Gjohnson

Hey guys, I'm new to Mustangs and have been searching through the tech articles and other post trying to get a good idea of how I want to rebuild my engine. Well, here's the situation. Currently I have a 1990 Nissan 240sx project car that I've been building for the past year and a half. When I bought the car it had a SR20det enging that was imported from Japan, but the previous owner beat on it pretty hard and it spun a bearing. I pulled the engine and bought another out of Florida. Upon inspecting my new purchase and installing I found that the new engine had a dead cylinder from a destroyed piston. So on the engine 3. At this point I have decided that I want some good old American Muscle under the hood, so my neighbor that has been teaching me how to work on cars is giving me a spare 302 that he had sitting in the shed. The 302 came out of his f-150 due to rod knock.

Ok, I say all that to say this. I need to rebuild this engine and I need some suggestions on what would be the best return on investment in the hp arena. I'm not going to have a large budget since I'm not sure what other compatability issues I might run into. So I was hoping to do the rebuild for under 2500. The really good think is that I'm going to get mosyt of the machine work done at discount because my neighbor's buddy owns the best machine shop in town. So considering my budget what would you guys recommend I focus on in this rebuild. From what I've read the best bang for the buck is going with aluminum heads but that seems kind of pricey for my budget.

Oh and I was planning on keeping the engine fuel injected, because I don't know the first thing about carbs and I was wanting the better gas mileage, but again I'm looking foe suggestions. The car will be a daily driver when finished, with a little road tracking when ever I can. Thanks for your help.

Sorry, for any grammar errors, I'm posting this from my cell phone.

Portmaster

What are your goals for the car?.

jthorn9

Well for $2500 and doing all the work yourself you can't get a lot, but you may have enough for a set of used/rebuilt heads (I got my GT-40 X303s rebuilt on ebay for $975 shipped), a used intake manifold on ebay (I got my SVO GT-40 intake here on the site for $250 which I ported the hell out of), a cam (get new) push rods, rollers, roller rockers, and all the gaskets. Not sure if you'll have enough for any serrious engine parts, such as new rods or a stroker kit.

If you can just get the parts you need, and you do a cam swap, and let's just say an economical GT-40 based build using the aluminum heads, you'll probably be in the 250-270 rwhp area. You could also just get the parts you need to fix the engine and buy a used Vortech or Paxton supercharger which will push you to around 300 rwhp.

mjr46

you'll need a conversion kit, and a compatible tranny, in the end to make the 302 work in the nissan it'll take some work and $$$

Portmaster

Buy a good running rusted out mustang and use it for your donor car

Gjohnson

Yeah, I was planning on picking up a 5 speed manual (I can't remember the name but I think it's C5) and a Mustang ECU.

I was hoping to get around 300hp on this engine, but from what I've read ythat can be a little difficult going fuel injected.

Jthorn9, I apperciate the post and that's kind of what I was expecting. Is the 975 pretty reasonable for heads? I saw the can get upwards of 2000 real quick, but I thought I saw a post on here for a set of heads for 875 new. Maybe that was for each.

Am I right in thinking the stock bottom end of a 302 can handle 400hp safely?

Also, I might be able to come up with more funds it just depends on how much I cann sell my existing setup for. Let me know if you know anyone interested in 2 good SR blocks, cranks a gt25 turbo, huge greedy front mount rspl intercooler, Sr tranny and full 3inch Apexi Exhaust.

ctgreddy

for 300 hp you'll just need a good hci. decent alum heads start at about 800 or so for patriot heads, and up to 1400 for afr, canfield, or tf, and they just get more and more. if you get the 1400 heads, a good intake(eddy rpm2 or holley systemax) and a good cam. with all bolt ons you'll get your 300 horse goal. I don't really think the stock rotating assembly can hold 400 for long. also the trans you'll need is a T5, and thats going to be one cool project when you get it done!

Gjohnson

Ctgreedy, that's good info. Thanks

Oh, and I'm not up on all the abreviations yet, so what's a hci? I'm sure I'll feel like a serious idiot hen you tell me.

86 5.0L

fyi, you'll need a 302 HO(high-output) cam and need to change the firing order from the non-HO truck 302 to the 351-based firing order

also 300HP is VERY easy with a EFI 302, slap on some GT40s which can be found in late-model 5.0 explorers, a good intake and a good cam and you'll be very close, if not at 300HP

chrizzle17

Either way thats an awesome project man. My neighbor had a 240 with a skyline motor in it. That thing was so light it was crazy. I would love to see one with my beloved 5.0. Can you imagine the looks you would get with the rumble coming out of that?