would recommend a dual pattern vs the single, especially in a van/tow/street application using stock heads. later

 

You're right, jw. I called Crane and the tech recommended their Grind Number

H-266-2 (Part Number 363934) along with a 1600 rpm stall converter.
Also called CompCams and their recommended cam is Grind Number
FS XE256H-10 (Part Number 31-234-3). He also recommended a stock converter and that the difference with this cam would be "night and day". Power range is 800 to 5000 rpm and recommended CR is 8.5-10.0.

I guess either would be fine for low and mid-range torque in a daily rider but I'm leaning towards the CompCam. Thanks for your previous advice. Cheers!