Ok I will be doing a cam and intake swap very soon, just waiting on the money. I plan on using an edelbrock truck intake and a cam from comp.
My original plan was just to stay with a flat cam but after reading more and more articles seems Roller is the way to go. But there is a significant cost difference between the two. Flat= 179.00 roller= 289.00 and then there is the lifters flat= 45.00 roller= 100.00. To top that off I still am not sure if its a roller block its an 86 F150 and i know that are some trucks had the them even way back then. If it isnt then I believe I have to use a reduced base circle cam? Can I even use the stock roller lifters or special lifters? Is there a way to check if its roller without removing the intake like block casting? Once I grenade this engine I plan on going ethier with 331 or 347 with an entire new block roller and everything but that should not happen for some time the engine is only about 55,000 old "Hard Miles" but is still rock solid. Whats my goal? better E.T.! Of course! I am amazed how many trucks are showing up at the track these days, my best time so far is 15.9 at 85 mph and my goal is to get to low 14 to high 13 E.T. I should be able to reduce that time quite a bit with better gears "3.55 and 32 BFGs" and some smaller tires. Got 4.10"s going in next week.
Here are my modifications:
302:40 over
Edelbrock aluminum heads 1.90 1.60
Wolverine cam 194-204 @50 .424 .448
Msd 6A
Dynomax Ceramic Long tubes. 1.5 pri 2.5 collc.
Mass air conversion a9p ecm.
2000 stall converter.
B&m shift kit.
BIG *** 32 1150 15
Electric fans

 

If you have a roller block you can get the hold down spider and roller lifters off ebay for under $100, used of course. If you don't have a roller block the retro lifters run $400+.

If you find a good way to determine if you have roller without pulling the intake, let me know. I'm going to put in a new cam and don't know for sure what's currently in the engine. One suggestion was to pull out a pushrod and measure it and compare that to factory specs for roller and non-roller engines. That might tell you what cam you have.

 

I did a 347 stroker , & yes it is a roller motor arms, lifters, & camshaft , Trans. & what one do you have? I contacted Comp. Cams & thay helped me figure out what one to get. stroker kit from[ strokerkitsdotcom ], i talked to Ronnie , called back comp. & did the 9.2to1 comp. because it is a daily driver . Some people say that 347 is over build for 302 But I have 40,000. miles w/no problem & it's not smoking use only 19 lb injectors , I also have a mass air system EFI bronco 1989 4x4 this is used for pulling my trl. at work . I did my own clearances on the lower end for rods at the bottom of my cyls. then had it bored. I don't have the heads because I only wanted tourqe Don

 

as far as i know if its a roller block u should see f4te on it some where, or mayb thats newer blocks but im not sure, i think the only other way to tell without a total teardown is pull the intakes off and see if the lifters have a bar between each pair

 

I may be mistaken but I believe that the roller engines used the 351 firing order instead of the 302 firing order of the non roller blocks.

 

F4TE stands for a 1994 block and is associated with a 351w roller, won't tell you much for a mid 80's 302.

The truck 302's used the standard 302 firing order whether they were roller or not up until 94 or so, then they went to an HO or 351w firing order.

The pushrod method sounds like the easiest way to check, I am showing the non roller as using a 6.876" pushrod and the roller using a 6.275", definitely a noticable difference.

 

i stand corrected but its not like i know to much about older rollers., but u may aslo be able to tell by how far ur motor will rev to when u nail it, since rollers tend to rev a bit higher

 

This will only work if you have a engine with a roller cam in it, you can still have a roller block with a flat cam, as ford used the same blocks the differences where that the roller blocks were cast for a place to bolt down the spider, but as far as I know they never actually used a roller cam in a truck engine. An 86 should be a roller block (please note the should in this statement) my 86 was a roller block but not a roller cam. and as far as I know if it is a e6** casting or later it should be a roller block other than that the only way to tell is pull the intake.

 

I agree, the only way to know for sure is to lift the intake and see if there is a place for the hold down bolts, you can also measure the lifter bores as well, the roller blocks were taller....I might start with the pushrods first as that would be the easiest but if still in doubt I agree, that intakes gonna need to come off. Ford did this to the 351w F4TE block or 1994 year and up, to my knowledge non of them actually received a roller camshaft with the exception of the 97 f250's.... ford gives the first gen lightnings a roller capable block but installs a flat tappet...does that make sense?

There were roller camshafts installed in trucks that used the standard 302 firing order.

 

Really? that is a new one on me I have never seen a Ford roller cam with the old 302 firing order, I know the aftermarket made them but have just never seen a Ford roller with it, what year was that?
And measuring the lifter bores is still pretty much gonna require the intake to come off, so just plan on it. If you measure the pushrods, and they are the roller cam length verifing you have a roller then you have your answer but if it is a flat tappet it just means that is the cam you have to weather or not the block is roller capable.

 

Yeah thats what I was saying, first step measure the pushrod, still in doubt lift the intake..we agree. I included the information about the lifter bores for one reason, you can tell someone what they should see but unless they have seen both they may not feel confident, one easy thing would be to measure the lifters bores. Know what I mean?

I cannot give you specifics on the 302 roller with non roller firing order, what I can tell you more than a couple people have raised hell when people on different ford forums told them they had a non roller 302 engine, they order a flat tappet camshaft only to find a roller camshaft in the engine.

 

well..most people dont have a 92' 351w block sittin next to there compy. lol but i just looked at it and there are flat places....places where ud drill to mount the retro fit kit, to change from hyd flat-hyd roller lifters. so i think that would be the way to see if ur block is compatible or a roller capable block. at least this is the 351 i dunno about 302's

 

the 302t replaced in my 94 f150 was a roller tappet motor, they were there when i pulled it

 

Well I was going to go with a roller but got talked out of it tonight. I also have a 502 so things are a little different. I got talked into Schubeck flat tappets. This are a cool piece. Cost as much if not more than rollers. No break in required. This is what alot of the 385 racing guys are using. Allows higher spring weight for better control and you can run roller profiles. One of the guys is on his 5th cam using the same lifters.

 

the cam in the new motor is not a roller tappet motor, it is also an older block