Guys I was at autozone the other night to buy winter wiper blades for the 92 F-150 and just out of curiosity asked the guy behind the counter what a replacement 302 engine would cost me and he told me that the 302 Heavy Duty motor was going to cost $1600 with a core deposit of $485. Now I was like hmm... okay how much is a 351w motor cost and he pulled it up in the computer and the total came to be like $1500 with a core deposit of $485. I wonder why there is a price difference in the two when the 351w motor is a more superior truck motor IMO? Mind you both those quotes are for the heavy duty performance engines. The brand name is the autozone carrier SURE are those engines any good? Both motors come with roller cams, does the stock 92 F-150 302 motors come with roller cams?

 

No, only the nites and HO motors come with roler lifters/cams.
The stock engine is solid lifters.

Was debateing upgradeing to rolercams and lifters.

Winter blades are crap. dont buy those.

 

stock engines come with hydralic lifters 60-70 motors got solid lifters but the newer ones have hyd .......unless u geta jap car as they have solids

 

The "nites" were just an appearance package. None of the trucks ever had a HO engine.

The 87-93ish V-8s were solid lifters....but solid hydraulic lifters. There is a big difference. The solid flat tappet lifters are the ones that need adjustment, that you see people adjusting the valvetrain often. They need to be adjusted because there there is a solid..mechanical connection between the cam lobe and the valve.

The hydraulic solid lifter has no maintance to the valvetrain because the hydraulic pressure in the lifter takes up the variances. The pushrod rides on a cushion of hydraulic pressure (engine oil).

Ford switched to hydraulic roller tip lifters around 93/94 (I have yet to see any confirmation of a specific period of change) and I believe has a correlation to when the rating of power went from 185 to 205.

My 95 302 had roller lifters, rated for 205hp.

As for the price difference between the 302/351......yes the 351 is the more desired engine for the enthusiasts here...but not to the overall population. There could be many reasons as to why their prices are different....supply...parts costs....etc....


Those motors are cheap junk. You get what you pay for when you purchase precise machined and assembled components. Those are high-volume assemlers who don't pay close attention to specifc clearances/tolerances.

You'll often find mismatched parts in those engines too....say an engine they are building has 1 cylinder that is partially damaged....they'll bore that cylinder .060 over and the rest .030 over....or use different pistons....even in the valvetrain...using different valves and rockers.


They use what they have to make something that'll work...but often it's a crappy setup and are not ideal.

It's very difficult to get a truely well made rebuilt engine. It's one of those things that in order to get it done right you've gotta do it yourself...or have a very very close eye on what goes into the engine.

 

just a slight correction there, they did not have solid hyd lifters, they had hyd flat tappet lifters. Solid refers to the type of lifter body, flat tappet or roller refers to the way it rides on the cam. so you can't have a solid hyd lifter.

 

Your right. My mistake. I'm even still proof-reading that. Thanks.

 

That is so true. You get what you pay for. It might make a nice anchor not to far in the future tho.

 

Honestly,

Jasper...Autozone (who gets their engines made from somewhere else)...any typical high-volume/low cost replacement engine company is going to have issues like this.

You buy these engines when you don't really care about the vehicle like us enthusiasts do...but you like the vehicle...it needs an engine...and you want to buy one and have it put in or put in yourself. Like a Jasper engine has a 75k mi warranty....they make the engines likely to last that long but I guarantee their success rate past 75k is much less than we'd like.

A person such as myself, who plans on keeping their vehicle and is using top quality stuff...goes elsewhere.

 

Wouldn't you be better of buying a dealer crate motor if your options are limited?

 

the dealer crate motors (not FRPP but the FAR motors) are rebuilt by someone else too, the FAR stands for Ford Authorized Rebuilt. They might be a little better but they aren't a new engine either and don't use factory parts.

 

Everyday is a learning experience. I did not know that. I guess thats what they mean by an educated shopper. INTERESTING!

 

FRPP sells a 5.0 shortblock, put whatever cam you want in it and you're good to go. Then theres also the long block performance motors.

 

you do get what you pay for. from what i've heard Gophers are decent as far as reman engines go, but one will cost ya 2 or 3 times what the autozoo one does.

the only way to do the job right is to do it yourself, rebuild it yourself so you know what you've got.

 

To be honest you can get that same long block for $750 but it will still be junk. It would be ok I guess for a beater though.