Help: Bad rod knock

[Chiperb]

In a stock 302 in a Cobra coupe this am on the way to a car sow: What should I replae to have a reliable engine while it is down? Should I add a mild cam and have soe head work done while it is down? Must do an a budget: this was not planned for. Have too manyprojects going (3 cars/2 boats!). chip in Atlanta

[Engineer Ed]

Reliable???
Are we talking about a FORD?

Since you are on a budget, give us some figures to work with.
Approx what did you want to spend?

This will give us a idea of what you should add.
So, is it reliability or power you are looking for?

Ed

[Chiperb]

As cheap as possible.Just want toget it running again anddowhat I can while I have it down to get a littlemore hp.

Have just shot the budget on a 302 taken to 306, alum heads cam,carb,manifold etc for antherprojectabout to be finished."I'm po but I'm proud!"

[aumoore]

Chip
I am a little confused as you list a 1983 Unique with a 390. If you plan on putting a 302 into that car you will have to spend a lot of money as nothing will work like flywheel. bellhousing, motor mounts and headers.

If you are just swapping out a small block like a 289 or 302 then you can just go to a local boneyard and find a nice 5.0 out of a explorer/mountaineer and take a few parts off your current motor to make it work in the cobra.

I started with a Mountaineer motor out of one of FoMoCo's test fleet that had been sent to a Ford owned salvage yard. I got the motor for $1,000 and it only had about 12 miles on it(truck still had plastic on the seats). I swapped out the cam, sold the F.I. system and bought a edelbrock intake and Holley carb. I never even took the heads off the motor. This combo put out 267 rear wheel hp on a chassis dyno at the first Reptile Roundup. Not to bad for a junk yard motor. The explorers and mountaineers have the good GT-40 heads(1996 and earlier) or GT-40p heads(1997 and later). I have a 1997 motor.

It will move the little cobra pretty good and several big motor cobras have not exactly blew me away at Gainesville.

p.s. it is a ford and pretty reliable.

[trularin]

Aumoore is basically correct. If you swap anything other than the 289 - 302, you will have to buy parts.

Do the bone yard thing and get a 289 - 302. Disassemble it and rebuild it as a 10 to 30 over. Summit or PAW will sell you a kit, you can check them out to find out what their kits run. For that matter, if the engine just has a knock, you could pull it and have it rebuilt by any competent mechanic ( or high school kid ).

Just a thought.

[Chiperb]

Thanks guys. Bone yard motor or rebuild present motor a great idea!

I just don't feelcapable of doing the rebuild myself.

To clear things up: Ths 302 is in a Cobra DAYTONA COUPE that I bought back in October (turn key). I alsohave a Unique with a BB390. And recently "built" 303>>306 goes into another project we have been building for the past 2 years.

Thanks for all the info-keep it comming

"car poor in GA" cb

[Chiperb]

OK: Been searching the bone yards and have come up with the followig:1997 Xplorer engine with 58,000 miles for $695, Mustang 5.0 with 32,00 miles for $850.

The questions:

The yard INSISTS that the Mustang engine is a 5.0 and not a 4.6. I thought mustang quit making V8's in 1993.

Which would be the better deal?

Are the GT40 heads stlle or Alum (suspect steel). Do the ghave bigger valves? better flow on the Explorer>

Sees lke the explorer would have lots of klow end grunt ie torque. Does a cam swap change that? Is it hard to change a cam? Anything else needed: new lift rods?
Are all the blocks th same? ie will my headers etc bolt right up?

Be genlte. Notmuch experince at this but forced to due to to many projects.
All opinins GREATLY appreciated!

[Excaliber]

Impossible to mistake a 4.6 for a 5.0. Totally different motors, if the junk yard dog says it's a 5.0 you can bank on thats what it is!

Truck and GT engine virtually the same. Cam will be for more low end grunt in the truck application. Thats about it.

