Ford Small Block Guys...Advice?

-
seabee

seabee

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2009
Messages
2,553
Reaction score
693
Location
1537 Paper Street
I have a buddy that is a Navy aircraft mechanic and late model Euro performance car guy. He picked up a 63' Ford Falcon project recently and also got a short block and heads for free. The 302 is out of a 79' LTD and the internals look great after teardown. It also came with an aftermarket 180' aluminum intake "Street Demon?". The heads are the higher CC ones of the late 70's.

I don't know much about 5.0 Fords but I do know they have a big aftermarket and tons of different builds.

I know many of you have Fox Bodies and Fords so just looking for some advice on how you would approach a build for 300-350ish HP and room to grow later. Car will have an automatic trans and 9" rear when complete.

appreciated,

SB
 
My first suggestion is to make sure all components match. Crank, balancer, flexplate, converter. Ford balance can be confusing. Get good aftermarket heads. Not many good stock ones. The trans mount is unique. It requires a special tail shaft housing, with 2 bolt patterns. If you as already have the correct setup, don't let the trans get rebuilt on exchange.
 
Tell him to buy my 302. It's a 99 GT40P Explorer engine. Ready to go.
 
well, I had a 351C what was a great motor, they make an intake for mounting the cleveland heads to the 302 block, but there are so many good aftermarket heads for the 5.0 now that the old iron Cleveland heads are no longer needed.
 
seabee said:
I have a buddy that is a Navy aircraft mechanic and late model Euro performance car guy. He picked up a 63' Ford Falcon project recently and also got a short block and heads for free. The 302 is out of a 79' LTD and the internals look great after teardown. It also came with an aftermarket 180' aluminum intake "Street Demon?". The heads are the higher CC ones of the late 70's.

I don't know much about 5.0 Fords but I do know they have a big aftermarket and tons of different builds.

I know many of you have Fox Bodies and Fords so just looking for some advice on how you would approach a build for 300-350ish HP and room to grow later. Car will have an automatic trans and 9" rear when complete.

appreciated,

SB
Click to expand...
264 cam
Dual plane
600 cfm
Shorties if not full length headers.
Either small valve 351 heads or port the 302 heads you have, they aren't that great... less great than a 318 head for sure... but you can make 300 hp with them if you port them to do 165cfm or so... yeah, they're that great.

Or spend on trickflow heads, that's a big power return.
 
Last edited:
The 5.0 is a great engine. Secret to HP is the heads. You can easily make 300hp with the stock heads. But if you are rebuilding it a Gt40 heads aluminum. If the budget allows.
 
mustang coupe 10.jpg


Here is a picture of my 5.0 I'm running the stock E-7 heads and I'm probably close to 300hp
I only have a few bolt on's
 
R4Sedan said:
View attachment 1715239333

Here is a picture of my 5.0 I'm running the stock E-7 heads and I'm probably close to 300hp
I only have a few bolt on's
Click to expand...
That's a sharp mustang! All my buddies (and I do mean all of them) had 5.0 mustang's with the exception of one and he had a 5.0 Thunderbird lol. So I was the odd ball with the mopar. Back then when I first started driving (around 03) a 90s mustang wasnt that old so all my friends had new cars and I drove a 75 dart swinger with a slant 6. Those 5.0s was quick I couldn't keep up with them. One of my buddies still as his he has fixed it up pretty nice and still takes it to myrtle beach mustang week every year. I'd still rather have my "slowpar" tho lol
 
seabee said:
I have a buddy that is a Navy aircraft mechanic and late model Euro performance car guy. He picked up a 63' Ford Falcon project recently and also got a short block and heads for free. The 302 is out of a 79' LTD and the internals look great after teardown. It also came with an aftermarket 180' aluminum intake "Street Demon?". The heads are the higher CC ones of the late 70's.

I don't know much about 5.0 Fords but I do know they have a big aftermarket and tons of different builds.

