I recently picked up a 302 and transmission for my Ford, but it was not in a car when I bought it. I'm pretty sure I have everything decoded but I was hoping some folks with more experience could confirm for me. I'm really a newb when it comes to these American engines, I'm more used to VW stuff. All I know is it supposedly has ~800 miles since it was rebuilt. It supposedly has an RV cam. I can tell it was in a van (I think) because it has a rear-sump pan with a dipstick in the pan and a long tube that exits near the dizzy. It has a new looking converter, flexplate, crank, valve springs and rockers, and some other stuff, but I haven't been able to pull the heads yet and measure the bore. The block code is D4DE-6015-BA (I think 1974 Maverick 302?). Trans code is RF-D0AP-7006-C (Maybe 1970 Full Size C4?), does the RF mean refurbished? I assume it's a C4, looks too small to be a C6, and too old to be an AOD. Plus no TV port that I can see. It also had a Duraspark dizzy and coil, Edelbrock 1406, and Performer 289 manifold. Any input would be greatly appreciated before I start buying parts for it. Sorry for the crap photos...
Keep in mind that the block number you reference is the block casting number, basically the block can't be any older the 1974, but it could be newer as Ford wouldn't have revised the casting number until they changed the design... The casting number on the cylinder head is underneath the intake port, you have to reomve the intake manifold and use a mirror to read it... Cool valve covers...
Yea, I kinda dig the covers but sadly someone took a big chunk out of one of the fins, probably when they pulled it. I have my eye on some Edelbrock 4160 covers, which I think will look pretty nice.
Easiest way to ID a ford tranny is by pan shape. No 2 alike. www.fordification.com/tech/transID-auto.htm
D4DE is definitely 74 302 as for the trans it looks like a c4 but in need to check one of my books, dont know that code off the top of my head
The trans is a later pan fill C4, it is stronger than the earlier case fill C4 that it replaced. It has a 26 spine input shaft instead of the smaller 24 spline, and slightly larger internals. A good, reliable trans. -KK
Pan fill and case fill are not the same issue as early vs late. The big bell housing C4 (pan fill) used a 163 tooth flexplate. The small bellhousing (case fill) uses a 157 tooth. Both styles where used through all years.
I've never seen a big bell pan fill made before 1970. And I believe it was a 164 tooth flexplate. -KK
the cool thing about these engines is they ran from about 62ish to 1995 i believe with minor mods throughout the way. i kinda had plans for my fairlane with one. the H.O. 302s in the late eighties and nineties had hydraulic roller cams. i believe earlier blocks can be converted easily enough by buying the roller lifter dog-bones and spider kit. i believe you can find it in summit in the mustang section or through ford motorsport. that would give you quite a selection of cams and no pesky flat tappet cam break in shenanigans. if you want a good bump in power without spending a ton on heads you can pick up sets of cast iron gt-40 and gt-40p heads on e-gay for cheap. most any factory cast iron heads other than those are bottlenecks. the gt-40p's are a little better than the gt-40's but they have a spark plug angle that requires special headers. you'd just have to see if they'd fit in your vehicle. the gt-40p's came in 94-95 5.0 explorers i believe. i had a 9:1 compression 302 with the gt-40s, a set of 1.7:1 roller rockers and a mild cam. i got 320hp out of it and it was stone reliable and fun. if you wanted to keep the outside of the engine looking vintage, you could find an older car somewhere with a 260 or 289 and rob the pulleys and brackets off of it. powergen makes an alternator that looks like the old generators and should bolt right up. speedway sells a harmonic balancer that has a dual bolt pattern for early or late crank pulleys. early used three bolts later used four. not going to go into the trans stuff too much because that's not really my area, but that's definitely a c-4 you've got. a good trans and can be built plenty strong. hope any of this rambling helps.
Great info! After comparing pans, it definitely looks like a C4 pan. I've thought about doing GT40 heads. I think I might just go with the stock heads for a while, especially since they look to be fully rebuilt. I'm not so concerned with power, and I wouldn't want to have to replace heads with roller heads and swap out the RV cam for something else unless I was looking to make bigger power. Right now I'd just be happy with decent mileage and a good sound.
The major thing you need to watch for in changing balancers and flex plates is the balance. Early 302's used 28 oz. balancers and flex plates. Later models used 50 oz. If you don't get it right, the engine will vibrate like crazy and most likely break things.
