Ford in Ford 302 Cam & Head Question

[rspears]

Considering an engine for a new '32 build I am a fan of Ford in Ford. Talking to my son who hot rodded a Fox body Mustang a few years back I am leaning towards a 302 from the '83-'93 range for the roller cam as opposed to a 351. A Car Craft article http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles...dup/index.html
lists the basic specs and shows their results with the AFR 165cc heads and a set of stepped tri-y headers plus some 1.7:1 roller rockers with everything else stock - not too shabby 405hp and 380 ft-lb.

Now those AFR heads list for $1450 which is doable but pricey. A few of questions for the blue oval guys:
1) is there an alternate more economical head out there that might get close to the AFR for results?
2) assuming the AFR heads, what cam would you recommend for a stick shift highboy that will be for highway/cruising? A bit of lumpy idle is not a bad thing, but want it to maintain good street manners and reasonable economy.
3) The Car Craft build used a Road Demon 625 cfm carb on a Weiand dual-plane. I lean toward carburated for build economy and simpler electrical, but would consider EFI and aftermarket controller. Thoughts?

If this has all been covered before I would appreciate a pointer to the thread, but I did not find this in my search.

[R Pope]

A stock 351 would power your rod every bit as good as the "peakier" hopped-up 302, and for half the money. Nothing wrong with a 302, mind you, depends on what you want. Get a HO 302 out of a Mustang, freshen it up, heads and all, and have a ball with it.

[JeffB2]

A lot of the Ford sites also speak highly of the Trick-Flow heads which also due the shape of the chambers eliminate clearance problems with some late model 5.0(aka 302) pistons,suggest you pay a visit to the Trick-Flow website also there are tons of info on www.sbftech.com

[rspears]

A lot of the Ford sites also speak highly of the Trick-Flow heads which also due the shape of the chambers eliminate clearance problems with some late model 5.0(aka 302) pistons,suggest you pay a visit to the Trick-Flow website also there are tons of info on www.sbftech.com

Thanks for the link to sbftech. I registered there, awaiting admin approval. Looks like a great site.

[Itoldyouso]

Don's 302 is 30 over, forged TRW flattops, drilled crank, arp rod bolts, worked 71 heads with ss Chevy valves, X roller cam and roller rockers. It is very streetable, and will make a believer out of you when you push it a little.

Plus, the X cam idles like a fueler.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cITbECTLJh4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GS_H...eature=channel

Don

[rspears]

Plus, the X cam idles like a fueler.

Don

Thanks, Don. Love that idle - might plan on saving $$ on mufflers & tailpipes.

[35chevy]

Trick flow's are not bad but AFR heads are really good and have taken over the Mustang scene. Edelbrock's are hard to beat for the money....but still expensive. There are some el-cheapo aluminum heads on Ebay....but not too often recommended by the Mustang crowd. The best factory heads available are the Explorer GT40p's but they're only good for around 280-290 rwhp. I put a 5.0 in a Ranger with a set of the gt40p's, a b303 cam and 1.7 rockers and it made 290 to the wheels on the dyno. It was a wild ride on the street with a light rearend, 4.10's and a 5 speed. If you can find a 351 from a pickup, 94 up I believe, you can have a 351 and a roller cam, as the later models came with roller blocks. All the 5.0 roller stuff bolts right in and a set of AFR 185's would make it a lot of fun. I wouldn't get one of the e303,b303, f303, x303 cams. The B303 was the first performance roller on the market and is also the oldest technology. Those cams are good but there's much better on the market. I've had 3 cars with the b303 and my daily driver now has a f303. Some of the split pattern Extreme energy cams from Comp Cams are good. I put together a mustang with the stock shortblock and a set of Edelbrock performer RPM heads and I used the xe274 cam. I had to flycut the stock pistons for clearance though. the customer was really happy but before were able to get it tuned and dyno'd he decided to put on a supercharger and with 9 lb's of boost it made around 450 to the rear wheels with a very conservative tune to help save the stock shortblock. This isn't the same car but it has a 5.0 with the same heads and cam. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PZpD7u1s4U idle sounds pretty good. corral.net is a good spot for 5.0 info also. Those guy are splittin' blocks over there. Crazy stuff.

