best upgrades for 302?

[84_302]

I have a 302 in my ranger with a c-4 transmission.. It has a nine inch rear axel...right now engine is stock axel i think has 3.23 gears but thats it i have a holley 660 vacuum carb on it...I was wondering what the best upgrades for the engine wou;d be...I dont have much money so i can go out and spend thousands... can you all tell me what would be the best ... i was thinkin some junk yard 351 heads , headers , but other than that whats the way to go?

[84_302]

its an automatic

[RSF]

headers would be a good starting point.

Also which 'stock' 302 do you have? Mustang HO or Crown Vic Non-HO?

For best results, the heads, intake, cam and carb (or injectors if EFI) should complement each other and thus should ideally be upgraded all together...but that equals big $$$$.

If you know what exactly your stock parts are, then the folks here could quickly identify any components that bottleneck the rest of the engine that you could then upgrade for less than what the full meal deal would cost.

For sure factory exhaust manifolds are the worst bottleneck of a stock motor so start shopping for headers but after that any power increase that individual junkyard bolt-ons offer is negligible unless you can find a set of GT40-P heads of an exploder...but that puts you back to square 1 as far as headers are concerned.

[84_302]

its a mustang V8...and what is the header bottleneck?..it has a holley 660 vacuum carb already so would 351 heads be good?..or somethin else?

[RSF]

its a mustang V8...and what is the header bottleneck?

Bottleneck is a computer builder term I borrowed. It basically describes a case where 1 low performance component holds back what is otherwise a high performance super computer (ie. the worlds newest fastest graphics card and 8GB of ram aren't gonna do much if the CPU is only 500mhz).

Also what year of mustang?

As far as 351 heads go I can't say for sure how much they would help. But I've been cruising many engine forums for a long while now and if 351 heads were a miracle solution it would be common knowledge and well documented.

I'm afraid there are no secrets left in the small block V8. It's been around too long to hide potential. The only certain principle is:

"Speed = Money.........How fast do you wanna go?"

[84_302]

its and 84 mustang engine in a 84 ranger... lets say i have 500 bucks to put toward that engine... what would be the best to put on it? .... I just want to be able to beat your average street/strip car... and more horses...

and another question is that if i break the little stopper thing that stops the speedometer arm from goin around will it still work and be accurate from that spot?

thanks

[Dave]

For the $500, best go with the set of headers mentioned and a good dual plane intake. Whatever is left should go for a good exhaust system. And don't expect to beat the average strip/street car with a stock internal motor.
Dave

[stranger]

save up another 300

shop arround for a set of used allum heads.best return for your dollarforget ci heads.get better performace and loose 100b from the front of your truck.yes you can get a set of gt40 or p's or dooe 351.but you will spend almost as much for less hp

http://www.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?t=965819

http://motors.search.ebay.com/search/se ... arch&fgtp=

[cee21]

Well, 351 heads, to me, is common knowledge that is so old that, not much is said about them anymore. The reason people use them is because of the larger valves (just cheaper than having head work done). Is your truck 2wd? If so I do have some hooker full length headers that are made for this converstion for 300 shipped. I thought that I could use them on my 4wd Bronco II but can't because of the front drive shaft (I should have known better). They are 410 brand new.

[broncobowsher]

Best improvment to a small block is a good set of heads. Even with a mild cam a good set of heads will do wonders. The stock heads have tiny ports (mostly exhaust side) that can't flow no matter how good the intake or headers are. Stock '84 mustang engine should be a 4 barrel that flows halfway decent. It even has the marine cam wich is a good starting point.

As for the old 351 head thing...
Back in the day, the early 351 heads ('69 and '70 ONLY!!!) had slightly larger valves then the other small block heads. So they were the best flowing heads for so long they became legend that means nothing today. Any aftermarket head will outflow them by a good margin. Starting on the '71 model year engine the heads were exactly the same as the 302 except the bolt holes were larger to fit the larger head bolts. There is no difference between a 302 and a 351 head in the flow after '70, but between years there will be some changes. So '73 heads (either 302 or 351) may flow better then say '75 heads.

Same a few more buck and put some good heads on. Don't go for the monster high flow magizine shootout winner of the month. Get a head matched to the rest of the engine and it will do wonders.

