i have an '85 f150 with a 302 efi in it. this summer a was planning on a rebuild. i've been searching and researching and everyone has siad that the 302 doesn't develop good torque, which is what i want(mud truck). also, i've heard that the 400 is a stump puller engine. woud it be better to just rebuild my 302 with some performance upgrades or find a 351m/400 and stick it in. or maybe go with a 460. also, will i need to change trannys? mine is a manual overdrive. i wanted something with a granny gear.

 

better to go with a 351m/400 for torque. The 302 is better in a car. Great horsepower for the size but not much in low end torque due to small stroke.

You will need to change trannys. The 302 is of a different engine series thean the 400. To give you an idea of the lask of torque, the 300I6 has way more torque than your 302.

 

Moved to proper forum.

 

Is your 4spd od tranny good??
want to sell it?

 

For your truck, the 351W (5.8) would be the easiest upgrade, by far. The 400 or 460 options would indeed be stump-pulling monsters in comparisin to the 302, but the swap is pretty involved and requires some fab skils, lots of parts changes, including tranny, and some ingenuity because neither the 400 nor 460 were availble in that 4x4 of yours. Can/has been done though.

 

yeah the 351w would be the easier of the choices. my tranny would fit too. i just said the 400 cause its said to be a really torquey engine. will the 351 give me the kind of torque i want? i want around 350-400 ft-lbs. maybe the swap to a granny gear tranny and 4.10 gears would give me the same effect? btw, the overdrive tranny wouldn't be for sale. lol. i have another f150 a would save it for.

 

I say if you are going to do something, do it right the first time and do it BIG. It has to be a 460, bullit proof bottom end (and top end ain't to bad either) you can easily make 400hp and 450 lb ft If memory serves well stock is 234hp and 295 or 325 lb ft.
plus you can find them any where and from vehicles from a lincoln to a motorhome
so go BIG go 460 and to hell with gas mileage

p.s. when you catch yourself complaining about the price of gas, think of the U.K. $9 a gallon

 

i have always wanted a 460 in my truck(along with a zf 5 speed) but ive looked everywhere around here. i really wanted an efi one for the gas milage and ability to go on steeper angles without stalling. if the gas milage is about the same for carburated ones, i might try to find one of those.the only thing is the extra weight from it. will i need to upgrade the suspension to leaf spring fronts, or can i leave the coil springs?

 

you can run more load bearing front coils, you're right on the 460 being an anchor. As far as weight goes it definately is, but fortunately it makes enough power to easily make you forget about the weight.

 

I personally prefer the 300 six over a 302 just because of the durability and reliability it has over the little V8. I have an 84 F150 4wd with the 300, 4spd granny, with 4.10 gears and 33s...it will pull a house off it's foundation! It does really well off road, mud, sand, deep snow, etc. The only place where the 300 lacks is in the higher rpms- it's a low rpm torque motor. The 302 is the exact opposite- nothing down low but top end for days. If you need both, your best bet would be a 351 Windsor. It uses the same bellhousing as the 300 and 302, and your frame probably has the holes already drilled in it for the 351...mine does. It should be a pretty easy and straight forward swap, the 351w (and 302s) have the best aftermarket support of any Ford V8. Fairly cheap to build and get power from. You definately should look for a NP435 or Borg Warner T18 or T19 4 speed. They're probably the strongest manual trannies out there, and you'll love the granny gear.

 

When I was looking at buying a truck to be a work horse I test drove one with a 351W and although it was OK for driving around town, it didn't have near the pulling power of the 460. I had to sacrifice gas mileage for power, but for my purposes it was well worth it!!

 

i would go 351w because its so much of an easier swap, but can it make about 350-400 ft lbs of torque? if it can, i'm going with it.
the 460 would be nice but the 351 wouldget better gas milage. this is a daily driver so i can't be too wild with it.

 

alright I feel stupid for not mentioning this before, but yes that engine can make the power you need. I's going to require a few go fast parts but it's posible. I'd start out with a 393? stroker kit. For some reason the exact dimension escapes me, but with a stroked windsor you've got the low end torque you're after. Then with a performance cam, heads, intake and exhaust 400 ft lbs should be easily achievable. You may not even need the heads, and get it done with cam, intake and exhaust. For starters though I'd highly recommend the stroker conversion for low end torque.

 

okay, so i'm probably going with the 351 and MAYBE a stroker kit. i'll probably just put an edlebrock manifold, cam, and carb combo on it with maybe 4.10 gears and a new granny gear tranny. if i put my 302 heads on it, would that up the compression and give me more power? would they work with a stroker kit?

 

I don't think I would go really extreme on any motor built for dirt duty. I would take a nice rebuildable 351w, have it bored if needed along with the other necessary machining and honing. Go with a mild RV torque cam, high volume oil pump, roller timing set or gears, reassemble it with a good quality rebuild kit Sealed Power, Clevite, something of the sort. On the outside go with a nice carb and intake that will give you best performance from idle to 4500-5000 rpm. Weiand and Edelbrock have tons of choices for the 351 Windsor. For ignition go with a good set of plugs and wires, and I recommend throwing in an MSD Blaster coil for a fatter spark. For cooling a high volume water pump would be ideal, being this would be a mild buildup...the stock pump would be fine. I personally would dump the stock radiator for a new 4 core unit and run either a straight blade or flex fan. For exhaust I would go with a good set of long tube headers with 2.25 duals with a quality good flowing muffler...Dynomax, Flowmaster, etc. This engine would not make a tremendous amount of horsepower (280-300), but the torque (350-400)should be very close if not right on as to what you are looking for. One mistake a lot of guys make when they're building a truck motor they don't match all the components so they work in harmony. Too much cam for the intake vice versa, or they build something that would be better off between the frame rails of a muscle car or hot rod. The main thing you need to look at is what kind of work this motor will be doing, and go from there.