lately, been having to pedal to "get it", or, for that matter drive in rush hour...check out my album and you'll see my top end is good except for my cam,exhaust, and heads. i know the deal w/ gears and all..but out of those- what comes first? in other words what should be done to help this?(carb is tuned right, running 500/550 idles- slightly lean due to use of truck; out of town/work). i naturally think of the exhaust, due to dual-plane manifold and 1405 man. performer carb w/ k&n air element. F.Y.I.- I plan on getting a fresh long block for my ultimate master plan, just looking for some way to improve fuel and h.p./tq. while not blowing a 30 y.o. motor. if it breathes better it works better, RIGHT? tell me what you think and i will greatly appreciate your knowledge....KEEP ON TRUCKIN
P.S.> what about H.O. heads?,What i am looking at there with a '79 "G" Eng. Code?

 

I clicked on it but you don't have a gallery ?

 

How do I tell by looking at your picture that your top end is good? I see an edelbrock carb and alot of red paint. Have you had a carburetor shop dial in your carb w/ exhaust sniffing equipment? Have you had your distributor re-curved? Is your timing set right? Are you running a vacuum advance and if so is it hooked up to ported vacuum or manifold vacuum? What are you expecting a 302 to be able to do in a full sized truck? It was the smallest V8 offering and arguably the least performing motor (I believe the 300-6 has more low end torque although some have quoted numbers otherwise-my opinion) I would caution you about putting fresh heads on a tired block, I once did this on a 390 and was rewarded by broken rings and a broken piston skirt. Ford extracted more performance out of 5.0L motors in trucks later in the 80s and 90s through more aggressive roller tappet (lifter) cam/lifter combinations (kit are available to retrofit these onto older blocks, and EFI. A 302 has a big 4.0" piston with a short 3" stroke. It was designed for high RPMs. Not so much for Low RPM torque. I've had two dentsides with 302's in them and I've had a couple of trucks with 390s in them. Noticeable difference to me. If you are going to drop a bunch of money into a new block, and you don't want many swap issues and more power, seriously consider going to a 351Windsor. Its hard to know how you define your lack of performance. Are you racing? Do you expect to smoke the tires? Or are you seriously sluggish in traffic? I don't hate 302s, I've had a couple. My last one sounded tougher than my 390 with stock exhaust manifolds and 2.5" dual pipes with H crossover and Flowmaster mufflers. I however get better mileage believe it or not with my 390/2v stock carb-T18 tranny and a higher (3:00 or 3:25 can't remember now) rear end gear than I got in the same truck with a 302 4V Edelbrock carb/C6 auto and 3.50 rear gear. The weight of the truck seemed to limit the engine from getting much above 3500 RPM. I'd urge you to have both your distributor recurved (by somebody that still knows how) and your carb professionally set up utilizeing exhaust sniffing equiptment. Before dropping serious money on aluminum heads and a cam.