block type question
 

did ford use a roller 302 block as used in the mustang in anything else during the late 80's (truck, tbird, cougar, lincoln, crown vic)? reason i'm asking is that a gentleman offered to sell me a 1988 302 out of an F150, and i was wondering if it was a roller block or not.
thanks

Re: block type question
 

nope its not. I don't think they used the rollers until 93 or 94 in the trucks.

It could still be a good motor if he's got it for a good deal. Hydraulic rollers are cool, but they're really nothing that special. You can easily make the same or more power with a standard flat tappet.

Re: block type question
 

The Lincoln LSC had a roller block.

Also, not to start a war....but you can make more streetable power with a roller motor. The opening and closing events are much steeper and move the valves faster.

The NASCAR guys wish they could run a roller motor.

Re: block type question
 

roller and hydraulic roller are completely different worlds. I'd love to see a hydraulic roller in a NASCAR engine :)

The faster you accelerate the valvetrain (ramp rate), the more advantage a solid lifter has over a hydraulic, end of story. Up to a point, there's not much difference. For a street application, either will work fine, which is why the engine mentioned above will work just as nicely as a roller block would.

Re: block type question
 

OMG, that wouldn't last long. Probably not even a dyno run. IMO, I wouldn't run hydraulic lifters past 6000 for a very long time. The hydraulic roller lifters might stand that kind of RPM a little better than a flat tappet. I have pushed a hydraulic roller harder than a flat tappet motor and not had problems. Hydraulic lifters collapse at that RPM. That has been my experience.

Re: block type question
 

Mine too....and yes, the idle quality is great once you're done running it @ WOT over 6000 rpm for a while. NOT! Heheheh. Okay, I blame my bad rod bearings. :p

I believe SOLID rollers were what was being eluded to. Hydraulics just couldn't take the abuse....no, scratch that. The valvetrain couldn't take it, and your spring pressure would have to be even MORE ungodly than NASCAR engines already run at.
I'd love to see the track speeds in NEXTEL cup racing if they were allowed to use solid rollers, btw. They need to ditch restrictor plates, flat lifters....ugh, okay, sorry, I didn't mean to try to hijack the thread, much less discuss NA$CAR. :D

FWIW, the real prize to find is a roller-ready 351W, produced for a very short duration for the early lightnings (1995-1996 if I'm not mistaken). Thar be the pot o' gold!

Re: block type question
 

The F150 and Mustang 5.0L blocks were identical starting in 1988. They installed flat tappet cams in the trucks until 1992, but the block is exactly the same as the Mustang block. You may have to tap the holes in the lifter valley for the spider, but otherwise it's a simple conversion.