Looking at a 331 on Monday, need some pointers

[SadbutTrue]

Long post warning, but please read anyway

When I got my car aligned last week, the shop had an ad posted for a 331 stroker engine for sale. I contacted the guy and it’s a later-model roller engine, with a (currently) unknown ford racing/SVO cam, stock heads from whatever engine it came off of, a forged crank, hypereutectic rods/pistons, and a performer intake. In addition to the cam specs, the guy doesn’t know what the compression is or much about the internals. Its currently sitting in a shop near where I work, where it was built. The engine was last installed in a 68 galaxie and was equipped with a carb.

I have some questions regarding both a) what to look for with the engine and b) actually getting it into my car.

As far as part a) goes:

I was going to ask the owner/shop to remove a head so I can get a look at the bores, see whether the pistons have valve reliefs (important for later head choice), and perhaps find out something about the compression ratio. Other than that, I don’t really know what I should be noticing. What else should I be looking for?

Also, when I saw the ad the shop I was told me that it had GT40P heads on it. When I called the guy he just said it had stock heads on it… which probably means E7s (or similar), but technically if the engine came off an explorer it could have the GT40s stock (I think). I don’t want either type of heads for my own use, but GT40s are worth something on ebay, and knowing what head I’m working with is important in attempting to figure out the compression ratio. So… how do I tell the difference between the two? What size combustion chambers do they have? Did either come stock with stud mount roller rockers (thatd be nice)?

The shop is trying to look up the data regarding the cam specs, but in the event they don’t have them… is there any rough way to tell besides feeling it out once its installed?

Concerning part b):

1)I don’t know what the most cost effective way to get my p/s pump and alternator pullies set up with the 5.0 based engine instead of the 351w. I want to keep my radiator (which is stock-styled as far as inlet/outlet placement). What are my options?

2) Are there any other fitment issues I should look out for with a newer style 5.0 going into a classic mustang (pans, mount location, fan size, etc)?

3) I have heddman 351w swap headers currently on my car. They aren’t the best design, but if it means I can save some money for the meantime I wouldn’t mind keeping them. If I decided to would I have to make any adjustments to my exhaust (my gut says that the slight difference in exhaust port location means yes, I will, and that I might as well get some better headers if I’m going to have to modify my exhaust)?

4) If I wanted to pay the shop its sitting into bolt on new heads and set up the valvetrain, how much should I be looking at? If I asked them to go one step further and drop it into my car? (never had a shop do this, so I don’t want to get bent over that). Just talking about labor here, I would supply the heads & other major components.

 

[coolblue65]

to be honest there seems to be way to many unknowns right now for me to ever buy or recomend a motor like this.

Nothing it has is that great to begin with, average heads, hyper pistons, no cam specs, so you would end up selling everything anyways.

My opinion is to either find a local machinest to do the basic work and build it yourself or just buy from DSS.

 

[D.Hearne]

You're on the right track wanting to pull the heads to see the bores. If it was an Explorer 5.0, it would have either GT40 iron heads or GT40P's (more likely these) The P's have a wierd spark plug angle, they stick out almost 90* from the heads. There's also a "P" cast into one corner next to the valve cover (look on the lower passenger side head's front and the opposite corner of the driver's side head) As for a Ford Racing roller cam, these are stamped on the rear end (I think) with the grind (B303, E303,etc) If it is a stroker, the pistons will have valve reliefs. Best way to tell which it is, is to measure the stroke. All the post 1978 Ford small block heads came with pedestal rockers, no studs on these iron heads(some of the aluminum heads have em) As for your accessories, all that can be bolted on the roller blocks, just use the timing cover on the one you have now. Same bolt hole locations for all 1965-2001 289/302/5.0 blocks, nothing was changed in that regard, except for the clutch pivot hole and the addition of timing cover locating dowels on the 5.0 blocks (these cannot be used with the earlier timing covers)