so i've got a 302 and aod out of a 88 marquis and i want to convert it to carb and put it in my 55 fairlane what distributer do i use and any other things i need to know ?
My ranchero has an 87 H.O. 302 in it ,with an old tunnel ram and a Mallory point type dist.I think any 289-302 intake will work fine on your motor ,as will a any point type dist ...
I'm doing this right now and using a Duraspark from Car Quest #REB 30-2831 You probably know this but you'll also need different valve covers so you'll have a vent and a PCV.
The '88 Grand Marquis SHOULD not have a roller cam. So you shouldn't need a steel distributor gear. But this is not a guarentee. Make sure you use the correct gear for the cam when you use ANY carb compatible distributor. When you have the intake off you will know it's roller cam if it has what looks like and is called the spider in the valley cavity. If you plan to use the AOD, do a bunch of research to learn about potential problems and make absolute sure its TV cable is set properly or it will burn up the tranny and do so rather quickly. The AOD is a good tranny but it has a few particulars that must be paid attention too. An auxillary tranny is a must as are a shift kit and the proper setting of the TV cable. I can't stress that bit about the TV cable enough. Some will say the AOD is junk. They don't know what they are talking about. Lastly do not do the first-drive-first shift trick to get and hold 2nd gear. it's the number 2 destroyer of AOD's. Following improper TV cable adjustment.
thats what i had heard can i use an old points type dizzy and just change the gear or do i need a special dizzy?if it is a roller
You can use any 221/260/289/302 distributor. If you've got the roller cam, you just need to make sure the gear on the distributor is correct...
If it's roller you only need to have the correct gear. Any 289/302 distributor will work. And it uses the 351W firing order too if it is a roller. There are 2 distributor shaft diameters that I know of, so make sure you get the correct gear if you have to get one.
Assuming your doing away with the smog junk, you have to plug the back of the heads where that crossover pipe bolts on. I've seen it covered in another thread. I believe folks use a threaded plug.
im in the process of doing the same. mine is an 87 out of a mustang with T5. i need a dizzy with a steel gear
I did this with an 89 h.o 302 in my son's Ranger, I used a one wire HEI dist, I also switched the roller cam for a flat tappet cam..... This the type dist I used... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SB-F...016QQitemZ260202265929QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW One hot wire and your done
tjm73 seems to know his shit. Wish I had know this sooner. I used a '79 302 distributor (NAPA # 48-2899) in my '90 5.0 - ran great for two years. Then gear melt down!! If you don't have a roller motor it will work fine. Campare the distributor shaft depth cause some early numbers seemed too short to mate with the 5.0 oil pump shaft. I used the AOD - Lokar shifter/TV cable kit is staightahead, but I had a local trans shop look over my settings. If I had to do it again I'd go with a C4 cause mileage is not great anyway. Good luck.
If the engine has a factory roller cam, then the best distributor to use is the '85 Mustang GT five speed model, the only steel gear, roller cam compatible, carburetor type distributor they ever made. It has a Duraspark plug on it, so you can do a simple Duraspark conversion or use it to trigger an MSD box, either way works good. Most good auto parts stores can get you a reman, but it must come from that specific car. If it is a flat tappet cam, then as stated earlier, you can use any 260-289-302 (non roller) distributor with points or Duraspark, available in boneyards everywhere. -KK
what about the oil pump drive shaft? do you need a different length? i was told when running a carb on a roller motor and switching everything over, i had to change the oil pump drive shaft too. they said, sure, the old shaft reaches but it barely makes contact. the engine builder had a few fail(strip out?), so they now recommend changing them. supposed to be an 1/8 or 3/16 inch difference between the two different shafts. anybody else hear this? i guess if you had both styles of distributors side by side, you should be able to tell if the efi one is slightly longer. anybody have both distributors laying around to make the comparison?
sorry, just read this now. as stated in my post above, check the oil pump drive shaft for adequate engagement. ford does sell a longer shaft. the last thing you want is to lose all your oil pressure on the highway.
water pump rotation is a big one, those motors are set-up for serpentine so if you decide to go v-belt then you'll probably need to get a new water pump
Im also mulling over a swap from the trouble free injection ( but worrying to hook up) to a carb ... but need to ask where can you source V belt pulleys for this motor that have the 4 bolt holes to mount to crank ? On the other hand are there any EFI experts in the house can work out whats required to make the EFI run . Mine is in an F1 truck, would like to keep it but hook up worries keep me questioning the benefits ... This may not be a strictly trad engine, but its whats fitted in the Cole Foster built 36 ... so it cant be that bad a choice!!
ive got all the crap to hook up the efi its not that hard i just decided to go the other way if you have a donor car to get a harness from its only two wires to hook up
does that mean there will be EFI spares available? being in the UK ( Scotland ) its not always that easy to find this stuff... Im thinking its going to be a tad costly just now so might stay with the EFI , see how it goes, then take it from there .. I can do with spending the cash in other areas of the build .. If I cant get mine to run itll be swiftly back to plan B
All 1986 and newer passenger car 302s (HO or not), as well as 1994 and newer truck 302s, had factory roller cams. cheers Ed N.
That's interesting, I'm just going by what the Ford parts catalogue shows. I'm guessing then that you've actually seen post-86 cars with a flat tappet cam? If so, I stand corrected. cheers Ed N.
I have. With Ford, what they say they made isn't always exactly what they made. From 1985 till 1995 the H.O. engine had a roller cam. It came in all V8 Mustang's, Thunderbird V8 Sports, Cougar XR7's and Lincoln LSC's. Crowns, Grand Marquis, Town Cars, F150's, Vans and all other 5.0/302 V8 engines could have been roller cam engines, but may have been flat tappet engines. Depending on what and when it was built. By the early to mid-90's most everything had changed over to the roller cam. All 5.0 V8 Explorers and Mercury Mountainers were roller cam until the last 5.0 powered vehicle left Ford in 2001.
85 and up 302 had roller cams and will need a gear. the firing order is different from a h.o. motor its all in the cam so if you change the cam to a h.o. cam should work ok. i saw an h.e.i. style distributor converted to a ford body and that seems like a good cheap way to go all it need is a 12v off the ignition switch
from what i have seen any block with the one piece rear main seal was a roller cam. @85 and up. i have seen where the gears get worn when the gear wears out but mostly on older cars. any way when you get the intake of to go carb you'll know for sure
The Jalopy Journal
