I was wondering what you guys thought of........
Ford's 302's and other small blocks
Chevy's 350's and other small blocks
Dodges small blocks
What are the advantages, what are the drawbacks, which would you go with, are there any similariites in design, how can you get the most bang for you buck outa the Ford small blocks?
I"m just interested in learning more about engines, sorry if this is a repeat thread.

 

This will be a great thread~

 

Ok...I'll try this,

It is my humble opinion that,

The small block v-8's manufactured by the big three are all good engines.
The design has been out long enough to get all the bugs worked out.
Any engines output is pretty much directly conected to air flow which is determined by the cyl.head, intake, and fuel system. The 350 cid GM, 351 ford, and 360 Mopar short blocks all have the same power potential. Its the the upper end and camshaft which determine how much power you make and where that power occurs in the RPM's. Alot has been done in head and cam design in the last 10-15 years which, for the most part, has greatly increased HP & torque as compaired to the heads and cams of the 60's & 70's. It's all about Science and not Brand. If you have a specific application, I would be glad to offer some input.

 

I love the Ford 302. Its amazing what that little motor can put out. Plus parts are everywhere, and you can build a monster out of cheap, lightly used parts. My last 5.0 Stang was a 1990 and I was able to do heads, cam, intake, exhaust for about $1200, then I bought a supercharger used for another $800, some gears for $50, and other stuff-I also bought the car from a "helping Hands" donation place for $1000. For about $3500 I had a mean car that would beat most anything that tried to race it.

Next I would go with a 360, Tons of parts, tons of torque and once again can be a beast for cheap.

I don't like the chevy 350...tons of parts, but I personally don't like it for some reason.

 

I can give some imput on 350 chevs. Alot my friends that off road run em and my dad runs one in his drag car and they are reliable for the kind of hell we put our rigs through. Parts are cheap and everywhere and stocked at most anywhere. The fact that people swap them into fords and chryslers, and then the fact you dont here about fords and chryslers being swapped into other stuff much says alot to me. Most of that probly is preferance but it had to get started somehow and i doubt a chevy guy would just buy an old ford...

 

I'm putting a 302 in my truck, personally i don't like cross breeding vehicles parts, but that's me.
Where could i find a cheap supercharger set up for a 302?

Great information so far, keep on adding.

 

The most underrated small block engine is a 1968-1971 Mopar 340. Drive a Dart or Duster, or A-body Barracuda with one and you'll see what I mean. And, they made one in 1970 with the Holley 2300 (three 2 barrels) setup on it for the AAR 'Cudas and Challenger T/A's. (BTW, the Holley 2300 was used on the Chevy 427 Tri-power and Mopar 440 Six-Pacs also.)

 

i think they can all be built up, but i think the fact that hotrodders put a 350 in an old ford has something behind it.

of course i am a fan of grand nationals too.

 

The small block GM dominates the market because it was produced for so long in so many different vehicles in very large numbers due to GM's market share and the parts were so interchangable that aftermarket suppliers can make and sell parts more cheaply than for any other engine. A friend of mine races at a local track and races a Chevrolet only because he can build the engine for half the cost of building a Ford (which is what he would prefer).

 

Go to some mustang boards/forums and look in the classified section. There's always guys selling them for around $1000 or a little less.

 

Chevy engines are much cheaper to work on. You can rebuild a Chevy 350 for less than 200 bucks.

Generally, the 302 has more bang for the size of the engine. Usually you don't hear about 305's going up agains 302's and winning. A 350 and 302 is usually a good race. Reliability, you'll hear a thousand diffrent opinions, and owner loyality will play a factor on what people say there.

I have no idea about dodge.

The 360 is an awesome motor. The 351 is good, more torque than a 302.

For most applications, the 350 is a fine motor, but I'd never own one, I'm bleed blue

 

For some reason I have always liked with the Mopar small V-8's, 273, 318 and 360 in factory stock form. I have owned/leased them in various Dodge vans from '66 to '94. Combined with the A-727 Torqueflite, it is a hard combination to beat in a light truck. The '74 (2bbl + C4) and '94 (SMPFI + E4OD) 302's just never ran as well. Two SB Chevy's , 283 and 327, both in passenger cars and handicapped by Powerglide transmissions. Still, if you want to mod it and build horsepower, the Chevy is king for reasons already stated. Ive never had a Ford engine apart, but both Chevy and Dodge V-8s are straighforward to rebuild. The rear distributor/oil pump arrangement may have a slight advantage as far as oil pickup under hard acceleration is concerned, but probably not if the pan is properly designed.

Jim

 

ever seen the rods and crank for a 350vrs a 351W? the W is stout, i was shocked at the 350 it looked small on the inside.

but i have seen alot of 350's run along time, so i guess in light duty they are fine.

DT

 

there is a difference between big and tough.

 

I think the Big 3 have all made good small block V8s. The Chevy small block V8 is an excellent design and is generally considered to be the forerunner of the modern OHV V8.

It was really the first light, powerful V8 that came on the market (1955) and in my opinion, the Ford 221 series (1962) and Mopar 340, (60's not sure exactly) were their respective manufacturer's response to the success of the Chevy.

The previous Ford Y block, (we had a 312 and a 292) was not in the same league as the Ford 221 series (had a 302, drove another 302 100s of 1000s of miles) or for that matter the Chevy V8.

The Chevy V8 is almost the universal hot rod engine, and has been, for many a year. The number and lower cost of speed parts for this engine, compared to any other V8, is hard to beat, maybe impossible, with this criteria

The Ford 221 series is also a great engine, a better engine in my opinion than the Y block it replaced. Like the Chevy V8 it is lightweight, quick and high revving, readily responds to performance tuning.

The Mopar 340 type, small block is a great engine, sharing many of the attributes of both the Ford and Chevy V8s. I have always been impressed by the late 60's 340/275 hp (yeh, right!) that came in late 60's, compact MOPAR performance cars. However good as it's inherent design is, the Mopar 340, never really had the performance parts backing it like the Chevy or the Ford.

A couple of engine models that impressed m over the years have been the 60's, Ford 289/271 High performance V8 and the late 80's/90's Mustang 302.

I think the last Mustang 302 series has had a tremendous effect on the hot rod industry. If fact, I would suggest that it was/is the modern day equivalent of the Chevy small block V8 in the 50's and the 60's.

Both engines were king, during these separate eras. IMO, the Mustang 302 may well become the 55-56-57 Chevy in the next few years.

In other words I can see the possiblity of the Mustang 302 competing with, or possibly supplanting the popularity of the Chevy V8.

In the end, I think one would be hard pressed to claim that any one of these three, great designs are superior to the others.

They are all great engines that you could not go wrong with, if you wanted a small block, hi-po V8.