Engine choice of 302s
 

My local u auto pull it is having a sale this weekend and I plan on getting a "new" engine. My choices are 95 F150 2wd, 96 F150 4x4, or 96 Mountaineer. Is there any difference in the cam in any of these choices? Which would you get? I already have a set of GT40p heads so I'm not concerned with heads.

What are your plans for the engine?

Do you want to get a good runner or a rebuilder?

I would get the Mountaineer since it also has the GT40 or GT40p heads, and I would not take the heads off. This is assuming the engine is a runner. I have always gotten good service from good used engines and only rebuilt them when worn out.

Just planning on continuing to use it in my 77 F100 as my daily driver. The Mountaineer us what i was leaning towards.

My current 302 in there has low compression on number 4 cylinder and horrible blowby. All cylinders have about 145psi except the number 4 which only has about 60.

Engine choices
 

Well I like to have spare engines around, so depending how good the junkyard ones are, and how cheap, I'd get one or two. Often the yard does a compression test and writes the numbers under the hood.

But maybe for now it would be easier to just put on your spare GT40 heads and not have to pull the motor in your truck? You'd have better compression, unleaded fuel capability and better flow, so if the lower end is still reasonably okay, it should be a worthwhile improvement.

I already put them on a few months ago whenI had a blown head gasket. Since i had to take the heads off I went ahead and put on the p heads. They didn't help the compression number for #4 or the blowby out the oil fill cap breather. So I'm gonna get the new engine to put in and have my one that's in the truck now be my spare. After I get it out I'll check the rings and keep it for a future project.

As for prices whole engines are 218, long blocks are 120, and short blocks are 80. And the sale is half of those prices!! I think I think I may grab a complete engine and a short block. If I have time.

No difference in the cams between these but the Mountaineer has GT40 heads(not the P version you already have) which will accept any standard header and still flow 25% better than E7 heads.

Wow those are good prices. I was searching around for a Honda head at the local junkyards a month ago when the wife's car dropped a valve and was quoted $495.
Needless to say I got the original rebuilt, for only a little less.

Really new car stuff prices are a little higher as they are in a separate part of the yard, but for the p heads I took off a 2000 Explorer I only paid $35 each, and that's full price.

Used parts prices
 

You definitely have more reasonable junkyards.
The wife's vehicle is a 1999 which one would think is getting on the old side, and it was a base engine.

But that's why I rarely go to junkyards anymore. It could be that land prices and taxes are quite high around here, making it impossible to run a discount junkyard.

Ended up getting the long block from the 95 2wd. I started with the Mountaineer but it was proving TOO difficult so i switched to the truck. It was much easier but to my dismay when I pulled the intake off it was not a roller cam. Any way I got a better engine than is in my truck now. Just got to swap over my P heads. And freshen it up with some new gaskets. Oh it cost me a whopping $64 for the long block.

Nope.. well maybe a little bit. A late model flat tappet engine still has 9:1 compression which is close to a full point more than your smog era motor. But evidently the original motor for that truck was swapped out at some point.

By "better" I meant that I'll have an engine with good compression across all cylinders and no massive blowby by the time I put it in. I'm ready to pull my engine so I can see whats up with the #4 piston. It looked fine when I did the head gasket a while back, but something more was obviously wrong with it. If I didn't drive my truck everyday I would have just pulled my engine and saw what was up but I can't have any downtime with it really.

That engine was not the original engine for that truck. I would take it back, it's something someone who knew no better swapped into it, no telling what it came from, may even be the reason the truck was junked.

I pulled the heads off today and found out they are E7 heads and the pistons are marked 20 over so this motor has been rebuilt before. I haven't gotten the balancer and timing cover off yet to see about the cam. It looks like it has allen head plugs in where the spider is supposed to bolt down. I may go back to the junk yard this weekend and just pull the cam, lifters, and spider out of that Mountaineer, but I don't know yet. Just wanted to give yall a little update.

When you go get the cam, don't toss the spyder hold down bolts, you need those. Use bolts that are longer and they'll distort the cam bearings.

In to follow your project.

Upon further disassembly this engine is going back. One of the main caps is broken in half and the crank is TOAST.
Here's the cap.
http://i61.tinypic.com/v4rv36.jpg

It's supposed to rain tomorrow so I won't be able to go back til next week.

Yea, that's not good. In the future pay close attention to the gaskets, learn to spot gaskets that are not O.E. And the various bolts on the engine, you can tell when they've been removed (wrench marks, bolts that aren't where they're supposed to be, non standard bolts, etc ) Also pull the dipstick and look at the oil and coolant remaining in the engine. Take a breaker bar and 15/16 socket along to rotate the crank to be sure nothing's broken inside or frozen.

I yanked an exploder 5.0 for my boat from a PNP... Using their hoist, it took about 30 minutes for it (and the trans) to come out of the vehicle. Just unbolt the mounts and exhaust, snip any wires/cables/hoses, and bash the core support with a sledge for clearance.

Then simply remove all the BS from the long block when its on the ground. The hard part was wheeling the dang thing though the gravel over 500 yards. Total of about 3 hours in the yard. Yeah I was on a mission; that explorer had seen better days.

Actually PNP removes the cats so no unbolting the exhaust. The long-block cost about $110. Pretty good deal. Better than all these jerks that want $500 for a worn out boat anchor on CL.

BTW the exploder engines from 97 1/2 (ish) through 2001 are the way to go... As long as the gt40p heads work for your exhaust setup. I would consider them the most refined of all the 302/5.0 engines produced; nice and torquey and will last a long time being very reliable. This is of course if you are looking for a stock replacement for a truck.

Otherwise same block but find the gt40 heads if the P's dont fit.

I try not to cut anything in case someone else needs the wiring after I'm gone. And unless the core support was in bad shape and I had to hit it with a sledge I wouldn't. That's just me.

I've decided since other stuff on my truck is worn out too I'm going to find a newer truck for my daily driver (97-03) that I can buy for cash within the next two weeks and put my 77 back as just a project truck that way I can beat on it and not worry about if it breaks down.

As far as the "P" heads. Summit brand full length headers will work with them. I know Summit brand aren't the best, but they will work because I have them on my truck now with 2000 Explorer "P" heads.

Ah your making it out like I victimized that thing; which I guess I did sort of... But I really dont think it was an issue. There are always about a dozen exploders at any given pnp so parts are plentiful. If this were at a ma & pa yard where they really let people pick them clean I would have been more careful but they were literally forklifting rigs in that row to the crusher as I worked; it wasnt long for the world regardless of my actions.

New Daily Driver Truck
 

For a new daily driver, perhaps consider a 94-97 with a 351 roller cam engine. You'll have a lot more commonality of parts then, especially that good engine.