A friend of mine just recently bought a mustang with a 302 in it.
It has had different engine and transmission put in it. How can we tell what year the engine came out of so we will know if it has flat top pistons like the 86 and below car. or if it had the newer pistons in it. are the any numbers on the block that we can go by?

 

what if had been rebuilt? then it might have different pistons in it anyways.. pull a plug and see if you can look through the head and see the piston

 

ok we wil try that tommorow, any one else got any info?

 

Above the starter is the casting number. You can't see it from above unless you have a mirror but the header gets in the way. Remove the starter and look at the block where it sat.
+1 on the rebuild though. My block is a 80 and it has a 81 rotating assembly,had a set of 78 heads but has speed pro pistons. You will never know for sure unless you pull the head and look. It maybe a surprise.

 

HOw did you figure all that out? Im in the same situation noy knowing what year the engine is.. the guy said its a 302 but the heads are 289 so i could have a lot of different things.

 

i say never trust anyone, just rip it down and rebuild it then ya kno what ya got.

 

Lol, that is what I was told by the guy who I got the motor from.

84_302 you need to read the threads on your sig. It is WAYYY tooo big.

 

Ok guys, we appreciate your help, we are planning on doing a h/c/i pretty soon, so i gueess we will find out when we tear it apart. And if it has the flat top pistons, all we have to do is get them notched roght?

 

You will want to find out what the block is before you go and get the stuff for a swap so you know if you can use a roller cam or a flat tappet cam.

 

ok, and i can find out what year it is by looking at the casting numbers on the block?