from wikipedia: The block was fitted with revised, taller lifter bosses to accept roller lifters, and a steel camshaft in 1985
Ford? That must be 84/85. They called them 5.0 High Output(HO).first two years were carbed.Smallish 4bbl Holley. From there they went EFi,but the engine stayed till 94/95. All are usable,but use a 50ounce flexplate/flywheel and hardened dizzy gear. Also the waterpump is reverse.For cl***ic belts use a pre 79 pump. Ollie
the fox chasis mustang cobra had roller rockers, that was in 1993. if you build a roller motor, be sure to get the correct gear on the dizzy. there is a different gear between flat and roller cams. learned that the hard way.
Damn. I actually knew the answer to this one. 1985. Only yr Mustang came with a roller cam and carb. Damn....that was a fun one. R code really kicked *** when coupled with a 5 speed.
i sware mine is out of an 83 that i have in my bronco. i could be wrong, everything i looked up pointed to that year. has a carb , reverse waterpump and the firing order is different than the older 302's
If using one in an early ch***is (Falcon/Mustang/etc), you'll probably want to use the early style timing cover, too. That way, the dipstick tube stays in the timing cover, rather than in the side of the block where it may interfere with your headers. Just plug the hole in the block.
All HOs use the 351W firing order. If the carb and serpentine belt are both original, its an '85 motor at oldest. Its pretty common for Mustang guys to swap to serpentine on the older engines, so you could have an '82-84 with the serpentine belt setup added.
1985 Mustang GT was the first 302 to have OE roller cam. The 1993 Mustang Cobra was the only OE engine to get roller rockers from the factory. '85 was the first and only year to have roller cam and a carb. But only with a 5 speed manual. Automatic cars had a horrible CFI system. What got or did not get roller cams for the next couple years is open to debate. It seems some cars got it while others didn't for no apparent reason. My grandmother's '89 Crown Vic had a roller cam. Other Crown's that p***ed through my Father's Ford dealership at that time didn't. Some trucks had them. Some didn't. By the early 90's pretty much every 302 had it or was the same casting and would accept it. In late '93 the 351W received a casting number starting with F4TE which denotes the presence of a roller cam in the 351W block.
You can use the pulley set up from a Crown Vic, Grand Marquis or Town Car from the mid-late 80's/Early 90's to run a standard rotation water pump with serpentine belts.
5.0 production/installation actually ended in 2001 when it was still being installed in Explorers and Mountaineers. An application in which that "dirty" old 302 met ULEV (ultra low emission vehicle) requirements. Go figure it was a real clean runner. These also had the best iron heads to ever grace the engine from the factory. They are galled GT40 heads and have "GT" cast into them. So they are easy to identify. They do have a different spark plug angle so header fitment can be tricky, but they are great low buck heads. A little home porting and you can pick up some decent gains. They also had distributor-less ignition systems that are quite good or can be removed and retrofit with a regular distributor.
Correct. You need a steel gear. You could run a bronze, but don't waste your time. They don't last as long. You can get steel distributor gears from FRPP or MSD probably others as well. Any distributor will work if you run the correct gear.
The 1985 Mustang GT actually has a different casting that the regular p***enger car engine. In '86 the casting changed but not all engines got the roller cam. I believe For had a lot of flat tappet cams to burn through and/or didn't want to re-certify an engine combo without a real need and kept using the cheaper flat tappet to keep costs down and profits up.
GT40s were the over the counter Motorsport heads, also installed on the '93 Cobra. The heads you are thinking of are the GT40P heads. Easy oversight. Great info, BTW. Its often hard to find info from someone who had first hand experience with all the various versions of the 5.0.
Does anyone have a part number or a good place to get the steel distributor gear I need for my project, I have a HEI distributor for a SBF that I was hoping to use. The engine is a 89 5.0 HO. I've already got a new timming cover so I can use a fuel pump and the lobe for the end of the cam, and the correct rotation waterpump, I have also plugged the holes in the back of the heads. Thanks
Just call up your local Ford dealer and they'll set you up! Have a machine shop install it for ya!! There's a certain height those dizzy gears need to be set at.. I have 2 roller blocks in my garage, one in my '96 F-150 and a '95 5.8L Windsor in my '91 Mustang.. All 4 of them got a roller cam with stock roller lifters..
