How much have they changed the 302 to call it the 5.0? I know they're fuel injected and computer controlled, but did they change the block and heads a bunch? Did they change the crank phase or the valve timing or the port design in the heads or something radical like that? Reason I ask is the new ones never sound like the ones I grew up with, even the aftermarket modified newer ones just don't have that "sound". All you old farts like me know what I mean.
In the early 70s a friend of mine put a turbo and carb off a porsche on the 302 in his Fairlane 500, so I've ridden in some wierd sounding ones. That thing literally made a "Meow" sound just like a cat when he backed out of the throttle to shift. The Chevy small block with straight pipes in my Kaiser Jeep pickup turned a few heads, too.

Anyway, I guess my real question is do the new ones respond to the same old style "tricks" to get more out of 'em? Can you "open up" exaust, change air filtration system and carb...er... I mean injector control, and get more "oomph"?

Thanks for listening to an old geezer rant.

 

Well, from the sounds/looks of the new 5.0L Coyote engine. It's about as far as you can get from the old 302 engines.

Carb to Fuel Injected
Pushrod to DOHC
etc.

I've also heard of a higher compression ratio of 11.1 (don't quote me, that's a rumor.)

Since it's DOHC I'm sure it'll respond VERY well to mods. Cobras and Mach 1's with the DOHC engines eat mods for breakfast.

 

You mean a 5.0 up through 2002, or the new 5.0 DOHC slated for 2012?

The later 5.0 were pretty much the same, heads, intakes etc all interchange. The only differences were a few minor changes to the ports in the heads, going to EFI, roller cams, different oil pans and pump pickups, different timing covers, little things like that. Also a firing order change, but everything is pretty much the same. They went to a 1 piece rear main seal, the block castings got a tad thinner around the main webs. Generally speaking though, what fits on a 302 from the 90's will fit on a 302 from the 60's/70's.

The DOHC 5.0 "Boss/Hurricane" is another animal entirely. The spark plugs might interchange with some 302 aftermarket heads...maybe.

 

That would explain it.

And what hapened to the 5.0 after 2002?

P.S. where's a good quick history of changes since mid 70's? (about the time I quit paying attention to cars)

 

The new 5.0L is more of a bored 96-04cobra motor than a 302ci in comparison. There is no comparison between the 5.0L of my car and the new coyote 5.0L.

 

They made the 5.0 in the Explorers up through 2002, until everything was finally switched over the to Modular family. The firing order change was from the standard old 289/302 to the 351W, but since it just swapped some upstrokes and downstrokes around, the crankshaft is still the same, just a different cam. That is one thing, the roller blocks and the flat tappet blocks use different base circle cams, so the lifter bore placement and size is a bit different.

As far as a comprehensive list of changes, I'm not sure if there is one. Someone in the 5.0 section might know.