[updated:LAST EDITED ON 19-Feb-02 AT 11:32 PM (EST)] OK here we go, I've had a whole s*** pile of trouble balancing my 302 for a few reasons, I don't know what year motor I have and I have a manual 4 spd tranny.

I took out my blowen up 351W and replacing it with a 302 short block that was just rebulit that I got for nothing this was my first mistake no on second thought it was the F150 4X4 that is a 89,86,77,?? throwen together 77axels,frame, 86 trany and bell housing and lots of other misc. parts, 89 body.

There is going to be alot of useful info in this letter, this is things that I have learned from trial and error.

Ok, one can't use a old style flywheel with a bell housing that has the clutch slave on the outside of the tranny, beacuse the old style flywheel uses a old style pressure plates 3 finger type (I believe that these are 77 and older) which is to big it dosen't clear the bellhousing. I have found that there are a few differn't bolt patterns on the flywheels for the pressure plates, I finaly took my flywheel to the parts store and started pulling pressure plates from a few different years till I finaly got one to match.

Also one has to watch and make sure the starter will work, 351 to a 302 is differen't the nose cone is just a hair different and it rubs on the flywheel and sticks thus the pickup keeps cranking over, to get the right one I did the same thing as the pressure plate.



Harmonic balancers I tried different balancers, now I don't know if some of these spun or if ford put the timing mark on the motor in different places which I think they did. I was getting these balancers from a junk dealer but they only had old style and new style wrote on them, what is old and what is new style good question. Beacuse the interchange manual says that 80 and older uses 28.2 ounce counter weight and 81 and up uses 50 ounce counter weight, But ford racing cat. says that 85 and up uses 50 ounce CW and 84 and older uses 28.2 ounce CW. So I belive that all veichels that had a 302 switched counter weights in the 80 but all in different years I don't know for sure but I think. Oh yea also they are different widths so your pulleys will not line up if you have the wrong width. Ohhhh so fustrated


What else ummm lets see If one goes from a 351w to a 302 the exhaust manafolds wont clear the frame beacuse the deck on the 351 is taller and higher than a 302 which means your heads sit higher.
The motor mounts wont work either for this reason but one can make them work with a cutting torch and a flat bar to make them sit higher thus the exhaust manafolds will bareley clear the frame after this adjusment.


One of the reasons I switched to a 302 is beacuse 351W and 302 is the same engine family and the interchange manual I have said that alot of the parts are interchangable WRONG!!!!! The olny things I found that would work is the heads and valve covers. I think the cam is the same too. The distributor and of course the intake is different. The flywheel and harmonic balancer is different I tried this. But It might not have worked beacuse the crank in the 351 was weighted to 50 oz. or 28.2 and the 302 was just the opposite, but when I laid all the 302 flywheels (4 of them) side by side the 351 counter weight was 1 inch further clockwise.

The question I have is anyone know the right flywheel and harmonic balancer to use with a 1983 Ford F150 4x4 manual 4spd tranny part #'s would be very greatfull.

I hope the crankshaft out of the 83 will bolt in with out any other unforeseen problems like different main and rod journal sizes.

I have also swaped a 400 to a 460 that was a fairly easy swap trany bolted right up had to fab motor mounts get different oil pan and pick up screen beacuse of the 4 wheel drive.


Naughty word here but I have swaped a 5.7 diesel to a 350 gas. I did 4 of these.


If you need any info on swaping motors you can EMAIL ME AT COWBOY_BILLYTHEKID1@YAHOO.COM I'll try answer any question.

William Seim

FORD FOREVER!

p.s. Please excuse the spelling.


:-staun

 

Hi William and welcome to FTE! Yeah these smallblocks can get real complicated; roller blocks, 28 or 32 oz. damper, 28 or 50 oz. flywheel, diaphragm or long style pressure plate, hydraulic or manual clutch, front mid or rear sump, timing cover w/o fuel pump, dip stick in pan or cover, reverse rotation water pump, etc. and that’s just the block. That’s why we like FE’s, there a much simpler animal.

Have you tried your questions in the 221/260/289/302/351W V8 forum or the ’80 – ’86 truck forum? They probably would be able to help you better with these issues. Give it a shot.

Here’s a bit of trivia, remember that 4.2L 255 V8 dog that appeared in ’80 and ’81, it had the later model 5.0L balance of 32oz. balancer, 50 oz. flexplate. I got bit on that one.

Barry

 

Thanks for the info, I meant to post this ad in the small block forum, I'm just found this website last night.

I can't say that I ever did anything with the 255 but it sounds very interesting.

William