[randyr]

I don't claim to be an engine expert in any way shape or form but I have been running a Ford in a Ford for years. My 37 Ford has had a bone stock '69 302-2V/C4 in it for years. My dad & I first built the car when I was in college. When I started rebuilding the car again a couple of years ago, I debated on going with a later model 5.0 but the guys at www.sbftech.com encouraged me to build what I had. So, my stock 302 was bored .030 over, TRW forged pistons, ARP rod bolts, GT40P heads, 1.7 roller rockers, a custom cam by Jay Allen at Camshaft Innovations. Jay recommended the Holley 4150-650cfm carb, Weiand Xcelerator intake. He said it should produce 320-340hp, which is more than enough for me. I switched the C4 to a T5 manual. Using Sanderson Blockhugger headers for GT40P heads. Haven't started it yet but I'm anxious to see what it's going to do. It should be a lot different than the stock 302-2V!
Here's a pic of the engine shown with an HEI distributor which I won't be using. It's too big! Going to use a MSD set up.

[IC2]

...and a similar engine as Randy's. Mine - a 1999 crate motor, E303 camshaft, 1.7 rockers, Edelbrock Performer intake and 600 cfm, full MSD ignition, ARP bolting, TCI C4, etc, etc, etc. The car is my avatar (and some of these photos posted before , sorry folks), and is not yet on the road, tho the driveway has some marks to attest to throttle responsiveness

The extra engine set back is "courtesy" of a TCI error in motor mount location

[35chevy]

nice combo randyr. Can't go wrong with custom cam I've heard good things about Jay Allen and there's another guy out there, I think Ed Curtis that is supposed to be a good cam grinder. Why exactly did they talk you out of the roller block? I know the early block is stronger, which doesn't matter in your application. Roller blocks handle way more power than you are making. The fact that you already had it made it cheaper, but the roller cam is a good thing with the oils we have today and less friction is free power, at a price of course. Was cost the major factor? I'm not saying you made a bad choice, it's all good either way. I like your combo...just curious why you didn't step up to the roller setup?

[randyr]

nice combo randyr. Can't go wrong with custom cam I've heard good things about Jay Allen and there's another guy out there, I think Ed Curtis that is supposed to be a good cam grinder. Why exactly did they talk you out of the roller block? I know the early block is stronger, which doesn't matter in your application. Roller blocks handle way more power than you are making. The fact that you already had it made it cheaper, but the roller cam is a good thing with the oils we have today and less friction is free power, at a price of course. Was cost the major factor? I'm not saying you made a bad choice, it's all good either way. I like your combo...just curious why you didn't step up to the roller setup?

Yeah, it was mostly a price issue plus the early block being stronger. My block had never been bored, I've had it for years so I decided to keep it. I know there are cheaper roller blocks out there but I didn't really have the time or knowledge to go looking for one at the time. At least I knew what I had, you know?

[35chevy]

Not everyone has an easy tim finding them...between my dad and myself we've got 9 of 'em sitting around or places.

[rspears]

Don's 302 is 30 over.....Plus, the X cam idles like a fueler. :

Don

Don,
Are the Lake Pipes from Gear Drive Speed & Custom in MN?? No baffles, right?

[Mr Blue]

rspears,
Sorry dad did not respond to the lakes pipe question. Those are patriot performance limefires with jet hot coating with no baffles. I was running the short turn downs and it tamed it a bit now I run turn outs open and it sounds great. I got them through speedway and honestly they are great now that they are bolted up, but BOY were they hard to get mounted (lots of elonging bolt holes, tiny turns on bolts and cussing) If I had to do it all over again I would have gone with Sandersons. The coating still looks great though after almost 2 years. Don jr

[rspears]

Don,
Thanks for the information. I had seen the Speedway headers after posting the question about Gear Drive. Always helps to know specifics, including problems fitting.