I've got a 302 EFI out of an 86 Bronco that has a bent rod
and I'm thinking about rebuilding it. It will be my first and
I wondering what simple and moderately inexpensive things I can
do to increase HP / Performance?

Any advise is welcome remember I am a rookie.

Leevi

 

First thing, buy the book "How to Rebuild Small-Block Ford Engines". It will give you all the info you need to do your first rebuild.
As for the rest of it, I think someone else on this board can give better suggestions.

Roger Lane
Test Analyst
Sr. Automated Test Engineer
IBP, Inc.

 

Are you going to keep the fuel injection? If so, you can follow what the mustang guys do as far as cams and heads. If you are going carburated like I did, you have many options. When I rebuilt mine, I found out that the pistons were different because the rings are thinner on later model 302's(and more expensive). I found out that I could use the older style flat top pistons(to raise compression) as long as I used the older style rings too. Regular 4-barrel manifolds work and to mount a fuel pump, just change the timing cover to an older style. The alignment dowels were larger on the later block, but I just drilled these out on the older timing cover. Make sure you keep the balancer and flywheel you have with your motor or make sure you get late model stuff since they are balanced different than approx 82 and earlier motors.