No, the lifter bores were different and the earlier blocks don't have the bosses for the spiders. If you want a hyd-roller cam and want to use the Ford OE stuff you need a roller-cam block. Aftermarket stuff works but costs considerably more, if you want a roller cam (good idea) and you're starting with a big hole in the engine compartment of your car you might be bucks ahead (see below) just finding a later Ford block. This is also true of the 351W, the roller-cam blocks were in (I think) '94-on trucks (not all were, and not sure exactly which ones, I'd pull the intake and look before buying), the only car that ever got one was the '95 Cobra R Mustang which used the truck block. '96-early '97 Explorer or Mountaineer. Had all the good stuff from the factory - roller block, GT40 heads, and the best front-dress Ford ever put on a Windsor (it does use a shorter water pump and crank pulley that are unique to the application, none of the older Fox stuff will work, remember all serp-belt applications are reverse-rotation.) I've never actually bolted all the short FEAD stuff up to a 351W but it looks like it'll fit and I think the Bronco guys do it regularly. Note those front covers will not accommodate a mechanical fuel pump, these were also EDIS/EECV engines so the 'distributor' is a cam-position sensor, and anytime you're mixing/matching early/late parts you end up with varying dipstick locations too. The 'late '97-01 had the GT40P heads, still good if you can come up with headers to accommodate them. Stock Explorer exhaust manifolds suck horribly (not an easy frame to fit a V8 into) and they've got pretty mild cams. The pick-n-pull yards here periodically do half-price days; helped a friend grab a complete engine for $150 + assorted taxes and fees. If we had to do it again I think we (two guys) could do it in 1.5hr. Just remember - you need to get the fan shroud loose then start cutting hoses and hardlines and rip the whole radiator/AC condensor/PS cooler mess out with extreme prejudice, otherwise you won't have enough working room to push the engine/TC forward out of the transmission. Be nice to the fan, though, if you're using the Explorer front dress you probably want it. Junkyards can be fun, now that I've got new batteries for my Sawzall I can drop the entire IRS out of a Jag XJ in 20 minutes...
yes thank you dd phillips i forgot to mention the balance difference between the early and late engines. i think the balancer i mentioned from speedway has a remove-able weight. i know i had one a few years back on my mustang and it was either/or. you removed the weight or replaced it with the right sized one for your balance, i forget which. pretty slick i thought. JEM thanks for the specifics! me personally i'd like to keep the externals of the engine looking old school, but i think on the inside, anything goes. that's just my preferance. i did not know all that however about the front dress. i did know though that they had a distributer stub and not a distributer up there. i don't see any reason you couldn't plug a regualr distributer in there though provided it had the appropriate gear on it.
I'm no expert but I was in your boat a few months ago. pm me if you plan on changing stuff. Just a piece of advice with the sbf I found is mixing and matching is a pain in the ass. Make sure you get the right water pump and balance ( 28 0z in your case I think) run any point/converted dizzy (my dogs name haha) with an IRON GEAR for flat tappet cams, gm hei style look shitty but they are easy and cheap. Looks like you have a decent manifold if its dual plane. Do you have an alternator? from my book I have 74 falcon line, original equipment. ford really made a lot of changes to the parts on this engine and it will make your life really hard to mix and match. By the way those valve covers are cool ... broken fins give it character. Honestly I would leave it and wait till youre ready to get some afr heads and a big lopey cam..
Here's a list of the parts I'm planning on changing out right away; Edelbrock 4160 classic series valve covers Moon breather on the drivers side cover (PCV fitting on the other) Tuff Stuff chrome 5.440" water pump (unfortunately the 5.440" pump is only available with pass side inlet, but I'd rather do that than swap out all of my pullys). Tuff Stuff chrome 1-wire alternator (my car is already wired up for a GM 1-wire) Chrome front sump oil pan (and new pick-up) Holley mechanical fuel pump Holley fuel pressure regulator Skip White ready to run dizzy (electronic) MSD blaster high vibration coil (so I can mount it horizonally in the stock bracket) Hedman headers Stainless hard lines for fuel and vacuum lines (with 37 degree JIC fittings in liu of the ugly AN fittings) All polished stainless bolts I'm ditching the existing Duraspark for two reasons; one, it isn't in the best of shape, and two, it didn't come with the conrol module or anything like that. I've heard good things about the Skip White RTR dizzys, and they are super easy to hook-up. Best of all, no big HEI coil bump on the cap. I finally got it up on the stand the other day, after battling with a rounded off torque converter nut. Big thanks to Craftsman Bolt-Out sockets for saving my day. Next up, I'm going to get it painted. Probably Ford corporate blue, although I may try and find something darker (like a dark navy). Not many engine paints that are darker blue than Ford corporate blue, maybe GM trophy blue? I think a nice dark navy blue and the brightwork would look pretty good.