I was under the impression that some GT-40 heads were indeed "iron". Get the right manifold, injectors, throttle body etc. to really take advantage of the additional flow. Little to be gained if you don't work the whole "breathing" package thing.

Hot cam? Will your manifold be able to flow as much air as the cam will? Will the exhaust be able to flow enough air to match the heads? Will the 19lb (orange top) injectors provide enough fuel? Will the computer "timing and fuel" mapping be correct for the additional air movement (in and out)? Will the Mass air flow sensor now become the "weak link" in the chain?

Oh what the hell,,,, get a good cam and bolt on the GT-40 heads and it WILL be better. Just not as good as it COULD be!

[Chiperb]

I have an a single quad carb and Edelbrock manifold on the 302 now. Car has the traditional Daytona Coupe headers: 4 into 2 with slight muffling dual side pipes.

Sounds like the Explorer engine would do the job.

Would a cam swap be difficult?

Thanks

[Excaliber]

Carb solves a LOT of problems, good call.

Cam swap is not that hard but will be costly. Plan on lifters as well as a new cam. With the "older" engine are you sure you WANT to swap cams? Maybe you will like the low end torque, I did! And I found it more useful running SCCA than a high rpm cam would have been.

[aumoore]

If you use the explorer motor you will not need new lifters as they are roller lifters and do not "wear in a pattern" into the cam. I just pulled the intake off the explorer motor and pulled the lifters, pulled the front engine cover off and the timing chain and put in a trick flow stage one cam from summit ($140). You will probably need to change the springs as these stock springs are marginal for a hot cam when new and the guy from trick flow said if yoiu have over 50k on the engine to put in new springs. I think there are several you can get from summit like crane cams or trick flow.

The 1997 motor has the best Iron small block head that ford ever produced except the boss 302 head. It will make at least 25 more HP than the GT stang heads stock and there are several ponies to be found with a little head work.

I run my Cobra with my soccar mom motor on gainesville and roebling and it holds its own and has never let me down(except for the FIREBALL incident at the Willis last year whick was my fault not the motor)

Good luck

[trularin]

Here again Aumoore is correct.

The spring will need to be replaced if your are going to step the CAM up a bit.

While you are at it, why not balance the engine and rebuild it. New rings, gaskets, seals, CAM and timing chain ( double roller ).

For that matter, you could probably rebuild the one that is in the car for $900.00.

If you have to do a bone yard engine, get the explorer motor.

Just my $0.02

[Chiperb]

THANKS GUYS: Great info. Pulled me out of
engine depression!

Keep he infoing.ope to have the Coupe at the Willis!

[Chiperb]

Do Explorer/Mountaineer 5.0 V8s have roller cams AND roller rockers AND the GT40 heads?

Are all these engines throgh 2004 the same (except GT40 heads before 1996 and and Gt40p heads after 1997 through 2004?

Gonna go engine shopping tomorrow. Thanks for the eduction! cb

[aumoore]

Explorer/Mountaineer 5.0 motors

Roller cams yes
roller rockers no
GT-40 Iron heads 1996 and earlier
GT-40P iron heads 1997 and later
I think all the motors are the same except the heads

Ford has replaced the 5.0 with the 4.6 when they redesigned the Explorer/Mountaineer line a few years ago. Pretty easy to tell a 5.0 from a 4.6 modular motor.

[Chiperb]

Thanks! Going motor sopping today.

Did I mention that I found an 97 Explorer engine with 58K miles 6 miles away for $700?

If you come across any deals down your way, lemme know. cb

[aumoore]

You should buy it over a GT mustang motor because of the heads and it should have had a much easier life than the average stang motor. Soccer moms tend to drive slower.

[aumoore]

Oh yeah if you buy a complete explorer motor the stang guys or the EFI cobra guys will pay for the EFI intake system

[Chiperb]

Plan to pick it up Monday (Exploder-er-Explorer) motor-58 miles/$700.
Thanks for the help.

[Chiperb]

Got the engine last week and have it stripped-transplant soon cb