I need more power out of this little 302... I have 4.10 gears and 33 in pro comp tires. a 3 in lift... K&N intake, Headers, flowmaster exhaust, tb spacer... and I am not sure what else to do to it.. the engine has 140k mi on it... Im starting to think it may be a little tired... not sure what I should do...

A.... chip it...

B ... save up for a new long block

C... rebuild the engine

D... any other suggestions?

 

As long as it runs good. i would keep it, most of the time when an engine gets weaker that doesnt knock or smoke, it's all the wiring just has corrosion around the edges i've found, and this reduces power. My 89 302 town car has 171k miles on it and i put all new wiring in mine and it's strong and will go till it has 500k miles, unless something freak happens.but speaking of short blocks or long blocks, only time i would even consider that is if i had a cracked block otherwise i would rebuild the one i had, 302's are easy to rebuild once you pull them out that is, and on these long and short blocks you never know who rebuilt it, and it might have been toasted when it was running before it became a core, in my opinion a short or long block is just an engine someone else ruined, so they got guys on a relay line to doctor them up, who would want that???...Janet

 

You can buy a brand new 347 stroker shortblock put together from Ford Racing performance parts from Summitt Racing for $2,399.95 FMS-M-6009-B347. Or you can find yourself a 351W and rebuild it.

 

Nice post Janet. But mako, honestly who has that kind of money to throw at a vehicle? Ya know turboguy, you could prolly rebuild that engine for around 240 bucks. Some people will freak out when I give you this number but just listen for a second. Everyone thinks that when you rebuild an engine you have to spend big bucks on boring the engine and all kinds of other machine work. Take the engine apart and order your kit. PAW supply makes great kits for cheap, btw you don't need anything but bearings, rings and gaskets unless your pistons or bearing surfaces are all marred up. Anyhow, make sure there's not a ring ridge. If there is, you may have to bore the block. If not, good, hone the bore of each cylinder. Clean out the engine now and start on the heads. Lap the valves in the heads and make sure to clean the lapping compound out well. Now begin installing all the rebuild stuff. It's real easy. For a cam, you could call Comp and see what specs they suggest and then use what they say to pick a cam from a cheaper source. You will not be disappointed.

Erik

 

it would cost that much just for a machine shop to check everything out and hone. you should always hone the cylinders. you need to have the crank checked for wear and the cylinders size specd before you can even buy a kit. this isnt somthing you guess on ya know.

figure about 500 for parts and machine work and this is if you do all the disassembly yourself.
if you can give us an idea of your budget we can give you a better option.
also if your still running the stock Cat , this could also be your problem. good way to check it unbolt the y pipe from your headers if there is a big increase in power you know your cat is clogged and needs replaced

 

You are right, I must agree, but there were 2 points that you missed. One was the or "you could find yourself a 351W and rebuild it". The other point was that you can find brand spankin' new parts out there, not stuff that has been destroyed previously. Power does not come cheap. You can get more power out of a 351W cheaper than you can get out of a 302. Not everyone can afford a performance rebuild, but not everyone would like 1980 performance either. You should let him decide if it is too much money. I'm sure he is a big boy and can make financial decisions on his own.

I will agree with you on another point Sgt_Pepper, go with Comp Cams.

 

If it was runnin fine with the bearings that were in there and they aren't burned too badly, they why have the crank micd. Just get what bearings were in it when you took it apart. Also, the only time you would need to worry about boring is if there is a big ring ridge or if the bore became tapered which will happen a little anyhow.

No matter what you do, you will never have the badest thing out there. Someone will always do something better. The key is to do things that make you happy and that will give you the power, reliability, gas milage, and do all this for the money you are willing to spend. Look at all your options, balance this equation and do what you think is best.

Erik

 

well... IM 17 years old... and pay for all of my own stuff... I work 2 jobs and I am still in high school... Ive got around 2g's saved up... but I plan to move out of my home in about 8 months.... so its kind of a toss up... its like ya sure I COULD spend the money... but will it really be worth it... Im definently thinking about replacing the cat... once I make sure its smog legal ( I live in California) and I Do want to make the truck more pleasureable to drive...

Can anyone post links to rebuild kits? that sounds interesting to me... I dont have a lot of experience with anything inside the block but its about time to learn.

Also... would a rebuild just put me back to stock? What are the best things to replace to gain performance when rebuilding an engine? (while still staying smog legal)


Janet... what do you mean replace the wiring? theres a LOT of wires running around in these trucks... how much did you spend?

 

Well dude, if there isn't a lot of blow by or blue smoke comin out of the tailpipe you may not want to rebuild it if you are on a tight budget. There is an easy wat to test if the bottom end needs a rebuild too. Go up hill and floor it for about 10-15 secs, then, let off and watch the oil gauge (if it's a true reader gauge.) If it goes up one or two lbs then everything is fine, but more than that means that the bottom end is loose. I think that Janet meant you should make sure that the wireing going to your engine, ie... distributer, spark plug wires, spark plugs, coil, ignition module, is in good shape. You can check your blowby by pulling the pcv and checkin to see if smoke rolls out of the valve cover. excessive smoke means you need new rings. A rebuild can put you past stock and on to modified. You could buy a rebuild kit for 140 dollars (rings, bearings, gaskets, timing chain, and timing sprockets.) Also, you could buy a cam and lifters for around 100 bucks from PAW supply. They are out of CA and could help you with any questions.

