ModernMuscleCars.net - Modern Muscle Cars Archive

Pages: 1

Question about 302's
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: John

Got a buddy at work, needs a new engine in his '91 F-150. He knows where he can get a 302 from a Mustang LX. However, i was told that the car engines don't mount up to the trucks from the early 90's. How true is that?

Posted by: LS1 Mopar Turbo

Gosh I am not sure, I know the heads and intake will. My friend has the explorer intake and heads on his Fox Body. I can't imagine Ford whould have changed the motor mount location on the Block, or the bellhousing bolt pattern. I could see using a different motor mount from platform to platform or different bell housing. I guess anything is possible though.

Posted by: merczephyr

the truck motor mounts will work on the 5.0 block, but he'll have to use the truck oil pan and oil pump pickup. The biggest thing I don't know, is if the trucks computer will work with the Mustang engine. The stang has a different cam and heads. The 91 trucks were speed density, and it may not agree with the airflow requirements of the Stang motor versus the original.

Posted by: John

All this is what I was thinking. This dude who is telling me the mounts are different is going to have to show me what he's talking about.

The Speed Density issue isn't a big deal. I can get the Mass Air conversion kit at a pretty steep discount. The oil pans are cheap and he has a 302 that ate Cylinder number 7 and the block needs a ton of work. Almost $3K worth. If I can find him an old 302 that runs but somebody is junking, he can pick that up for a few hundred bucks and be back in business pretty quickly.

Posted by: Grape Ape

I'd find a 351W instead, but that's me.

The oil pan and pick up tube are different, as was the cam, but pre 89 models would be fine anyway. The conversion kits are a better idea for fuel economy alone. Mounts are not an issue. If he has a 302 already, they're perfectly fine for any other Ford 302 of the same family. If not, he need only purchase a set for a 91 F-150. The ECM may need to be swapped due to the firing order. Other than the camshaft differences, the engine management system couldn't care less which V8 is under the hood. The firing order matters. Not much else, considering it's really only a compressor. Drop the stock cam into another 302 and it's ready.

Btw, 3K worth buys more than a complete 302... What're they trying to say with 3K worth of work to a 300 dollar block!!

Posted by: John

No, the block needs to be stripped down, magnafluxed and checked for true. They are saying like 22 hours of tear down and rebuild work alone. They also want to bore out the engien and put new pistons in. They basically want to remanufacture the engine. The remanufactured engines run about $3K installed too so he wouldn't be winning out if he went either way.

He's got a guy with a 302 from a 91 LX and the guys who just rented my boss' other building next to the diesel shop I work at have 6 stock 302's on stands doing nothing. They are complete, even with computers. I told him I could get him 500 bones for one, cash and he said that would be good and asked what it was going in. When I told him a 91 F-150, he balked and gave me the line about the engine mounts being wrong.

Posted by: An11SecRanger

A guy drives to the shop and says, "I'll give you $3k to install an EFI 302 from a Mustang into my (any year since the beginning of time) F-150 ... I reply, "EASY DAY, how many turbos would you like with that?!?"

Everything that has to match has been mentioned.
I'd get a harness and proccesor for the Mustang engine, keep the oil pan/pick-up for the truck and I'd be done in a day. The only snag might be the throttle cable, etc. and that's simple stuff ... Well, I can think of a few things that might come up, but it's all simple ... Yeah, I'd be done in a day.
There are no external differences in 302, built prior to (I think) 95. There is a hump near the engine mount of the newer models (it's between the two mount bolt holes). On these engines, IF the hump interferes with the mount, just grind a notch into the mount. GRAVY!

Posted by: Grape Ape

Quote:

Originally Posted by John


	No, the block needs to be stripped down, magnafluxed and checked for true. They are saying like 22 hours of tear down and rebuild work alone. They also want to bore out the engien and put new pistons in. They basically want to remanufacture the engine. The remanufactured engines run about $3K installed too so he wouldn't be winning out if he went either way. He's got a guy with a 302 from a 91 LX and the guys who just rented my boss' other building next to the diesel shop I work at have 6 stock 302's on stands doing nothing. They are complete, even with computers. I told him I could get him 500 bones for one, cash and he said that would be good and asked what it was going in. When I told him a 91 F-150, he balked and gave me the line about the engine mounts being wrong.

The mounts can be replaced, as can any other part on the block. I'm not sure which guy has it worse, the one who evidently can't do a thing to his own vehicle, or the one who thinks swapping motor mounts is the end of the world. Hell, that's easier and takes less time than the oil pan change.

As for nearly 3K to do the work, where are SUCKERS like that when I need an extra 2K for a 1K job!!

I could take $1,500 and carry the BARE block to the local machine shop, have all I need them to do completed for under $700 and move along. On the other hand, I'd much sooner spend $600 on a new engine block and rebuild, or better still, get a reman. short block for about $1,000 and install a nice set of heads and install it. That would cost me about 3K and I'd have an additional 40 or more rwhp in the end.

Posted by: LS1 Mopar Turbo

Yeah my buddy just had a 455 bottom end redone for 1200 bucks, with a new crank and pistions. 3000 bucks, that is insanity.
Hell my short block for the old vette with a steel crank, new rods, pistions and cam was 1200 bucks to my garage floor.

Posted by: John

Nah guys, the 3K was for disassembly, all the machine work, the necessary parts and reassembly. If the block needs to be over-bored and checked over and all the new parts have to be balanaced and such, I could see $3K. The issue he has is that he doesn't have $3K right now. So, if he can get a working 302 that somebody is pulling out of a car in favor of a "race engine" then he can get a working short block or long block for a steal and use his accessories, oil pan and so on and so forth. He got quoted $700 for that.

Posted by: Grape Ape

$700 for a good longblock is fair. But he really should rebuild it anyway, since it's gonna be out and torn partially down to begin with. It only makes sense to be safe rather than sorry.

Posted by: John

Dude, it's his money, his truck, his engine. I'm not doing the work so I don't care. All asked me to do was help him find an engine he could use. I know alot guys in the area with "race shops" some that are the real deal and some that are just a couple of monkeys with wrenches and welders whose daddy gave them enough money for a nice shop. All of them will rip perfectly good engines out of the cars in favor of a catalog orderd crate engine. They end up selling those complete engines for next to nothing.

Back to the Forums