From the first picture you posted it already has a pass side outlet water pump 1965-69 this is the short pump that is preferred for a 1952-56 Ford swap,in order for the pulleys to align they have to match the balancer.Before you order a water pump you should read this: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=303600&highlight=ford+short+water+pump post#5 & post #40.If you are planning to do a radiator upgrade check this out: http://www.ebay.com/itm/64-66-FORD-...ng&hash=item4cfc428745&vxp=mtr#ht_2606wt_1187 The 1965-67 Mustang radiators bolt right in to your '54 Ford the V8 Mustangs have the lower outlet on the passenger side and 6 cyls had it on the drivers side.As a side note these radiators will fit 1949-56 Fords.
Some advice on the MSD coil they come in different ohms of resistance,check with Skip White to find out the correct one to order using the wrong one will fry the internal module.
Yea, I'm happy I have the 5.440" pump so I don't have to mess with matching pulleys and all that, I just wish I could get one with a drivers side inlet. Not a huge biggie though, I think you've even posted a few Mustang rads that have the inlet and outlet on the pass side, so I'll probably go with one of those. Most of what I've planned out so far is thanks to your guidance and trail-blazing, so thanks Jeff!
Yea they work best with a <.700ohm primary resistance coil so that's what led me to the MSD blaster 2 series. There's only a few traditional canister style coils that work with the electronic dizzys, but I definitely don't want one of the HEI box style coils. Otherwise I probably would have just went with a cheaper Pertronix coil.
The 302 SBF engine was produced until 2001 and ended it production run in the Ford Explorer/Mercury Mountaineer line. In the Explorer/Mountaineer they were distributor-less ignition, butyou can pull the sensor and drop a distributor right in. All the carb intakes bolt right up, but header selection on the stock heads (they're the best iron 302 heads from the factory) can be tricky.
duplicolor makes a metallic spray paint called "metal speck". i painted the 460 in my truck red with that stuff. i really didn't expect it to last but man it's held up really well! the color selection is pretty limited but they do have blue. it ALMOST looks like a candy paint when done. a tip though, if you do use it be sure you shake the shit outta the can for a long time before you use it cuz all the metallic settles in the bottom of the can. i think i've got pics of my engine in my album here, and i did the drums on my fairlane blue with that stuff. just my $0.02
Yea, that red looks good. I actually bought $70 worth of Roth flake and blue candy for the engine, but after running a couple samples I'm not sure if I'm going to use it. I'm just afraid it will look too bright and look too close to the new Ford blue and make it look like a street rod crate engine. I'm leaning more towards a dark navy (maybe like Cadillac blue or Trophy blue), I know they're both GM colors but I think they would look pretty good with the finned polished aluminum valve covers and stuff. I think once I get some of it, I'll do some more samples with the dark blue base and Roth flake and candy over it and see what that looks like (maybe I can get my money's worth from that paint after all).
dang man! i was lookin at your album. i like the lace job on your roof! you do that yourself? i've been goofin around with some lace stuff on some street signs and skateboard decks i had. just tryin to get an idea of how to do it, but i'm only a rattlecan painter. i'd like to do some lace panels like that on the roof of my fairlane.
I can't take credit for it, the previous owner did the paint and body work... and it isn't quite as nice up close. Actually, the roof is nice, but they took some shortcuts and didn't remove a couple things when they sprayed the car and just masked around them.
well it sure looks nice man. paint and body is not my area really but i'd like to learn more about it. i'd like to be able to do as much stuff myself as possible. it just seems easier and definitely cheaper that way. i've been wantin one of those cars for awhile too! i like what you"re doin with it.
Yea, it turns out it's a 2-year only C4 with a short tail shaft and fixed yoke. Comes from a 70/71 1/2 ton pickup. I'm considering selling it and getting an AOD. The only way I could use this is to get an expanding driveshaft which is heavier and I've hear they aren't really a good choice for freeway speeds. But luckily I think these C4s are worth a bit more money, I think they're pretty popular with the desert and sand trucks.
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