http://www.pawengineparts.com/

Erik

 

Here's another thing i forgot to mention, if you have an engine and "Rule out all engine grounds and be sure your alternator is a good one, plus you have the option of doing what i did, for 15 dollars more i jumped from a 75 amp alternator to a 100 amp alternator", make sure the darned wiring is good, go crazy with some wd40 on wire ends, and be sure there isnt any corrodid wires anywire, that's the big ONE that makes older cars get sluggish, they also need AC electricity, not just gasline and compression, another thing that gets my goat, is folks that rebuild an engine and it ran good but maybe smoked a little bit, then why do they need to have it magnufluxed??????? HUH??? And on reassembling engines always buy new head bolts, head bolts stretch, now upon taking it apart, first you know you must ridge reem the top of the cylinder, (THATS A FACT), if yout piston to cylinder wall clearance is no greater that 00.6, heck leave it alone!!! Just throw back in new standard pistons, 004 to 006 are the tolerances and never bore any more than neccesary as well, if the crank looks good, just polish it woth emery cloth and go back with standard bearing and rod bearings, also rather than buy a crank kit, never go any more than 020 undersize on main bearings, last 302 i rebuilt was in 2003 out of an 85 mustang, parts ran me 170 dollars, no thrust and plastigauge clearance was perfect!!!!, and i didn't even have to bore it. As long as the engine you have doesn't knock majorly bad, or smoke big time, check wiring first and fix that one guy!! Remember, i have 45 years of experience. Even though i like Lincolns with 302 engines, as a mechanic the best engine ever made in the world (On the planet earth) is the beautiful 425-472-500 Cadillac V8 backed with the bullet proof 400 turbo hydromatic tranny.....Janet

PS Another thing i've noticed is people with rather good running engines, but with an alternator that just barely has the guts to keep the battery charged, what they do not know is that an engine with a tired alternator (even though it gets by), makes an engine many times run off of battery power, let me tell you something, a darned engine is not designed to run off of a battery, but instead is designed to run off of a good alternator, a battery is just to start a car....Janet

 

personally i say just drive it the way it is and find a 302 block from a wrecking yard for cheap. then you can tinker with that spending a little money here and there and by the time its all done you can just swap it for the motor thats in there now. would keep you driving until its time to do motor work. it would also help your learning curve. get an engine stand this way you can work on it in your living room if your really wanted to.

good luck.
get a haynes manual or another book building ford small blocks. barnes &noble should be carrying it.

 

I did not mean to change the complete wiring harness, what happens on vehicles, is once they get over 5 years old, the ends where the bolt on and areas get green or white corrosion, people always overlook this..On mine i changed many areas where they connect, you would be surprised at how fuel consumption ups, and power gets weaker in a vehicle because of that ...Janet

 

I accelerated up hill for like 15 seconds.. full throttle.. pritty fun... but ya anyways... My oil guage does not have any numbers on it... but it BARELY moved... so I think my bottom end is probably ok... Im gonna wait until this weekend to check for corosion on the ends of any wires... and pull my pcv valve to see if it smokes at all.... I think I will also do a compression test..

Janet... how did u jump up to a 100amp alternator for 15 bucks?
I have an optima battery.. so it probably takes a lot more to charge it...

 

I agree with everthing that Janet says, not that that matters lol. It does **** me off when people bore engines and turn cranks and do any other kind of machine work when there was no sign of that part of the engine malfunctioning. Often times, machine work is just a waste of money. Now, I would like to point out that there are a few different kinds of honers. There is the "stone" honer. This is usually three stones that when spun around are pushed out into the sides of the bore by inertia. I had a very small ring ridge in my block and was able to remove it with this. Second kind I know of is one that looks like a brush with a bunch of ***** on the end. These produce a great cross hatch finish. Never used one personally but seen people do it. Remember, whenever honing a cylinder you should use a lubricant. I mix regular motor oil mixed with a little deisil fuel to thin it out. Also, to properly do the oil pressure test to determine bottom end soundness, you need a true reader gauge. One that has a hollow tube that leads from the oil passage on the side of the block to a marked gauge inside the cab. It's the only way to know if this tests results are accurate. Kemicalburns has a great idea too. However, maybe you could search your paper for some vehicles people are parting out. It would be nice to run the engine before you buy it so that you can see if it smokes or knocks or anything.

Erik

 

Janet... how did u jump up to a 100amp alternator for 15 bucks?
I have an optima battery.. so it probably takes a lot more to charge it...[/QUOTE]

Doesn't matter what kind of battery you have as long as it is a 12volt, to answer your question, i was able to jump from a 75amp to a 100amp after my system was diagnosed on computer test to have bad alt diode, so a 100 amp was 25 dollars more, but i got 17 more for the old core i gave them back, hehehe...some things are so simple if people would just think...The people i bought the 89 w/302 had for 3 years been changine batteries and monkey messing around with charging it overnight like every 3rd day, because it charged great!! But the novice unimformed person does not realize when the diode gets bad, that you still can get charge true, but let the vehicle sat for two days and it's dead, the diode in late 85 alternators per ford and lincoln (worst ones for this problem), what was happening was the diode was draining all the battery juice when the town car would sit a few days.....Janet