Posted: 6/15/2026 8:52:53 AM EDT
[Last Edit: dino1][Edited]
|
I bought a 1956 Ford Parklane wagon. It came with a 302 and C4 combo from a 1968 Mustang. The heads looked a little tired so I pulled them off and they are getting looked at at a nearby machine shop. If they aren’t good or need seats I’m contemplating just buying a crate motor over working over the old heads and putting them back on the short block. Here in Austin I’m having issues finding machine shops. The best one nearby is closed. He retired. If I go crate engine could you recommend a company. Not looking for high hp numbers. Just a simple V8. I may add fuel injection later so I guess I need a 4 barrel intake for that. Should I try to get a roller motor? Or turn mine into a roller? Not looking to spend $7k for a stroker. |
|
I would not waste any more time looking for a machine shop in Austin, I had to take an engine (350) to Houston to find a decent one. Myself? I'd just go with a crate engine. The last one I bought was a V10 Triton from JEGS (ATK was the manufacturer, price was around 5,500) |
|
When I did my 62 Falcon some years back this is the engine I bought. I put an Edelbrock manifold, 600 cfm Holley and shorty headers on it. Ran great and never had a problem. ATK 302 |
Nobody is coming. It's up to you.
|
302s are everywhere and dirt cheap. Ford made them from like 1968-2002. I say find you a roller motor out of a 90s truck, van, or explorer. Thats what I did when I wanted a 351W last fall. The roller 302s will use the 351/HO firing order. It wont hurt anything. You just have to remember that when connecting your plug wires. I didn't even have to rebuild it. Just stripped the EFI and serpentine stuff off, swapped the heads and intake, and painted it blue. You will need to make sure you pay attention to the balance weight for your motor, balancer, flexplate as well as the timing cover, water pump and fan direction. You can run your old timing cover or the blueprint one on pretty much any 302 for your clockwise water pump rotation. Your original balancer is probably so old by now, it needs replaced anyways. So its not a total killjoy having to buy one. But make sure it agrees with your motor. The flexplate will be a new expense if you get a 302 after about 1981-82. If you get a used motor that comes with a flexplate, make sure it can be used with your C4. IIRC, the AOD, 4R70W, and C4 can use the same ones. You dont want to use a C6/E4OD flexplate with a C4. |
|
You don’t necessarily have to have a 4 barrel intake for the SBF for fuel injection. Find a 2 barrel Holley Sniper 2 and go through the installation wizard. The 2 barrel sniper systems are good up to about 350 horsepower, which is more than a standard 1968 302 with some minor head work will produce. |
|
Originally Posted By HeyCoach: You don’t necessarily have to have a 4 barrel intake for the SBF for fuel injection. Find a 2 barrel Holley Sniper 2 and go through the installation wizard. The 2 barrel sniper systems are good up to about 350 horsepower, which is more than a standard 1968 302 with some minor head work will produce. We're living in the days of the $87 chinese edelbrock clone. (https://www.ebay.com/itm/377259435689) Or get on marketplace and a used non-chinese one can be had for $100. It ends up being cheaper and easier to just run things with the 4 barrel pattern due to there being more options. |
|
Originally Posted By dino1: Had no idea there was a 2 barrel efi system. Probably better to get an aluminum intake any way. Yeah. There are 2 barrel holley and acesefi systems. Going 4 barrel will make it easier and cheaper to get an aluminum intake to save 50lb. You may end up having to buy new linkages for throttle and kickdown if you go swapping from 2 to 4 barrels. Holley does sell little extensions for your kickdown rod which is cheap. Otherwise its easy to spend $200 for linkages. There are also a dozen flavors of ford's combover EFI intakes if you can stomach putting one of those under your hood. The major pros for that being its MPFI with fuel rails, significantly longer runners, and uses factory parts which are available cheap and plentiful. Cons would be it looking ugly under the hood of an old car. |
|
