OK dudes and Dudettes not much going on in the SBF forums so I thought I'd ask some questions.
The mighty little 302
Is there any other Ford engine or any other engine for that matter, that is loved AND hated as much as the 302?
I know you big block guys will say Boo hiss, but really when it comes to small block engines and when it comes to versatility durability longevity and all around rough and tough does the 302 have a equal?

And yes drunk post...

ive never had a (bad) issue with the 302, i think most thant dont like it would benefit from putting in lower gears. i had a '71 bronco with a well-worn 302-2v and it was quite fun, never felt underpowered at all. had a 3 speen manual coulmn shift, 4.10 gears dual exhaust. when you got gas you needed to add 2 qts oil, only seemed to smoke on start-up though. i had got this well-worn truck when i had sold a tempo i fixed up. ended up trading the bronc for a '82 fairmont 2 dr with a 200 I-6. the bronc just wasnt up to daily driving service anymore and the person i traded it to wanted a hunting vehicle. mom had a 302 comet (same as a maverick) that she loved, just couldnt keep the front end in line, ate tires alot. dad bought a brand new bronco in '89, had the creeper 1st 4 speed manual, 3.55's, manual hubs/t-case. it pulled a 24' travel trailer on a regualr basis and we pulled a few farm wagons with it too on occasion. it did drop a valave at 90,000, but considering how hard it was used, it wasnt surprizing. we dropped a junkyard 302 into the '89 and traded for a '96 bronco that we still have, it has the 351, E4OD 3.55's and electric t-case. i put manual hubs on it a couple of years ago. while its great, the '89 302 was alot better on fuel, the 351 is fun to drive, its mainly just pulled a 28' travel trailer all its life. its only got about 70,000 on it. cant afford to casually drive it like we could the '89 302.

and the chevy 5.7 LT1 guys where so afriad of the foxbody 5.0 stangs

I've had a few 302's...and I'm pretty neutral...they're a decent engine, not my favorite, but I don't hate them. They are durable, but I feel there are waaaaaay better engines out there. I've had several gear combos and go fast goodies added to most of my rigs with 302's, and I just feel performance was subpar for what I wanted and for what I required...They were great engines for flat highway or in town driving, but not too good through the mountains or towing. They did decent for offroad power, but I still wanted more. So as I always say, I feel there are definitely better platforms to start with for most guys. But the 302's best qualities are how economical they are and the abundance of aftermarket parts.

I love the little 302 in my 85. We rebuilt it about 4 years ago and bored it .030 over and put an rv cam in it and flat top pistons. That little bugger has done everything ive thrown at it itll haul way more than its supposed to and wont whine about it. I pulled a 77 150 on a trailer with it and it pulled 65 easy as pie in a cross wind. Itll wind up good and itll handle over 5000 rpm. The only thing that I dont like about the setup in that truck is that it gets too hot when I four wheel up steep hills and in the summer time. That truck is by far the most reliable truck that weve ever had untill the rear end blew out of it.

got my 302 down to 8.05@87 in the 1/8.killed many lightnings during the process!pound for pound or should i say cubic inch for cubic inch i think it's one of the best!

auto02 said:

pound for pound or should i say cubic inch for cubic inch i think it's one of the best!

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exactly.. is there any other 5 liter engine that wasn't race breed that runs like a 302 for the price? nope.


you can get a stock 5.0 gt, put afr heads, 1.7 rockers, edelbrock intake and a holley carb and make 400 hp with stock cam. thats pretty impressive imo.

Yup and my mildly modified 5.0 kept even with a HD edition F-150....poor bastard, I thought he was gonna cry.

JBradley500 said:

exactly.. is there any other 5 liter engine that wasn't race breed that runs like a 302 for the price? nope.


you can get a stock 5.0 gt, put afr heads, 1.7 rockers, edelbrock intake and a holley carb and make 400 hp with stock cam. thats pretty impressive imo.

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Very true.
So why do so many guys spend more on a Chuby 350 to get the same amount of power?

TexasNomad said:

Very true.
So why do so many guys spend more on a Chuby 350 to get the same amount of power?

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Why's the sky blue...how exactly is a rainbow made...how exactly does posi trac work...it just does. Couldn't remember the exact quotation from Joe Dirt...but you get the point.


Seriously though, I think its the amount of swappable parts and how cheap they are to build and maintain.

They may be cheap but they suck to work on.

1985 Ford F-150 said:

They may be cheap but they suck to work on.

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Never worked on one...come to think of it, the only chevy I've ever worked on was a 454 in my buddy's 71 Monte Carlo...and that was just doing gaskets, headers, intake and carb. So I was purely speaking from what I've heard.

Yeah dad had that 85 c20 with a 350 and it sucked to work on.

i've worked on my buddy's jeep with a 350 when i was 17 and it wasn't as easy to work on as i thought it would be. changing spark plugs with headers was a nightmare. i think the people who say they are the greatest things since sliced bread haven't seen anything outside of a sbc in their lives. i'm not saying they aren't cheap to build but they aren't as great as "everyone" says.

The thing I hate the worst is the distributor in the back of the motor.

Now that my mission in life is to have 400m engine
I will all ways have a very soft stop in my heart for the little 302..

there is much more aftermarket support for the G.M. small blocks, you want to talk about being hard to work on one, the worst thing i ever had to work on was a '87 chevy asto van, 4.3 liter. spark plugs were a real treat, right bank you did on the inside through the "dog house" left bank you did from the bottom, underneath the van.

TexasNomad said:

Now that my mission in life is to have 400m engine
I will all ways have a very soft stop in my heart for the little 302..

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A soft stop Tex???? HAHAHAHA...you may wanna get checked out by a doctor. And for the record, some guys get their pannies in a wad if it's called a 400M...it's understood, it's the M block, so kinda sorta technically correct, but it's understood. No need to say it like the 351M...that needs clarification from the W and C.

Yeah yeah, drunk post...

I gotta see what a sober one looks like before I can assume which ones are drunk posts.

I am posting here to subscribe. It's a good little thread.

Ryan