going efi

[1969 Stang]

so i got a deal for my 78 302 a guy wants my carb set up, intake, carb, spacer, fuel pump, air filter, he said he wants to go carb...so i was like okay lets trade, he has a 90 5.0 HO engine, he will give me the ecu, harness, injecters, electric fuel pump maf, tb, upper and lower intake. now here comes the question. will it work with the 78 block....

[andy669]

Everything should bolt up just fine, assuming the intake tube will clear the strut tower. You will need a block off plate for the mechanical fuel pump, and prolly need to do some work on the throttle cable. Thats about all I can think of.

Andy

[srv1]

Originally posted by 1969 Stang
so i got a deal for my 78 302 a guy wants my carb set up, intake, carb, spacer, fuel pump, air filter, he said he wants to go carb...so i was like okay lets trade, he has a 90 5.0 HO engine, he will give me the ecu, harness, injecters, electric fuel pump maf, tb, upper and lower intake. now here comes the question. will it work with the 78 block....

It will work. I beleive your heads are internal EGR. But the only thing you dont have is the roller cam and the roller lifters, correct? You are going to need them(at least the 351W firing order cam) in order to run correctly. You have the non-351W firing order of 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8 which the 82 and later H.O. motors have the 351W of 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8. So you will need to retrofit if you want. You can still run a flat tappet cam in an FI HO motor, but it has to be a HO/351W firing order. You can get the retrofit kit out of a junk yard. All 302's 89/90 and after had roller cams. This means trucks, Town cars, Crown Vics and some others. It could be earlier like 87, but i know for sure 89 302 non HO's had roller cams. Get the spider assembly and the two bolts. Dont use the junkyard lifters, thats a no no. Spend the extra money and buy new ones. You will need to get new pushrods also, since the roller cams are different length than the flat tappet ones. Trust me, spend the money on the rollers and pushrods vs. the flat tappet cam. Lifters and pushrods should be about $180 shipped to your door. Everything else will bolt right up. Your block is supposedly stonger than the newer 84/85 and later casting 302 blocks. The heads you have are just about the same as the E7's if not the same.

Now, is this 78 block in a 78 car? What is it in or what is it going in? Remember if it is not a factory FI car, fuel lines have to be changed and so will the sending unit in the tank for the fuel pump. You could get away with high volume FI external fuel pump, but you will still need the lines for the fuel filter and the the lines going to the fuel rails. You can also get these from junkyards and you can get replaceable fuel line ends at Autozone.
Is he giving you a distributor? If not, junkyard on that as well. You need to get it from a 302 FI truck from 87-94 i believe. The non HO's have a different shaft and drive gear(for the roller camshaft is made out of billet steel, so a billet distributor gear is needed. non HO's w/o roller cam, yours, dont have the hardened gear which you need if you run roller) on the distributor if i remember correctly. The trucks are basically HO motors anyway. They have the same heads, distributor and injectors. The intakes are different, computer, and the cam is too, and the trucks run manifolds, not headers.

Also what Andy mentioned above. It is worth it if you want great driveability and better gas mileage, but it seems to me that carb will make more horse for the dollar.

I may have missed even more parts, but i think you get the idea.

Still want to go EFI???

Hope that helped.

James...

[1969 Stang]

Originally posted by srv1


Still want to go EFI???

James...

I'm wondering if i still due......its going into another 69 mustang...but evenbetter i found a 90 engine block from a mustang that has everything but intake a carb....

[BLACK85GT]

You cant just put in a stock roller cam from a h.o. into your non h.o. block because they are different size cam journals. You would have to buy a retrofit cam that has the correct size journals for your block. Its easier just to use a roller block imo.

[srv1]

Originally posted by BLACK85GT
You cant just put in a stock roller cam from a h.o. into your non h.o. block because they are different size cam journals. You would have to buy a retrofit cam that has the correct size journals for your block. Its easier just to use a roller block imo.

From what i read he is getting everything EXCEPT the HO motor. I thought the 78 blocks are the same as the HO as far as cam journal size. He then replied after me that he found a 90 block. So what year did they change for cam journal size?

[BLACK85GT]

well, when i was doing research to making a non ho block into a roller, i found that i had to buy a special retro cam with the proper journal sizes. dont remember the exact sizing off hand, but i know i could not just put in a stock ho roller cam.
As far as years, if the block had a roller cam in it from the factory, then you can obiously replace it with one. If it was non roller from factory, then you need the retro cam.
I believe 85 was the first full roller motor, but the cam could have been introduced as early as 82? Not shure on that one.
Also one more thing: The lifter valley of the non ho block has to be machined to accept the roller lifter setup. The area where the guides sit need to be flattened. I am pretty shure on this cause i am looking at both blocks in my garage now.

[srv1]

somehow if you can, measure the cam journals. i want to know for sure. all you have to do i grind a little of the bosses down and tap it for the bolt for the conversion. why do they have to be machined? if so, what maching has to be done to the lifter bores?

James

[BLACK85GT]

Its where the lifter guide sits on the block. this is the metal guide that holds the roller lifter in place so it does not spin. the non ho block does not have enough cut in this area. At least mine doesnt. As far as cam journal sizes, you can call summit and ask for the specs. they will be more accurate than me. I believe the roller cam has bigger journals.