479hp Ford 302 for $4,991 - Best Buck Banger

This is likely the last story... 

   

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This is likely the last story for this stock short-block because we've pushed it about 1,500 rpm beyond the safety margin of the stock rods. This engine has gone from 279 hp to 479 hp with most of the original parts.

It has bad vacuum, you need a stupid converter or a clutch and deep gears to operate it on the street, and it spits and wiggles like a basket full of baby vipers. But we can't stop winking at it. We love this little engine and its brutal veneer, even though there isn't a machinist in the country who is going to touch the short-block with a 10-foot dial indicator. It's just too far out on the edge. This engine would be loads of fun in a 4:56:1-geared Maverick or a Mustang four-speed with a gutted interior bang-shifted at 7,800.

The JE/SRP pistons we found... 

   

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The JE/SRP pistons we found have serious domes that are designed to make 13.8:1 compression with a 58cc chamber. The pin needs to be pressed out of the rod for installation, and the pistons were nearly 80 grams lighter than the stock pistons, so we grabbed the crank and rods and took them to JMS Racing Engines to have the assembly rebalanced. Had we not balanced the assembly, the engine would have eventually eaten the bearings.

Way back in the Nov. '07 issue, we hot-tanked and dingle-honed this 302 before we reassembled it with original parts and made a street-friendly 279 hp with mid-300 lb-ft of torque using an RV cam and aluminum intake. A couple of months later, we added a set of AFR 165 street heads for a surprising 92hp improvement and a big, fat torque gain in the midsection of the curve without even changing the tiny 218/228 camshaft. The engine would have done a lot better with a roller stick and more compression, since the combo only netted us around 7.5:1. Still, the engine was an excellent example of a low-buck street combo that would have run happily for a long time on the worst sluice-water gasoline imaginable. We lied to ourselves and pretended to be happy with it. When we asked what you, the reader, thought, you told us, rather loudly, to see just how far we could go with the stock short-block, and you didn't care if we blew something off in the process. Gee, thanks.

The wristpin is considered... 

   

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The wristpin is considered press-fit because it can slide back and forth in the piston but not in the rod. Full-floating pistons allow the wristpin to slide in both the piston and the rod and are kept from sliding out by a spiral lock on each end of the wristpin bore.

We flipped through the JE catalog and found a set of off-the-shelf forged pop-up pistons that were designed to build 13.8:1 compression with a 58cc head and the stock crank and rod combo. Visions of another 100hp gain with a really radical, solid, flat-tappet cam for some serious noise drugged the brain hamster. How could we not do this? To top it off, Tony Mamo from Air Flow Research called and said there was a set of brand-new Competition Ported 185cc small-block Ford heads cooling in the CNC machine. Dude, what would you do? Our U-joints are done for.

SRP Piston SpecsPN: 150069Bore: 4.030Stroke: 3.00Cubic inches: 306Rod length: 5.090Compression distance: 1.600Dome volume: 18ccGram weight: 525

Head Flow Makes PowerBoth heads were tested using a 13/4 exhaust pipe on a 4.030 bore with 28 inches of test depression.

The pistons came with file-fit...        read full caption The pistons came with file-fit rings that had to be custom fit to each bore. The proper ring gap is actually a calculation based on the bore size and the engine's intended usage. In this case, we chose the street/strip application and set the top ring at 0.018 (bore times 0.0045) and the second ring at 0.020 (bore times 0.0050) using The Ring Machine from Childs & Albert. When checking ring gap, be sure the ring is square in the widest part of the bore.

Looking down at the engine,...        read full caption Looking down at the engine, the top compression ring gap should be on the right directly over the wristpin hole, the second compression ring gap should be over the left wristpin hole, and the top and bottom oil ring gaps should be in the 7 and 11 o'clock positions. The oil expander gap should be lined up with the skirt on either side of the piston. Always use a ring expander instead of spiraling the rings onto the piston.

Since this engine already...        read full caption Since this engine already ran, we checked the bearings for wear and deep scratches and reused them. Westech's Steve Brul prefers to use Lucas assembly lube on the mains.