I was curious if, like the cars seemed to do, engines had good and bad years. There is a coupe I saw with a "late 70's" 302 and I was wondering if there are certain vintage engines you want to avoid for one reason or other. You'd think if Ford had the 302 down solid, there woudln't be any bad ones produced afterwards. But I simply do not know.

 

I have never heard of a bad year for a 302.Improvements such as the 4 bolt main are great for any engine.Variations in fuel injection,the mass air is said to be easier to get great power as opposed to the multiport.(I dont know if thats true or not)Im a carburetor man myself.The basic short block pre efi is pretty much the same throughout the lifespan of the 302 to my knowledge.

 

74-84 302's didn't put out much HP so I guess you might want to stay away from those.
I think they put out 140HP to around 175HP depending on the year.