Looking for a project right now- 4cyl-302 conversion

I put a cheap 302 non-roller in a 4-banger thru in a c4 and an 8.8 and went drag racing...........it took all of 2 months.

Dust-n

i had my 5.0 in my car running while the 4cly was still warm from pulling the car in. The only hang up i could see you having is having ALL of the parts. I had 3 parts cars at my disposal that came in handy, but if you dont have a situation like that, make sure you have everything. There are no "Modifications" necassary, only the replacement of parts. If you are asking a question like this though, it is probably going to take you about 30 hours.

If you swap to a carbuerated setup it is much easier. This has been covered in many other threads so i am going to stop here.

Honestly, and please don't take offense to this, but at your age I would hold off for a few more years, unless you are hardcore to the bone.

While this is a simple swap, it requires having two cars, the 4 banger car, and the 5.0 donor car. It also takes a LOT of time, lots and lots. I helped my friend convert his 88 4 banger notch from an auto 4 banger to a 5.0 5 speed. It took him about 2-3 weeks. He's as hardcore as it gets. That was doing maybe a couple of leisurly hours after work each day, then a last big sat/sunday hoorah.

this is a daunting task, and if you are not hardcore, you could wind up sending two cars to the junker.

What needs to be done??

strip the mechanicals on the four banger down to the shell. Pull the engine, the trans, the front brakes, and spindles, pull the engine wiring harness out, the ecu and harness out, the fuel injection lines, and the rear end out, as well as the springs, front and rear, and steering rack.

for a "proper" swap, you'll need to swap in the 5.0, the t5 (or aod), complete v8 fuel lines from the front to the rear, then drop the tank, put in the v8 fuel pump, possibly the sending unit too (i forget). Change the steering rack AND pump out to the v8 style, swap in the engine harness from the v8, unless you want to cut and splice your four banger. swap in the ecu and harness, swap in the 8.8 rear and springs. I'd also swap in the v8 front springs, unless you do a lot of drag racing, then you could leave those in to help with the launch. Additionally, swap the spindles and brakes on from the v8. Some brake line mods might have to be done, I forget, but it's minimal. If going from a 4 banger auto to a t5 powered 5.0, then you'll have to swap in the t5 harness, and clutch pedal assembly and so on and so on. It's a VERY straight forward swap with no bs, and is EXTREMELY rewarding, and gives you the chance to build your car from the ground up, but do be aware of the amount of work that must go into this.

i have a 5.0 donor car if you interested i have the motor wiring and ts tranny all the wiring and the computer.

Im glad i did it, have a great sense of pride for my car because i have pretty much rebuilt it and its basically a solid new car after all the good stuff i put back in it. I did mine over the wnter, took up both garage spots with the cars and took my time. No real rush when theres snow outside.

I did it. You don't have to change everything at once... A stock 302 doesn't make enough power to destroy a 7.5" diff unless you dump the clutch at 5000rpm with slicks.

The brakes on mine were all new when I got the 4 banger so I'm keeping them on there until I'm ready to do an upgrade (better than the stock 5.0L brakes). The thing seemed okay but I'm a very cautious and didn't risk putting myself in situations where I needed Brembo brakes for every joy ride lol. I've driven worse vehicles than a Mustang with stock 4 banger brakes.

The fuel pump will do the job for a stock 5.0L.. If you go carb'd then replace the pump with a pickup tube and install an inline pump.

Brake line can intefere with the dual exhaust on the passenger side but I didn't change anything and I got over an 1" of clearence for the brake line and exhaust so it's okay.

Same thing with the steering rack. I just kept the 4 banger rack and even worse; removed the pump and running "manual steering" I got no complaints but with the new motor I will be getting a new rack (V8 one has a more sporty ratio) and putting the power steering back in. Simply because I plan on 400HP N/A and a turbo will be installed later on so I don't think a power steering pump will slow me down too much lol.

If you have a year to find "the car" go ahead and start off with a V8 if you can. If you can't a 4 banger will do the job as long as you know what you're doing. BEst bet is getting a 5.0L donner car of the same year unless you want to spend a ton on aftermarket and new parts.

Without having to clean everything up, my swap would have taken me one 3 day weekend and the thing would be running (carb is so much easier).