I know many of you have Fox Bodies and Fords so just looking for some advice on how you would approach a build for 300-350ish HP and room to grow later. Car will have an automatic trans and 9" rear when complete.

appreciated,

SB
Click to expand...

LS swap. It's the answer to everything.
:poke:
 
351 Windsor or GT40 or GT40P heads. SBC stainless valves, 1.94 intakes and 1.60 exhaust. BBM HP valve springs. Clean up the pockets. 271 HP cam. 750 cfm AVS. F4B intake or similar. good rods or rod bolts. Double roller timing set. Balance it. IMHO the 289 or 302 is THE sweetest small engine ever made.
 
Last edited:
this is what we had to do a little bracket racing .. and how I found out not to use an AOD tranny.. little truck hooked up pretty well.

1993 Mustang 302 block.. .030 over, KB pistons 10:1..Trick Flow heads,170cc twisted wedge heads, 60 cc chambers ..Trick Flow + .080 hardened push rods..Compcam guide plates, Compcam 1.6 roller rockers, Trickflow stage 2 track max cam with .542 intake lift.. Edelbrock RPM airgap intake ..holly carb ..MSD distributor and MSD 6AL ignition box with Blaster coil.. MSD 8.8 wires..Headman headers ..March aluminum serpentine belt bracket set, along with March aluminum under drive pulley set.. aluminum radiator with 16" electric fan... ARP head bolts, intake bolts and rocker arm studs. >> AOD << and 4:10's

danger ranger.jpg


danger ran 1.jpg
 
44070dart said:
Don't use the AOD trans. I had one and there is no way to make it hold 2nd gear. It will shift into 3rd long before the engine is at its peak RPM range.
Click to expand...
Really? Here's my aod that I built for my crown Vic. It's behind a mild 347 stroker. Seems to work pretty good.
 
44070dart said:
this is what we had to do a little bracket racing .. and how I found out not to use an AOD tranny.. little truck hooked up pretty well.

1993 Mustang 302 block.. .030 over, KB pistons 10:1..Trick Flow heads,170cc twisted wedge heads, 60 cc chambers ..Trick Flow + .080 hardened push rods..Compcam guide plates, Compcam 1.6 roller rockers, Trickflow stage 2 track max cam with .542 intake lift.. Edelbrock RPM airgap intake ..holly carb ..MSD distributor and MSD 6AL ignition box with Blaster coil.. MSD 8.8 wires..Headman headers ..March aluminum serpentine belt bracket set, along with March aluminum under drive pulley set.. aluminum radiator with 16" electric fan... ARP head bolts, intake bolts and rocker arm studs. >> AOD << and 4:10's

View attachment 1715239733

View attachment 1715239740
Click to expand...
Nice truck....
 
oliver said:
Really? Here's my aod that I built for my crown Vic. It's behind a mild 347 stroker. Seems to work pretty good.
Click to expand...

Dude, that thing is bad ***. I had to watch it twice. Love it.
I have AOD in mine too. Just like it better know that I've gotten older.
 
R4Sedan said:
Dude, that thing is bad ***. I had to watch it twice. Love it.
I have AOD in mine too. Just like it better know that I've gotten older.
Click to expand...

Thanks, heres another little video of it. I'll probably pull the drivetrain and stick it into something better. The old crown vic just doesn't like this kind of power and it handles and stops like a yacht.

 
oliver said:
Really? Here's my aod that I built for my crown Vic. It's behind a mild 347 stroker. Seems to work pretty good.
Click to expand...


how many rpm's in second gear .. mine would shift out just before 4000 .. took it to trans shop and they said that is the trans just doing what it does. He said the only way to hold 2nd to 5800 was to shift it manual from first to second then quickly pull the shifter back to first position and it would hold second.. Only thing is once out of a thousand it may actually go back to first gear and that would be the end of something or everything. I'd did this a few times and it works, BUT I didn't feel like taking that chance to often.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top