302 Engine rebuild materials?

[Tincan18]

I was thinkin of rebuilding my 1994 mustang gt coupes engine. It has a 302 HO 5.0 L V8. My car has 126,000 miles and is still running relativly well except for a bad torque converter, and a gas tank problem. I am rebuilding my engine 1: so my car will hopefully regain what it had in the first place and be more reliable. 2: I am doing it myself for my senior project for my school. So i was wondering what materials i might need. So if someone could please help me out with that and possibly give me a few tips it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[tireburner163]

126K? It's just getting broke in

Personally I would just fix the torque converter and the gas tank. My 93 notch has 171K and still runs like a top.


If your gonna rebuild it your gonna need new pistons, rings, bearings, freeze plugs, timing chain, gaskets, valve guides etc. Plus machine work on the block, crank, rods, and heads.

Have someone who knows what they're doing help you assemble it. IMHO I'd rather have a motor with 126K than one that was assembled by someone who didn't know exactly what they were doing, no offense.




-Josh, aka the tireburner

[Idhomustang]

Sounds like a good project, I do agree withe previous post maintence is ok and a saves a ton of money. A good convert will run less then $300. and you gas tank, I don't know whats wrong there but, a good used tank couldn't cost more then a $100 with a pump and sender in it. Plugs wires and a cap and rotor maybe a new water pump and timing chain and bang your tired stang would be rolling, flush the injectors and install a k/N filter bump the timing up and Bang! Your running strong but if? Your sold on the other idea here is a few ideas.

Many questions to ask youself, though.

1. Purely stock rebuild? Y/N
2. Performance Upgrades minor/cam change Y/N
3. Major Upgrade Stroker crank/Upgraded heads, Intakes Ignition, ETC,ETC? Y/N
4. There are many good kits that offer pre-assembled balanced assemblies, at a reasonable cost. Check the ads in 5.0 magazine and Fast Fords, alot of good suppliers.

5. Check-out machine shops carefully look at the equipment, if its all new thats good, if the people running the equipment can do the job. Thats even better especially if they are reasonably priced. Talk with friends and get there opinions talk with a few shop owners and ask then who they use. ( remember they make money using the good high quality shops). They don't like hassles and are willing to pay more for a good shop so we should do the same. I'm not talking about the guy who over charges, I'm talking about the guy who does good work and charges a fair price he is usually busy though, and you might want to plan, on having it set there in his shop for a month.

6. You will need the following done, blocked cleaned cost?
Bored?
Crank ground or polished?
heads rebuilt/surfaced?
balanced?
new rod bolts and nuts?
recondition the rods costs?
maybe line honing the block and decking the block?
torque plate boring?
are the cylinders bored or honed?
Some of these questions he will not be able to tell you over the phone, because they require inspection.

7. If all of these costs come two around $2000.00 grand by a SVO long block and sell your running engine for $400-500 bucks and you into a new factory motor with some juce for $1500.00 of so. You might even spring for a 320 horse or 345 horse Gt-40 motor.

8. Buy a remanufactured motor from a good rebuilder, he would be the one who offers a tested and broke-in motor. With a no hassle warranty.

Bottom Line these are just considerations, I have used with success, and maybe you will benefit by the comments. I certainly don't know it all just have lived through a few bad mistakes trying to save a few bucks..

Mac

[red82gt]

If this was done as a project for school, First off, I'd start with a compression check and leakdown test to evaluate the condition of the motor. Then pull the motor and the oil pan and then check the clearances of the main and rod bearings to see if they are in spec. if they spec out fine, and the crank isn't scored you can usually just have a machine shop polish it and use standard sized bearings. If it needs a cut, it'll probably run you about $100 to have it done. You should also have a machine shop install new cam bearings, that should be around $50. If things are in good condition and there are no ridges in your bores you can get away with re-using your old pistons and just honing the cylinders. You won't be able to tell until you've taken the glaze off the cylinder walls. Then get new rings and gap them accordingly and check the side clearance of the piston in the bore and the ring/piston clearance. Next, disassemble the heads to check the valveguides for wear and check valvespring pressures and give them a good cleanup. Have the machine shop install new rod bolts (use ARP's or Milodon's) and clean up the rods. It would also be a good idea to have them do a clean-up cut on the block surface and the heads. If you stick with your stock rods/pistons, you can probably get away without having everything balanced but it wouldn't be a bad investment to have everything weighed and then balanced.
Anyways, good luck with the project, but do remember that these damn projects always cost more than you'd think.
If you have to do a write-up of somekind for your class, make sure to write down every number you come across,. You can never have too much data.

[HISSIN50]

there is a lot of great info in here. i did not read it all, so if i duplicated something, my apologies.

i do agree that your mill is probably in good shape (a compression test or leakdown can tell a lot).

for your project, can you just [re]build another motor. that way you have one ready for when yours goes south, but that way you arent fixing something that aint broke?
that is the route i would go, if it fits in with your school project.

good luck.

[red82gt]

Originally posted by HISSIN50


for your project, can you just [re]build another motor. that way you have one ready for when yours goes south, but that way you arent fixing something that aint broke?
that is the route i would go, if it fits in with your school project.

good luck.

That's a good idea. You could find an 87-92 short block with forged pistons to re+re or just build up a long block or even a stroker and then sell your good running engine to finance the project. Lots of options...