Tips for 302 rebuild/upgrade

[Broncobowsher]

Early demise? It had a good long run!

For me a roller motor is nice but not a deal breaker.
The only other thing I can think of is the one piece rear main seal that comes on a 5.0.
Actually, I prefer the two piece seal. They are easier to replace.

Early demise has more to do with fuel control. Old engines are known to need rings and probably an overbore by 150k due to fuel washing down the cylinder walls. With EFI, 150k you can expect to still have good cylinders and not need to do anything to the engine.

 

[Rustytruck]

Old technology 302 had early demise from cylinder bore taper and poor exhaust valves. these 2 items were improved in the 5.0. Back in the day allot of valve jobs were done well before 100,000 miles and by 100,000 miles there was so much bore taper the rings couldn't keep up. There were allot of 302 that got more miles on them but they were not the norm. The 5.0 motor is considered a 200,000 mile motor when used as designed. With the issues with modern oils, a move to a roller cam is a much wiser use of your hard earned money.

 

[73azbronco]

Ditto rusty comment, by the time you spend the dough, might as well drop a few hundred extra on a roller motor. Find a good junkyard explorer 5.0 that they can run for you, check the oil, and if it doesnt look all sludeged up, and if it looks like someone has already messed with it, use that for your motor.

My explorer motor had 90,000 miles on it with zero cylinder wear, internally was clean as almost new, but we bored it 30 to align it and decked it .005 to align that. That thing is now a 347, which you DO NOT want if you want to keep it simple.

Use stock lifters, roller , mild cam, the alphabet ford mustang cams are for a light body stang doing burnouts. While an e303 would work, DO NOT use a mustang B303. A ford explorer 5.0 camshaft is really very good for our application. So with a good explored motor, all you need is basic mechanical refresh, valve job, hone cylinders, gaskets new timing chain and off you go.