so im looking into motor swaps between two of the better known small blocks of the american world. cost, availability, fitment, and ease of repair are all thoughts going into my head.

at first i was thinking a ford 302 be a good bet to go with. availability of motors along with the aftermarket availability and costs seemed good........ but digging into research, the chevy motors seem just as good if not better. reliability would seem that chevy out-pulls the ford motor. its all arguable of course but i am looking at other opinions to widen my research options. what do you guys think on this..............

 

man in know my 1uz swap is alot more work and time but i rather have toyota in a toyota... but that's just me i guess

 

305 sucks A.SS! End of Thread, please LOCK ASAP! lol... jk...
but dude, 302 fits so snug! it's like it was meant to be in a yota it's so small and compact! you want a roller block out of i think it 97+ moostangs or pickups... just the block... then keep the lifters pushrods and stuff, get 5.0 HO pistons out of a moostang and the cam x cam with fuel inj. fox body pcm and wiring harness, the head out of a 5.0 explorer with angled plugs, explorer head > Moostang heads... get roller rockers Aftermarket is only option and good headers, oh also get the explorer intake, more flow than a mustang intake... omg this is a good setup there! good HP and TQ on a very CHEAP budget... you have here a 13.8 +or- secs in the 1/4 mile, WOOT!


ask Raffaelli, he has more knowledge over this setup...

 

I was raised loving chevrolet so my opinion is biased

 

Breaking it down to the basics...

The 305 is a long stroke to bore ratio motor. Its good for hauling around a gunboat caprice for decent gas milage.

The 302 is a performance based motor. 4in bore and 3in stroke.

If you were to really be fair comparing them, you should consider the 350 VS302. A 305 is NOT a motor you want to hot rod with. Small bore makes 350 head swaps (or any aftermarket heads) not work.

302 fits better because its narrower.
302 have the better 5 speed transmission
Parts cost are basically the same

If your set on chevy, please dont do a 305. You are not saving on anything.

Now a 302 chevy vs a 302 ford.....MMmmmmm, now thats something!

 

I agree with Raffaelli. A 305 isnt worth the time and money. A 327 or 350 on the other hand is def your best bet. What about Mopar? A lot of the junk yards I frequent, there seem to be alot of untouched 318's and 360's

 

sounds like the 302 ford still sounds to be a more "reasonable" motor to go with........ now with the mention of the 350 i also did some research in this and still doing so.......

raff, you are pretty much correct in this area that its a more fair comparison. i still see more junk yard 302's available....... crown vic, pickups, mustangs, and forgot what other models, share this same motor.

as for building a 302..... i do see lots of potential. in honest goals, i would like to keep the motor within the 250-300 hp range. (prob should have stated that from the beginning) given the truck is only around 2300 lbs..... its a pretty potent combination. i do plan on swapping the rear end to the lsd and disk brake setup.

as for the mopar end of the spectrum, ive yet to look into it as well. still considering the aftermarket options and cost, i think ford is still the cheapest, yet most readily available option.

on another end ive been looking at, ive been considering running a package out of a police interceptor. im still tossing the idea between auto and manual..... manual is always a nice performance picker-upper but being able to get in and go with cruise control be uber cushy

if i go auto, the police cruisers have better stepped up transmissions than any other auto driven 302. those things were meant to be driven with higher shift points and heavier service duty in mind.

 

LS1...

Second choice is the ford, only coz the distributor is in the front...

 

Bang for your buck is in a newer GM vortec motor...

I am doing a 5.3 vortec aluminum block motor from a 05 chevy silverado
it's an LS based motor so all the ls1/ls2 parts fit, I am running a corvette accessory setup from a c5 99-04

5.3 engines are cheap and plentiful in junkyards, my aluminum block cost $800 shipped for the complete motor wiring harness computer alt starter intake exhaust, full drop out!
iron block motors can be found for under $500


check out this guys 04 gto ls1 swap, it's the same swap just a 5.7 not a 5.3

Test drive time. - LS1TECH

and if your hung up on an old school carb motor
do the ford, it fits better...

 

I'm don't know alot when it comes to motors, but I didn't know GM had a 302. I've only heard of the 305 and 307.

 

Very limited production. 69 Camaro Z28 I belive.

It was the direct competitor to the Ford BOSS 302 in the trans-am racing circuit. It was basically an old 327 chevy destroked and they came with the best heads they could build. Solid lifter, Hi compression. It was race spec stuff you could buy in a street car.

Off the top of my head, I think both those motors were over 400 HP as they came.

And MTB68TOY-The gen 3's are great engines, but ive just seen 1 too many with shelled roller lifters. And the lifters cost a grand!! No thanks.

 

67-69 DZ code Z/28 camaro only. This history is pretty close although it was the #6 1967 Z/28 that was sold to a private owner by the name of Ken Deckman. My uncle in Kent WA is the 2nd owner of that car and it has been on the race track it's whole life just as it was meant to be.

With the factory option parts and cross ram intake my uncles car dyno'd 510 hp on race gas. The factory 290 hp was with the timing backed way off and a stop on the throttle linkage. Sneaky engineers they were...





Anyway now I'm just rambling... If you want to have go go gadget HP under your right foot either engine will do the trick for sure. The 302 ferd is a nicer fit and the aftermarket has really stepped up their game on it so the sky is the limit if your pocket book can support it.

Myself I'll take a L67 3.8 any day over all previous choices.

 

thats one of a few reasons i want it......

where did you get the 5.3 from with all that for 800????

another thing i want is fuel injection. i wanna try to make it as fuel efficient as possible too....

another thing im not too sure on is a wiring harness.... i have no idea how involved one is for a domestic car's setup.

 

sometimes they will be easy, sometimes they'll be a pain in the neck you won't want to mess with.... It isn't usually that bad, just take count for 8 injectors, 8 coil plugs for chevy or 1-3 plugs for ford some 20 something sensors lol.... and couple accessory plugs and thats it!

 

Good thought. I have a 98 Grand prix. Stock factory hp 190. Find a firebird and do some head work would get you to 250 hp quickly. But they don't have the rumble of V8 though.
My vote is for 350 only because I've only driven GM and toys.

Raffaelli does have a good point on 5speed choice. Ford has more. Thats b/c torque levels are high on GM. Remember the GTA T/A, only came in auto. The faster the Corvette, less chance to get them in 5speed

 

Yep: Chevrolet small-block engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

skip the 305 .. fords you hafta run the mustang rear sump.. chevy comes that way.. otherwise I have a swap starting up now with a 350GM

 

yea........ if i was gonna swap in a v6, i would just run the tacoma v6 5vze and r154 trans. they are rated around 190 horse and 210 torque.

i would have gone traditional old chevy but i need more fuel efficiency out of a v8 and efi will do just fine. i would take a fire breathing 400-500 horse monster too but pocket pook screams regular horse.....

thunder..... im keeping a close eye on your build too.

it all boils down to the basic 3 limiting factors for me on this build.

price-
availability-
ease of swap-

 

302 fits nicely and all you need is the double sump pan it clears everything great very shortly ill have mine all done and running it makes it nice having the dizzy in front too

 

if you want the 5.3 might as well go for the 6.0 since the block n stuff is the same size since you are here in san diego, call A & B truck parts, they will drop off a motor, harness and cpu for the cheapz...

619-234-5171

i call dibs on first ride after motor swap