There is a lack of concise information here, Not so much misinformation as there is a lack of accurate/collated information. ------------------- The Roller cam was introduced in MID 1985 (85 1/2) in the Mustang as well as in the Lincolns LSC MKVll It's important to note that not all 5.0 engines were fitted with, or could be fitted with the factory roller cam. Ford produced 2 different/distinct blocks for a number of years. The roller cam block which had taller lifter bosses and the non-roller block with it's standard lifter boss height. -Most 5.0s (starting in 85 1/2) were not roller equipped and could not be retrofitted with the roller equipment as they were not cast with the taller lifter boss. It wasn't until some time later that Ford saw no need to cast 2 (almost) identical blocks and the switch to the tall liffter/boss block was made irregardless of whether a roller cam was installed or not. And in regular car/pickup production, the norm was -no roller cam-. The bottom line is, There are many more non roller blocks out there then those that are equpped with the roller gear. There are many early 5.0 blocks (trucks/vans and regular production cars) that do not have the taller lifter boss and there is no provision for the tall roller lifters to be run in them. Trying to install factory roller equipment in a non roller block will result in broken parts. Look for the correct tall lifter block, don't settle for a run of the mill early truck or production car block. Look for an engine from a Lincoln LSC MKVll or Mustang from 85 1/2 and up if you want to find the roller equipment under the hood. When utilizing the roller camshaft is is necessary to use a cast or bronze gear on your distributor or you risk the chance of wearing the (hardened) cams drive gear and that means cam replacement. The water pumps direction is reversed with the start of use in serpentine belts. If your engine has serpentine belts, you cannot just press a v belt pulley on and get away with it. When Ford introduced the EEEC- ignition, the distributer was updated to accept the EEEC connector. A pre EEEC roller compatible distributer is/was available from Ford Motorsport (for use with Duraspark ignition) or just order the bronze distributor gear thru Motorsport and press it onto your early points or Duraspark distributor. To install a 85 1/2 up roller engine into an earlier ch***is, you will need to swap the oil pan for one that clears the front crossmember in your car. All early 302's had provisions for oil level dipstick at the front of the engine at the timing gear cover. 5.0 liter engines utilized the side of the oil pan for dipstick mount. If installing a early oil pan on a 5 liter engine you will find yourself with no provision for checking the oil. You must swap to an earlier timing cover/water pump housing in order to allow for oil level/dipstick. As others have mentioned, the imbalance on the flywheel/flexplate changed when Ford changed the engine firing order. A 28 oz imbalance was the norm up until the firing order was changed and the 50 oz imbalance is required thereafter. If/when you find a 5.0 with the correct roller equipment, make sure you acquire it complete with flywheel/flexplate as these things are not cheap. .
The correct Ford gear is br*** and is/was available form Motorsport hence the Motorsport part number on the box. Ford states that you need a softer gear than that of the material that the camshafts integral gear is made of in order not to wear the camshaft. .
Thanks moefuzz, but I called Ford Racing and they give me this link, and as you can see, what you are saying is not the same as what Ford is saying! So who is correct. Take a look on page 3. www.fordracingparts.com/download/instructionsheets/FordInstShtM-12390-A.pdf Thanks again.
Everything I stated can be summed up in the paragraph taken from page 3.... "Steel gears are compatible with billet steel camshafts (hydraulic roller tappet type). Bronze gears can be used with either cast iron or billet steel camshafts. They are usually recommended by manufacturers of aftermarket billet steel solid roller tappet camshafts. Since the bronze is softer than cast iron or steel, it will wear at a faster rate" The bronze gear was the one supplied by Ford Motorsport (in the 80's) for use with a Durapsark or points distributer when the billet roller cams were first introduced in the late 80's. That's also when I first fooled around with roller engines having installed a factory fresh 5.0 in an F150 in 1988. ...It really doesn't matter which gear you use, steel or bronze, your choice. Just make sure the gear you choose is compatible with billet steel camshafts. The guy to talk to back then was John Versermeech at Ford Motorsport. He's still with Ford but doesn't answer the tech line anymore. John was The guy when it came to what fit what back then. .
I had a bronze gear (or two) in one of my engines for a while, but had wear problems. Strongly recommend the steel gear for an engine that is driven a lot of miles.
Didn't the 1990 Mustang GT have a carburated version w/ a low rise aluminum manifold, about 290 H.P.?
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