Hello there H.A.M.B. fam. I have just recently aquired a 1969 302 and C4 setup that was recently rebuilt. I small part of me says to just install it into my 54 Customline and drive it all over town as is, but, my wrenching side says let's squeeze some more ponies out of this first. This is what I currently know..... The motor was recently rebuilt to a stock spec setup. It only has a 2 barrel carb. I would like to have more power for those long trips to car shows and swap meets. I've had sports cars in my life since the age of 7 and am used to 300+ HP. Can I get this beauty to 300+. What do y'all suggest?
I would install it first, get everything working together, then hop it up as you go. I'm not familiar with small block Fords, but lots of guys get 300+ hp from a 302...
The little Ford wants the same thing every other engine wants. Fuel, air and good spark..! So...with that in mind - The small Ford will well benefit with some head porting. Either that or aftermarket cylinder heads. The early heads have small ports with not so good ports. By the time you have someone port your heads, put a good valve grind, guides, new springs, etc. it'll be cheaper to run new aftermarket heads. A cam to match the car and your driving. The gear ratio and torque converter (?) play a part in cam selection also. A quality intake manifold. Stay with the smaller ported versions, Edelbrock, Weiand, Offenhauser. A 500 (better) to 600 (ok) carburetor. Probably an Edelbrock in this case. A properly working distributor. Points are fine, but an aftermarket electronic module would be better. 34° or so total degrees advance (8° or 10° at the crank). A good 2", dual exhaust system with good mufflers. Remember, an engine is a hand full of parts that NEED to work well together. Short cutting one, or over doing one item, will compromise the rest of the parts, and the way the engine runs. Have fun. Mike
Look for a cam that will work with a stock converter, about 222 duration @ .050 lift and .500 lift. You will need to work the heads for screw in studs and the proper springs or buy aftermarket, I would also do bowl work in the stock heads if you used them but aftermarket are worth 50 to 100 hp depending on how much work you do to the stock heads and what aftermarket heads you go with. And as stated before a 600 vacuum secondary carb and aluminum two plane intake with 1 5/8" headers will push the 302 in the 300 to 350 hp range. Something that most dont realizes is that stock the 302/289 had 200hp and 300 ftlb of torque and it's the torque that moves the car. If you do nothing more than a 4v and headers you can up the hp to 225 without changing the torque location in the rpm curve.
I will add you need to rework the timing curve and I'm not a fan of the stock distributors for this reason.
I'd definitely do some modifications after owning a 49 Ford F-1 with a bone stock 1967, 289/2 barrel with a cast iron cruiso and 4.27 gears. I'd have thought the low gears would have given it a but more acceleration but I was disappointed. Good news was the little 289 was more than happy to buzz at 36-3800 rpm all day on the highway.
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