Whats up evryone...been a while! Well..I got my 57" F100 and its got a FE 352 in it...I have a relative who will let me have his 302...just needs a rebuild. The situation is ..the 352 is running decent...but am finsing its parts are a little harder to get...more exspensive...and the sucker weighs a ton. I figured bigger/stronger...should go faster right? Well is it worth trying to juice up the 352..or get that 302 muscle er' up? Have many people with opinions..but I know the "H.A.M.B Boys" will do me right.
DMA...if you just listen to what you just said. you allready have the answere. but i'll bet $5.00 you don't know it...POP.
if it were me i would keep the 352, lot less work and much cooler lookin. but wtf do i know, cause im a closet vw lover
Few questions - 1st: How fast do you want? 2d: How much to rebuild the 302? 3d: what parts do you need for the 352? The 352 FE engine shares many parts with the 390/428s and lots of add-ons are available for 'em. It's your build and one could argue in defense of either engine - they're both good - but if it was mine I'd keep that decent running 352 and beef it up with some add-on go faster stuff.
LLOL...your all right....I"m still a rookie under the hood so I was unsure if the 352 was more of a pulling/towing motor..some jackass told me so. He's actually not a jackass....just doesnt know much about FE's. Anyway...to ur ? of how fast I wanna go...I want the old man watering his lawn in the morning to have the "What the F*CK" face when he hears it start...and when I leave the house. 2nd...the 302 is free..so whatever I want to spend to rebuild it is on me. I was told about $350 to have a nice solid rebuild...but I will spend more for more balls.
Go with the big block. The 302 maxxes out at about 347 ci. The 352 can go to 440 ci with a stroker crank and bore. There is no replacement for displacement.
Cool...cuz when some guys have asked "is that a FE" I get a look as if im a idiot for havin it..then I reply with YEP..and Its gonna smoke your ass in due time..." I say that outta pure faith that this motor is a good one and can be a great one. Now I know. SO...with that said... New Intake (Edlebrock 2015..4V) New carb (Edlebrock 600-750CFM) Some new Headers ( ??? ) and a new cam ( ???? ) Any help....I thought that should jump it up a bit? Im a rook...so understand if I sound like a douche' bag...lol..
FE's are good stuff. Don't listen to people who say its too heavy. If you add an aluminum intake, water pump and heads it's damn near the same weight as a 351W. The FE is well over 100lbs lighter than a 460. Parts *can* add up for an FE, but the 302 isn't all that cheap compared to an SBC anyway. My opinion: 352 looks better, sounds better, already there, more than enough power available 302 has better trans choices, but they mostly compensate for how gutless it is without spending a grip on speed parts.
Check out www.fordfe.com. Lots of tips and tricks over there. Those guys know their stuff. The Edelbrock heads are great, they flow well. Go with the Edelbrock Performer RPM, not the standard Performer 390, the RPM is about the best single 4V intake on the market. Any decent header will free up 30 hp over the original log manifolds on any FE. A well built 352, running about 9.5:1 should get you in the 350-400 HP range and 400-450 lb ft or torque. Stroke it and bore it, and 500+ is a very streetable realistic number. I am currently building a 352 for my '62 Merc. 9.5:1 flat tops, RPM intake, lots of head work, and a good mid range cam. The gentlemen (old FE guy) putting it together figured it should easily to 350 HP and 400 ft-lbs torque. If you don't build it yourself, make sure you find someone who has a lot of FE experience. FE's have a few idiosyncrasies that the average SBC builder guy will completely miss.
HELL YES!!!...thanx fellas...o to be clear... go Edlebrock for Minifold / Carb / & Hooker Headers ? From what I understand my motor is basic stock...so I can slap on a 4v intake W/ a 4v carb right? ..and u say the Carb should be the "Performer RPM"..and is that 600cfm??? or need somthin more ? Lastly..I would need someone to break down what/How/Where on the "Stroke it & Bore it" issues. Dont wanna be a just drop it and pay it guy..just wanna learn so bear with me if u can!
I "kept" the 352 in my 63 Galaxie but it is now a 390. The only real downside that I've found is the cost of adapting to an overdrive. There just aren't any cheap options out there, other than that I am very happy with the decision to keep the FE.
i'd go with the 302. fe's are junk unless you spend a LOT of money on them. i replaced the worn out 460/c6 in my f-100 with an efi 5.0 from a '90 mustang with an aod. modern day engine management on a tried and trued engine platform. my plans include a centrifugal blower, heads, intake, and a cam and i'll be making waaaay more power than any fe for a lot less. so yeah, go with the 302. being different just for the sake of being different can come back to bite you in the ass.
If you want the old man in the yard say " what the fxxck" then trash both of them and drop in a 460 ,exta carbs , cam ect. and be done with it . You cant beat cubes for more H.P.
I didn't spend that much money on the 352FE in my '66 and it runs like a top. I love the different exhaust note of the FE and I love showing up the sheep who go with a 302/351 because they don't know how to build anything else.
Haha, yeah, that too. My dad loves to get the Bowtie guys riled up by telling them anyone can build a SBC cause they're cheap and easy.
A stock 352 will run great with an Edelbrock Performer RPM or Offenhauser Dual Plane 4V intake and 600 cfm carb. With a decent set of headers that should get you to around 300 Hp with an early 9:1 or better motor. Ford offered the 352 in 220 Hp 2V, 300 Hp 4V, and 360 Hp 4V versions from the factory, so these motors have lots of potential. The 352 takes a 0.050" bore to become a 360. The 360 was a common truck motor so pistons are readily available, along with the standard 0.030", 0.060", and 0.080" overbores. The FE's were some of the first engines that utilized thin wall casting technology, as such they often had core shift issues. Most blocks will take an 0.080" over bore with no problem, but some won't so have yours sonic checked before going to big. A 390 is just a 352 bored 0.050 and stroked with a 3.78" crank. The stock 390 rotateing assembly will drop right in with no modifications to the block other than a bore. You can make a 410 (Mercury only 1966 and 67) by putting in a 428 crank (3.98" stroke) and boring out the 352 by 0.050". You will have to use 410 pistons for the pin location. The downfall is the stock 410 was a 10.5:1 motor, so you may have to lower compression to run on pump gas, but it will run like a scalded cat on Premium. Be carefull, the 410's and 428's were externally ballanced, so you will also have to change the flywheel and harmonic dampner. Scat and Eagle also make 4.25" stroker cranks for the FE that should fit a 352 block with no mods. So with a 4.08" bore (0.080 over) and the 4.25" Scat crank, you can get 445 ci of stump pulling fun from a 352 block.
Another option if you bore the motor is Edsel pistons. Instead of the low-comp pieces from the trucks, they were 10.5:1. (Possibly 10:1 in '59). You may have issues with 87 octane, but mine was running on it when I first got it. Now that it has fresh heads and correct timing I may not be so brave, but I'll see when it's together.
??????? FE's are jink unless you spend alot of money on them???? being different just for the sake of being different can come back to bite you in the ass??????? did you read his post man...did he say that he had these engines sitting in a yard or something? the 352 is running good and in the truck already. Before I say a typical HAMB comment would you rather comment with something different? People just comment on things just to comment. Now to the question.......keep the FE.
Keep the 352, but if the 302 is free like you said, get it and hang onto it. You may find a use for it.
Keep the 352, like others have said, a new intake, carb, and headers are the first step, and you might like that enought to just run that. FE's have lots of part interchange ability so parts will be around for awhile. They arn't that hard to build, just take your time, I read every night on what to do on mine so that I would get it right the first time. My 352 was the first engine I ever built and it wasn't as hard as I thought, but just check what you're doing and don't rush into it.
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