Need Some Help... 306 or 302???

[Adam95GT]

Alright well its come down to me finally wanting to put a new engine in my car.... My 40,000 mile t-5 came in the mail yesterday and it is waiting for its new friend... Last night i went and looked at a forged 306... it was basically a short block... with an oilpan, waterpump, and all bolts and some odds and ends....19lb injectors etc... no heads no intake manifold and no cam.... but it has a crowler crank and eagle rods and pistons... its got 10k on everyting and it was in decent shape... little dirty though...Now i talked to my friend chris who is a ford master mechanic and he said all we would really need is a balance, intake manifold, cam, heads, and a heads up gasket kit... wich i figure i can use my stock balancer its only a month old, my explorer intake manifold thats in my basement, i can get a e or f cam for like $100 shipped used... and i can pick up a set of gt 40 irons for like $250... The good thing is i can clean everything up and paint everything nice while its in peices and make my car look good... but i think im getting in over my head trying to build this motor my self... my friend chris said i could buy a small stand and leave it at his house and he would try to piece it together for me... everything sounds good...

but the engine has 8.5:1 compression pistons.... i dont know if thats 2 low for running N/A.... ALSO im not sure what the balance of the motor is whats our stock balance????

Now on the other hand... i can buy a gt40p explorer motor from a JY with 75,000 miles on it for about $650... and put that in ... but ill still have to buy a cam... New water pump and more....

Im kinda low on cash i figured id offer the kid $365 on the block as is with all the odds and ends.... and if he takes it ill go with the 306.... if not ill do the explorer....

Any Help Guys????

 

[trav_19]

get the short block it sounds like a good motor if nothing else im sure you could part it or flip it with all the good internal peices most of the hard stuffs done the internals i wouldn't be to worried about assembling it..have you looking into cams a lot? a used cam for 100 bucks seems high arent new alphabet cams like 160?

 

[Adam95GT]

yea they are like 80-100 shipped i figured i should budget high just incase.... anyone else have any opinions???

 

[chaos254]

maybe i missed a post but are you just replacing the engine because you think you should or does it actually need to be replaced? Because personally if I don't have to fix something I won't. Atleast not until I have enough money for the part that I really would want. Why waste the money if its not necessary..

 

[trav_19]

my experience with used cams are to not get them to many times i have come across a used cam thats out and is sitting on its side causing it to sag like a crankshaft will do, i think you need to stop being paranoid about your engine right now these things seriously live forever

 

[BlackVert]

maybe i missed a post but are you just replacing the engine because you think you should or does it actually need to be replaced? Because personally if I don't have to fix something I won't. Atleast not until I have enough money for the part that I really would want. Why waste the money if its not necessary..

+1

 

[Adam95GT]

it doesent need to be replaced... but while i have the money i want to do it so it can last me through college... the college made a mistake in my bill and i got a nice amount of $$$ in a refund check... otherwise if i dont do it now... i wont have the money for a few years... the motor has 212k on it and has to be getting tired in warm weather it gets some ping... im either doing a gt40p explorer or this 306... and i need help making a choice

 

[armyjon]

have you tried 93 octane when it pings. my 94 had a 160k on the motor i swapped in a E cam and redid the heads ran good for 20k more miles. Don't worry about the block it should be good. just buy a cam, cam change gasket kit and have fun. And put the rest of your EXTRA $$$$ in the BANK.

 

[fiveoho]

ADAM-

how bout i wish you luck and you wish me luck. i just got my 32,000 mile T5 in the mail last week. going to be taking the old out and putting the semi-new in tomorrow night!


maybe we both got good trannys