Truck 302?

Randy'65

Founding Member
Feb 1, 2000
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Richmond, VA
A buddy of mines brother is pulling the 302 out of his 88 F-150 to put in a 351 he built, and is going to sell the 302. I was wondering if this would make a good engine to build for my '65. Can anybody tell me anything about this 302? I haven't been able to find much info on the truck 302's, are they the same as the Mustangs or are they a different casting? Should it be a roller block? How would I tell without tearing into it?

He want's to sell it complete with the FI system, but that should be the speed density stuff which I probably wouldn't want. He's going out at $400 complete. He still has it in his truck so I can see how it runs, it has approx. 120K on it, so it may need some work, but I don't know how much. I'd probably do a compression test on it.

Any thoughts? Is it a bad year for 302's?
 
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I'm pretty sure there is more to it than that. Roller cam? Hydraulic vs. slolid lifters? Decent heads? Compression? hp? weak block? Forged vs. eutectic pistons? Lots of resources on Mustang 302's, not much on truck 302's, at least that I can find.
 
Roller cam, probably a special spec truck unit, roughly the same comp ratio as Mustang, E7 heads. Judging from the passcar non-HOs, cast pistons and 165hp.

If it's not running a roller cam, it's running a roller block since its an 88....trucks weren't terribly consistent in using roller cams, but they all used the roller block by 88 if not a little earlier. Passcars switched to roller blocks in mid-late 86 and my 87 LTD 5.0 is a roller cammed XXX block (with a running debate to wether the XXX or YYY blocks are better):D
HTH
--Kyle
 
A few years ago my dad gave me the 302 out of his 89 F150 so I could rebuild it to put into my 86 F150---it is a flat tappet, low performance motor. The only thing going for it is fuel injection, which you would not want to use on a Mustang anyway because it is different than a car FI system. My opinion, it you need a core to rebuild it is OK for that, but expect to install your old timing cover and have some fitment issues due to balancer being different, needing a new intake, etc. I sold the old motor out of my 86 F150 for $100 and felt lucky to get it. If it were my Mustang I would hold out for a Mustang 302 from 1986 or newer to get the roller cam or rebuild your old motor with a roller conversion.
 
88 truck 5.0 is basically the same stuff as the Stang for the same year. Just will have a flat tappet cam. Will have roller block, same rods, heads,etc as the Stangs. Hydraulic roller cams are cheap. Best thing about them, is they don't wear out and can be reused. Ones to look for are the 94-up F4TE roller, 85-93 GT/HO roller, B303 or any of the other alphabet cams from Ford. All can be had for less than $100.
 
one of the ideas for my car was to use the truck 5.0 intake and modify it. Since my hood is pretty bad I was going to cut an opening for the intake to stick out and be like a shaker. But since that intake is so tall I was going to try to shorten it as much as possible too. Also the runners on the truck intake are nice and long but the plenum is divided. I wanted to get rid of that divider and do a bigger throttle body on it. But my dad wanted to get me a new carb and intake so who am I to refuse :D It got it running good a lot sooner than I would have figured out the fuel injection.

it looks similar to this 351 one. I can't find a 302 picture.
View attachment 481969
 
A67StangMaster said:
THATS alot of miles man deff needs a rebuild lol
but a 302 is a 302 thats it....
I totally disagree.

My '92 F150 has 194,000 on the original 302. I recently went 350 miles to pick up a clean '70 shell and pulled the shell back. It didn't burn any oil.

The oil pressure is fine. It is down on power, but that doesn't mean it has to be rebuilt right away.

The thing is - about 6 years ago it had a bad pan leak. My ex-wife was driving it and she didn't check the oil. She ran the thing completely out of oil at least twice while I was in the pickup. So my pickup with 194,000 should be more worn out than most. Yes, I typically maintain it well, but the thing ran with no oil!

So I don't think you should judge by the mileage like you are. The EFI Ford 302 lasts a LONG time.
 
The roller 302's should be good for at least 200,000, if taken care of. This is due to the tighter tolerances when they were built, low tension rings, better block casting and iron and the roller cam and lifters. I've taken a few apart that had 100K on them and the block wasn't the least bit worn. On a couple I just installed new rods and mains nand oil pump and let em ride.
 
D.Hearne said:
88 truck 5.0 is basically the same stuff as the Stang for the same year. Just will have a flat tappet cam. Will have roller block, same rods, heads,etc as the Stangs. Hydraulic roller cams are cheap. Best thing about them, is they don't wear out and can be reused. Ones to look for are the 94-up F4TE roller, 85-93 GT/HO roller, B303 or any of the other alphabet cams from Ford. All can be had for less than $100.

Are you saying the cam can be had for less than $100, or a used block with roller cam can be had for under $100?

I'm assuming you mean the cam. Is $400 too much for a roller block?
 
Chances are the truck engine will have a different Cam than the 5.0 HO engine. It will have the 15426378 firing order. The 5.0 HO engine for the stangs has the Cam with the 13726548 firing order. Most likely it will be a roller cam block. If you want more power you would want to change cams to a 5.0 HO cam. Also one other thing look at the heads, when you are facing them in the truck in the bottom right hand corner they should have a "T" in the corner by the valve cover. If they have an "S" they are the garbage high swirl heads. T is for the truck heads (same as on the stang). So with the exception of the camshaft the block and heads are basically the same as the stang.
 
Randy'65 said:
Are you saying the cam can be had for less than $100, or a used block with roller cam can be had for under $100?

I'm assuming you mean the cam. Is $400 too much for a roller block?
Used FMS cams go for anywhere from $75-125 right here on SN's classifieds. I bought the Z303 I used in my 331 there for $115 ( new, but second hand and shipped to me)Roller blocks ? Yea $400 is a good bit over priced unless it's a roller 351. The roller 5.0 I used for my 331 cost me practically nothing. Paid $100 for the block, crank,rods, new cast flat tops. Sold the rods and pistons for $50. Block had been tanked and new cam bearings & freeze plugs installed. Bought the whole mess from a local auto machine shop. The P.O. left it there and sold the Lincoln Mark VII it came from.:nice: