Budget HP for a EFI 302

[Jason Lee Nye]

Well I priced a powerdyne and it looks liek $2,000. The tech at the Ford Racing hot line advised that bolting this on a stock 302 would give me a gain of about 50 HP whippeeeee.

I figured there has got to be a better way to gain about 75 to 100 hp under $2,000. I bought the Ford Explorer lower and upper intake manifold. My understanding is it gets better airflow.

Now that leaves me $1,750 to spend and see if I can get more bang for my buck and HP.

I am open to suggestions on Cyl heads ect.... I am a sponge so please let me hear what I should consider buying next and what I can expect for HP.

By the way what i sthe HP gain with a Ford Explorer lower and upper intake on the 302?

[RACER X #99]

Jason,
Everbody seems to have their favorite brand of Cyl heads and with 8-9 different co's making them you certainly have your choice.
A lot of guys like AFR 165's for the 302 and 185's for the 351. For 2k you should be able to put a set of these on and also a cam change that might get you 100HP.
I am sure you will get other opinions.

Cranky

[Jason Lee Nye]

Thank you cranky.

This will be going into my Factory 5 Spec Racer. I will be saving all the parts that I upgrade just in case the Spec Series ever comes to Arizona. Until then I just want the Spec Racer to move...fast I might add.

I am currently selling my Factory 5 roadster and the Spec Racer should be hear by the end of January. Not enough room in my garage for both.

[Ron61]

Jason,

I don't know if you have the stock 302 heads or not and I am not sure if you gain as much on an EFI motor but just pocket porting the stock heads on most 302-351 motors will gain you some good power. I think the dyno figures on my friends 302 with a single four barell carb. showed about a 25-30 horsepower gain. Now he is looking at my aluminum heads on my 351 and is wanting to get a set for his 302. But he won't gain as much as I did because my whole motor was ported and polished by the company that built it. Just something you might think about.

Ron

[Jason Lee Nye]

Mine isn't carb'd but what does that run to have them ported and polished?

[Ron61]

Jason,

We took my friends heads off and he took them in to have the work done and I think he said they charged him around $150 dollars. But I also think the people he had do them were friends of his so I can't honestly tell you what they would cost here. Cranky has the best ideas about this if you want to do it.

Ron

[Jason Lee Nye]

Originally posted by Ron61


Jason,

We took my friends heads off and he took them in to have the work done and I think he said they charged him around $150 dollars. But I also think the people he had do them were friends of his so I can't honestly tell you what they would cost here. Cranky has the best ideas about this if you want to do it.

Ron

Well cranky, grasshopper is listening!

[Terry]

Jason.

You could change the ratio of the rockers to 1.72 instead of changing the cam. If I remember correctly it is about a .030 increase on the lift. Remember that if you go to any power adder you will need to upgrade your injectors. The stock 19lbs are just barely enough for a stock engine and let’s not forget the fuel pump.

Terry

[mikiec]

Jason,

Besides a S/C you can get what you want with cam and head, MAF and throttle body changes.

My thought would be to build the motor the way you want with out worrying about the SPEC series. If and when it comes to AZ just get another motor from a wreck and install it.

Mike

[Jason Lee Nye]

I was looking through my Ford Racing brochure of all their parts and noticed that they had GT-40 heads “something swirl” ( I am at work and don’t have it here) it boasts adding 65 HP and bolts on to a regular 302. The cost is around $1,400 with the gasket kits and bolt kits ect. I did notice on the long block that they sell that boasts 345 HP the only difference between the stock and that one is the GT-40 heads that add 65HP and a certain hydraulic cam with a Ford induction kit (not sure what they mean there but I would be running the GT-40 upper and lower intake manifold. Go to a wider throttle body ect.

Of course this is all in the plan and will depend on what I can sell my current Factory 5 for.

The only upgrade I will be doing is converting the back to discs (pirced the Cobra 13 inchers conversion $1,7000 OUCH, will stick with regular discs). It already comes with a 3 link, coil overs and rear Factory 5 lower control arms. So that leaves more for the engine. The rims and tires will also be another expense and I am hoping to get those under $2,000 (going with 17 inch)

*I should have did this to begin with instead of buying one already built. The target for all of these upgrades is under $20,000. Didn't include the paint in the cost. *Company bonus will pay for that*

[Randy Resetar]

Jason...Go see Brian Duffee at Duffee Motorsports. The best ford guy in town. 31st ave and thomas. The blue cobra with the maroon stripe is mine. RR

[Jason Lee Nye]

I have decided against using the GT-40 Alum cyl heads turbo swirl and going with Trick Flow heads.

[RACER X #99]

Jayson, before you buy the Trick Flows look at the AFR's, www.airflowresearch.com

They show some real good numbers not just at full open but at the 3-400 lift range also.

AfR's are real popular with the sb Ford Cobra crowd.

Cranky

[Jason Lee Nye]

I checked them, not sure if the budget will allow for them.

So far it seems Trick Flow is going to be the best bang for my buck right now.

Another thing I was looking at was the idea of purchasing a 347 short block. What minimum upper and lower intake manifolds, cyl heads and cam must be used? With the bare minimum requirement of bolt ons for a 347 what kind of HP can I expect?

If I can afford the base foundation set up of a 347, then I can always upgrade in the future. Just depends on if I can afford to start with the base bottom end or upgraded top end?