302 Engine Reference

What do you want to do to it?

Here's a couple of books (you know, actual paper and all that...) that I have in my shop library that have proven to be invaluable:

Good choices and easy to follow but don’t neglect buying a large case of beer and calling friends for a tuneup party.

HE speaks the truth! ^^

Still curious to know what type of tuneup Scooter needs to get it up and running or if he was referring to performance mods?

Depending on what you want to do, you have a few things to watch out for. A 74 will have rail rockers which should be replaced if using a high lift cam, also lifters should be the ones recommended by the cam manufacturer, In the old days people have mis matched lifters with the wrong radius and wiped out the cam.

Also be careful if mixing heads and blocks from different years, pushrod lengths will vary. Best to get a pushrod measuring tool. Just swapped reworked 69 351W heads on a 78 block, required custom length pushrods.

Head swap is just about mandatory. The 74 heads might have the exhaust crossover port. The easy way is to just get a Edelbrock Total Power Package. Includes heads,intake, cam, lifters, timing chain and gears, push rods, gasket and bolt sets.

It does help. Also be aware of combustion chamber volume when combined with certain piston types. For example, my choice of heads rendered a 9.1:1 static compression on my stock 78 short block, a good number for cast iron heads with a stock style chamber shape running 87 octane. Modern aluminum aftermarket performance heads can take a lot more (up around 10.5:1) on that same octane without serious detonation. Check with the vendor when purchasing, let them know what engine you're installing on, they should be able to provide you with the expected specifications. (y)

BroncoinVA

Here's a couple of books (you know, actual paper and all that...) that I have in my shop library that have proven to be invaluable:View attachment 1170

I have both of these books. Tons of good information in them

EFI is a great upgrade to any carb setup

depends on your budget. If you think the motor is good and don’t want to spend a ton of money I would at least ditch the points distributor for an electronic MSD or similar. New plugs, wires, new carb or rebuild it. Make sure you understand your firing order and know how to time the engine. Always good to set your valves especially if you have any tapping in the engine. If you’re not confident have someone who is set the valves. You don’t want to tighten them down too much and burn a valve. If you’re not too sure how many miles are on the motor run a compression test. Also make sure you pay attention to your oil pressure. If it fluctuates a lot or has a fairly large drop when the motor warms up you might want to start saving for a rebuild.

Bronco5.0

Head swap is just about mandatory. The 74 heads might have the exhaust crossover port. The easy way is to just get a Edelbrock Total Power Package. Includes heads,intake, cam, lifters, timing chain and gears, push rods, gasket and bolt sets.

Finish it up with a nice stroker for the bottom end!

Yes that is the way to go, combination with be great, but less assume you don't have the budget, and your compression is good, and your oil pressure is stable, a budget friendly swap is the GT40 heads at off explorer they very unexpencify, you will probably gain 40 hp now if you use the explorer lower and upper intake you will a lot more power for $400.00 if you need to rebuild that engine. The explorer block is factory roller, the diference like night and day you can get it done for $1500