Hi i was wondering how much it would cost for a good 302 or a 351, i am also wondering if i could rebuild a locked up 302, would it be cheaper to fix the 302 that it has now or buy a used one from a junkyard, i am gonna put this in my 78' F-150 truck and use it for pulling, and just a 7 mile drive back and forth to school till i find a car, i have a frand marquis i am rebuilding, it was my parents car, they smashed a deer with it, so they were gonna junk it so i said what the hell!! please let me know what you think about the motors!!!

 

Getting a running used motor would be cheaper but its a hit or miss situation depending on how much life was left in the motor when it got pulled. Sometimes wrecked cars were running fine but the impact from the wreck damages the motor or it got filled with water or the radiator busted and they tried to run it afterwards. Sitting one on the shop floor for months is not good for them either and you quickly get into stuck motors with froze up lifters. At best, you are looking at only some limited life left and at worse you are looking at a waste of money.

If you can find used motors with a return and swap guaranty thats the way to go for just a temporary fix but they will usually come up with some "excuse" for why you messed it up and not let you swap if you wind up with a bad one. You can pretty much bet the sellers know the bad ones too. Rebuilding a motor is the expensive way but we still do it sometimes because its the only way to get the motor built the way we want(usually a performance or racing situation).

I recently bought a running 79 F150 for $650. The motor looks fine and cranks right up but it wouldn't untrack itself so I had to rebuild the C4 tranny. It might be cheaper to find an old running truck than to fix one thats not running or you might try to find another old one with a good motor like what I found and swap the tranny or whatever else needs fixing and make one good running truck out of 2.

 

Thanks, we went out and bought a used motor and it turned out no good, i want a good strong one for my truck, and i want it to be a daily driver/offroader, i want to drive it back and forth to school and use it once in a while to do some offroading, i want it to be fairly decent on gas but still have a little power to pull, do you have any suggestions, ya i had thought about finding an older truck with a good motor but a bad body so i could get it for cheap. I am only 15 so i have some time cause my birhday isn't till april and i was in a wreck on my school permit (not where i was supposed to be but the wreck wasn't my fault) go figure, any way, i have till august of this year to get it running and looking half way decent, but i would still like it to be drivable, in april thanks for your help and get back to me, do you know of any websites that has a few restoration tips i could use?? thanks for you time

 

Where are you located? I am in Ft. Worth, TX and just pulled pefectly good 302 out of my 68 F-100. Let me know if you are interested.-68FORD

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 09-Jan-02 AT 10:24 AM (EST)]Hey, 68Ford,
How much you asking for that 302? I need one to add to my collection; have a 312, 351W, 390, 400M, 429, and 460 sitting on the floor right now. Even have a Mustang II 4-banger.
Seriously, I do need one.
I'm just north of El Paso.

Eddie Bad Attitudes

 

It is a complete motor, from air cleaner to oil pan. I am asking $500.00. I can e-mail you pictures if you like.-68FORD

 

 

The 302 is for a customer, but he just informed me today that he wants to wait until he gets paid (he is a mmasonry contractor, and gets paid when the job is done).

Thanks, but I guess I better repair the 390 that I transplanted from my '59 F100 into my '70 F100 before I go after a 302 for him (don't like to "front" money to people who are 'waiting' to get paid).

OldFords