For the question about turning yours into a roller, I would say no. Retrofit roller lifters and pushrods will add up pretty quick. Going roller is one thing if you got a factory roller for $500 from a wrecking yard. I dont think the cost of going retrofit is worth it for what you're building. Maybe somewhat worth it to avoid the possibility of wiping out a cam lobe on a flat tappet. Engine masters has an episode that showed for the same cam specs, flat tappet and roller perform the same till you get in the upper RPMs If you're reusing your existing cam and lifters, then there's no break-in to worry about. |
|
I was going to suggest Blue Print engines but prices start at almost $7000. Summit Racing has a 5.0 for under $3700. Like mentioned above, you’re going to need the correct flew plate, balancer that works with your engine accessories and make sure the timing chain cover is correct as well. You can use yours, but most likely you have a fuel pump mounted to it. Make sure you transfer the pump actuator that is bolted to the front of the cams timing gear. Keep in mind if you switch over to EFI, you’re going to need an internal pump in the gas tank and you’ll need to eliminate the mechanical pump. Mustang parts places like NPD, CJ Pony parts and others offer 50 oz balancers that will work the the bolt pattern of your bottom pulley on the belt system. When I did the 5.0 roller in my ‘66 Mustang, I went with the complete Fox body serpentine system as well since it’s running a Fox rack and pinion and I needed the correct ps pump for it. I had to match the radiator since different water pump setups. |
|
Originally Posted By ScottsGT: Summit Racing has a 5.0 for under $3700. Woof. In my AO, you can buy a running 90s ford with a 302 in it, plus rings/bearings/etc to rebuild it for less than that. Then sell the car without the motor to get half your money back. Or use what you get from selling the car to buy a set of pistons and aluminum heads. For $3700, it needs to have some nice parts in it to be worth it. |
|
Originally Posted By dino1: I see Summit has long blocks for $2700ish. I have an elderbrock intake and carb and dizzy. I wouldn’t necessarily need a dressed motor. Are they new or reman? The big name reman motors sometimes make questionable decisions. I got one from advanced auto like 20yr ago. It was a long block windsor. The company is no longer in business. But it turns out they bored them all out to 0.060" over. No matter what condition they were in, everybody got bored to 60 over. That let them optimize, skip the time measuring and only have to stock one size pistons and rings. |
|
Attached File Looking at this instead of a roller because that’s what my core is. Not sure how they would feel if I bought a roller and sent a flat tappet back. |
|
Eat the core charge. Well worth it for the roller upgrade. I made the mistake years ago with a Chevy 305 in a van. Too cheap to eat the core and upgrade to a 350. I regretted that mistake. With a roller no worries about breaking in a flat tappet and running zinc oil. |
|
Originally Posted By dino1: Not sure how they would feel if I bought a roller and sent a flat tappet back. TBH, these places usually don't care that much. They do high enough volume, it doesn't really matter that much as long as yours is a usable core. Like when you take in a core for a battery, power steering pump, or a starter to autozone. As long as its *a* battery or starter, they dont give a shit if its the exact model you purchased. It doesn't hurt to call ATK and ask. My guess is it doesn't. Hell, even if they did care and just dinged you $100, it would be worth the upgrade. |
| I would look for a tail end Explorer or Mountaineer with 5.0 and swap that into what you have. If I was buying a crate motor I would look at the offerings from Ford. My only dealings with ATK was a couple of their diesel offerings and they seemed down on power compared to a reman from Cummins. |
RIP Jeff Reed. Tennessee Squire, Ga. Carry member, NRA,Non-puking 72 ounce drinker 2 of 6 Norcal call sign, Forgotten.
|
Originally Posted By whiskerz: I would look for a tail end Explorer or Mountaineer with 5.0 and swap that into what you have. If I was buying a crate motor I would look at the offerings from Ford. My only dealings with ATK was a couple of their diesel offerings and they seemed down on power compared to a reman from Cummins. Gotta watch out for the heads on those. The spark plug angle can screw you when it comes to headers. A decade or two ago, GT40P swap headers were more common. Now it seems they have mostly dried up. Its less of a chore to swap on some aluminum heads like blueprint's than to try to deal with snaking an exhaust through to those heads depending on the vehicle. |