[cgrey8]

I would agree that heads will do wonders. Bar-n-none, head swap will give you the biggest bang for your buck, but it takes big bucks to start with. You can find a good set of used aftermarket aluminum heads and you won't be disappointed with anything you get to replace stock 84 heads with. There are differences in performance and quality between heads and typically speaking the FMS aluminum heads (GT40 aluminums and GT40X aluminums) are improvements over stock, but are still bottom of the rung compared to the aftermarket heads. So even if you come across some for an affordable price, I'd make sure you can't get any of the aftermarket versions for $40-50 more...it'd be WELL worth $50 more to me to get a set of Trick Flow Twisted Wedge SBF heads over a set of anything FMS. AFR is pretty much accepted to be THE leader, but they come with a healthy price tag even used and are never the 1st option of a budget build. However the Trick Flows are quite common and can be found used on eBay for a fair price. You can find some very good deals on aftermarket cast iron heads too. Cast Iron aftermarket heads will flow better than ANY stock/production head Ford ever made, but they are still cast iron gives them a ding in most people's eyes.

You could probably find a VERY cheap set of E7TE Mustang heads which would be a mild upgrade to your 84 heads. The E7 heads don't get a lot of respect and for good reason as compared to an aftermarket head. But compared to your stock 84 heads, they'd still give you more. In addition, E7s are well known for decent gains from porting them out. If you have the tools or have a source of cheap-labor for doing head porting, this might be a good direction for you since you may even be able to find some E7s for free. You could also go with 1.7:1 RRs (stock are usually 1.6:1). Replacing these emulates a higher lift cam. I doubt you'd need 1.7s on an aftermarket head, but 1.7s on a stock head like an E7 head would give you some gains.

Next would be headers. Tri-Y headers or any other good, cheap, header that will fit in the engine bay is going to be better than cast manifolds.

And of course, don't forget that you can swap cams for fairly cheap. I don't know much about the 84 Mustang motor, but if it wasn't a roller block, it would be a worthy upgrade to do a roller conversion and install a roller cam in it. If it is a roller block, replacing the stock cam with a used E303 would be a no-brainer for me if I was dealing with a tight budget. You can find eBay littered with used SBF E303 roller cams for VERY cheap. However if it's not a roller-block, then you'll need a roller-conversion kit. I've never priced what a roller conversion kit is, but it wouldn't surprise me to find that you can convert a non-roller block and use a used E303 cam for about the same price as a new cam. With an E303, you wouldn't even need to go that radical with the heads. A set of stock or ported E7TE heads with an E303 cam would definitely be gains you could feel over what you are rolling with right now. But when you swap cams, plan on lowering your max RPM range if you don't replace the stock springs too. Stock springs are not as strong and with the longer valve travel, you'll float them sooner with a bigger cam than you would've with the stock cam. So upgrading the springs is nearly a must if you want to get above 5000RPMs and in many cases just get to 5000RPMs...again another one of those hidden things it's nice to know BEFORE you make a decision then find out the errors of your ways with everything put back together.

And finally, another gotcha you'll want to be aware of is your push rod lengths may change if you swap heads, rockers, or cams. So expect the time and cost of a set of custom length rods into your budget if you go with an aftermarket head like Twisted Wedge heads. Some cams can also require you to change rod lengths.

Notice I didn't mention intake. I know little about carbed intakes so I'm leaving that one for someone else. But if you find a cheap aluminum intake to replace a stock cast iron intake with, that would be worth quite a few lbs off the front of the truck. That's about all I can say about them.

But on a budget, my gut feeling is the best options for you are going to be:

• E7TE or GT40 heads...not the GT40p heads. If you go with GT40p heads, then you will have to go with GT40p headers which are historically much more expensive.
• If you happen to have a roller block, then definitely upgrade the cam with a used E303 & springs. If not, then research how much the conversion kit will be and make your decision based on that.
• Find a set of used Mustang headers. This will most likely require that you notch your frame on the passenger's side, but going with a rusty set of used Mustang headers will keep the dollar figure lower and improve exhaust flow.

Now with a 302 with E7 heads, headers, and an E303, you should gain some respect. It's not going to be the fastest thing on the road. It's not going to have torque that'll rip your head off. But it will have the virtue of being fairly matched components that should perform admirably together and get you somewhere in the 230-260hp range.