Modification question

[Project 77]

Long time no post, I been down here in Daytona getting my Motorcycle tech certification.

Here's my Question: I'm looking at buying a Cobra II in March, after I graduate, and it's been pretty heavily modified already. It has a 95 EFI roller motor out of a GT, the motor was bought new from Ford, and it only has say 1500 miles on it. It is fuel injected, and has a T 5 trans, 5 lug conversion, and lowered. I was aiming for the 400 HP mark to make it a fun street car, and I know the motor in it now is pretty much a stock deal. Do I pull the 302 in favor of a 347, or say AFR heads and a Supercharger? Mileage isn;t really a concern since it will be a weekend car. Is there any real diffrence between the two ideas??

 

[Addicted_2_II]

It really depends on your budget… How much are you willing to spend? That will give the guys here a place to start with their ideas!
Chad

 

[Blue Thunder]

I would go with a 332"(3.25"S x 4.030"B) 302, since you can fit a 5.5" con rod in it, yielding a 1.69:1 rod:stroke ratio, which is the same as a stock 302. Also, the shorter stroke allows the motor to rev quicker and rev higher with less chance of breaking the block. (Especially since you're using a late model HO block, which is lighter and substantially weaker in the main webbing areas than the pre-1980 289/302 blocks)
If you want to see an example of a pump gas 332, check out my II's page. I have, I guess, about 5,000 miles on the motor with no oil consumption whatsoever, despite the occasional 8000 rpm blasts.

P.S. My motor is for sale, by the way.

 

[Project 77]

I would go with a 332"(3.25"S x 4.030"B) 302, since you can fit a 5.5" con rod in it, yielding a 1.69:1 rod:stroke ratio, which is the same as a stock 302. Also, the shorter stroke allows the motor to rev quicker and rev higher with less chance of breaking the block. (Especially since you're using a late model HO block, which is lighter and substantially weaker in the main webbing areas than the pre-1980 289/302 blocks)
If you want to see an example of a pump gas 332, check out my II's page. I have, I guess, about 5,000 miles on the motor with no oil consumption whatsoever, despite the occasional 8000 rpm blasts.

P.S. My motor is for sale, by the way.

all I can say is.... why are you selling the motor??? and can an EFI setup work on it?

 

[Project 77]

It really depends on your budget… How much are you willing to spend? That will give the guys here a place to start with their ideas!
Chad

money isn't a real object on this car or motor, I just don't want to spend close to $7K for a SC and AFR heads and not be where I want to be. Like I said I sill haven't bought the car, but it seems like a very good start to what I want, I just wanted something a little more potent than a stock 302

 

[Blue Thunder]

all I can say is.... why are you selling the motor??? and can an EFI setup work on it?

There was an identical motor to mine, but with EFI, and it made 530hp on the dyno, that's where I got my hp estimate from. I'm selling it mostly because I've had it since 2000, and I'm bored and overdue to change something major (again). I want a naturally aspirated bigger motor with a lot more torque, especially down low, with roughly the same hp level. The design I've settled on is a 1994 or newer 351W roller block with a 4.18" stroke and 4.030" bore, displacing 425 cubic inches, but which we call a 427. 7.0 Liters in a relatively mild form will give me over 500 hp and close to 600 lbs/ft of torque, which is exactly what I'm looking for. All with the added benefit of a hydraulic roller camshaft.
The complete 332 cost me 10k-11k in parts and machining costs. (it wasnt built from a stroker "kit", I selected each component separately, and each was the best available.) I have a lot of time in the motor, due to massaging the oil returns and assembly time. Also grinding/wheel polishing the timing cover and all stainless bolt heads. I'm asking $5500 for the complete motor minus carb, accessory pulleys, and starter, but including the MSD distributor and valve covers. The oil pan is a standard front-sump passenger car unit, because the smaller Mustang II pan will not clear the billet steel mainstud girdle in the motor. To fit the larger oil pan in a II with the factory II bellhousing, you need to buy a high torque mini-starter and I'm not sure if the pan will fit with power steering or not. (I converted my II to manual steering to save hp and weight, and it's a smaller setup.)

 

[jeffnoel]

Blue Thunder ??

Blue Thunder, I've also switched to the manual box and have a mini-starter on it's way. How much room is there around the rack & pinion unit and the starter? Is the standard front sump pan a tight fit?

 

[COBRAIIW]

The standard/unmodified oil pan for the 351W rests on top of the rack and pinion. I had to cut and reweld the pan to clear it.
or you could weld the back section of the 351W pan to the original 302 pan.
Section it right after the starter.


OOPS! sorry, wrong thread.

 

[jeffnoel]

Did you keep the power steering?

What about a 302 oil pan since I have a 302?

 

[Blue Thunder]

With manual steering, the standard passenger car front sump oil pan just barely clears the rack. The mini-starter clears the bigger pan with a little room to spare, but not much.

 

[jeffnoel]

Cool deal, thanks for the info Blue Thunder.

 

[Blue Thunder]

Glad to help, dude.

One other thing, I used heat insulating wrap on my mini-starter, because it's close to the header like the factory one, and those starters arent cheap. I would recommend using it on yours also. It will probably extend the life of the starter.

 

[jeffnoel]

Not a bad idea although my II sees very little road time.