How far can i push the stock 302?

The advice to figure out a combo that you will keep for a while and going with it is the best out there. There is usually a lot to be gained from tuning, etc.

I was really pleased when my 82 cracked the 12's, with it 18 year old shortblock and iron Gt40 heads. But I actually gained the last second of et with tires, torque converter and rear suspension stuff.

I have tried the approach of buying parts and then having to upgrade something else to get them to work, and it costs a lot more in the long run.

I have had two complete carb and intake setups, two complete exhausts, etc, and all the expenses of changing, etc. It's on its 3rd set of heads, and each of the last two sets took about $5-700 for parts and machine work to install, and I still use bolt down stock rockers, etc.

I would be $1500 ahead if I had not played around, but, maybe thats just the price of this fun...

dubbsix said:

Sounds like the truth is that it depends on how you put these parts together. A system approach rather than just throwing a bunch of unmatched parts on the motor.

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That has always been the name of the game. You have to put parts together that work together.

If you want to play around with your 302 now, do it budget, gt40ps, exploder intake and tb, etc. etc. You can give yourself another 100 horse for less than a grand and have some fun.

For the "real" build it really depends on what you're looking for. If you want more than 400rwhp not running on borrowed time you really should look into a 351-based build. If only because it's a gamble to make that much aon a 302 to the rear. Some crack right away, some don't, but you don't know. You'll have much better chances with the 351. You can even leave the rotating assembly alone, still have more than 347 cubes, and all the other upgrades are just like a 302.

try the trick flow engine kit it comes with every thing u need its a basic hci(heads,cam,intake,) thats all u really need to be a bad stang out in the streets:SNSign:

Long live notchbacks

You can use your 302 fuel rails, however you will need to replace the hoses that join them together with some longer ones. You can get high pressure fuel injection hose at Autozone and such. Similarly the lower intake manifold for a 351 also needs to be wider. You can get a typhoon 351 upper and lower intake pretty cheap for a fuel injected setup. It's a knockoff of one of the Edelbrock variants. There is also the Gt40, and a few others but I'm not sure which they are off the top of my head.

There are a few guys on here that have great writeups about 351 swaps. If I can find one before one of those gentlemen finds this thread I'll post up the link.

Okay, it's Vristang that has the nice website with alot of information on the subject, aswell as alot of other subjects aswell.
The website is http://www.freewebs.com/vristang/ and I highly recommend checking it out. If you use that URL, look to the right and you'll see the link, "Fox 351w Swap FAQ". Which answers almost every question you could come up with.