Technical Ford 302. Is it an H.O.? Which firing order do I use??

This is what you would see with the intake off. On all v8's, the farthest cylinder to the front is number 1. Start with the drawing posted above and get after it. Remember that the distributor rotates counter clockwise as you stand in front of the engine looking down.

 

I have ran into this mess a couple of times , there are a few years with flat tappet cams , that the block has the stand offs cast and tapped to hold the roller hardware . Beware you can not just throw a roller cam and hardware into one of these blocks and be good to go . It requires a special set of push rods and serious thinking . Not all roller cam blocks are HO engines , the injection unit , heads and cam make it an HO . But the “roller blocks “ are the same , add the HO parts and you have an HO. I tossed the HO stuff and added , fuel pump , dist and carb , and it’s dinosaur HO now !

 

Pull the valve covers and watch the valves. It is not just 302s because 302 and 351 cams interchange ether can have a different firing order

 

On the 1985 Mustang GT....only manual shift cars got the roller. GTs with autos got flat tappets. BTW if you ever look at a v8 motor and don't know witch side number one is on, its always the one closest to the radiator. I know most of you already knew that ….sorry

 

I built an H.O. out of an 86 Lincoln roller block .Changed the pistons because 86 had no valve reliefs and those stupid E6 heads. Added a H.O. cam and E7 heads.
My last 306 was an H.O. block and I put in a solid roller that I misunderstood to have a 351 Windsor firing order turned out to be a 289-302 firing order. It took me a few hours to figure it out. It farted and tried to start, but acted like the timing was way retarded. As soon as I rewired it ,bam it fired right up.
You have a 50/50 shot at it. You will know right away if it's wrong. Just check 3 and 5.