seschenburg

I'm in need of a replacement for the 302/5.0L in my 94 4x4 that just suffered a broken crankshaft.

In my case I'd prefer to just replace it with a long block and move everything else over. Being a daily driver I'd rather not have it sitting in someone's garage while they "wait on parts", if you know what I mean.

Anyway, I've done the usual web searches for such opinions but all I find are many years old. I've also gotten no solid recommendations for local providers. So, to start fresh....

Where would you recommend someone obtain a high-quality 302 long block?

The needs to be the truck version, of course, not the Mustang version. Minor improvements would be welcome, but no need for fancy performance additions.

Thanks.

BLDTruth

Summit racing has a pretty substantial catalogue - there is a guy here is who is doing a 408 stroker swap (check the bottom of the page) that he ordered from Summit. Don't know if it will turn up what you want but worth a shot.

seschenburg

PS. Anyone know who provides the "Famous Brand" long blocks at Rock Auto?

seschenburg

"Famous Brand" at RockAuto is SureFire which is also the same brand available from AutoZone.

SureFire (AutoZone) and Spartan (Advance Auto Parts) and Powertorque (O'Reilly's) are brand names from ATK/VEGE. Napa uses the ATK name with the same part numbers as the others.

Hiperformer is a brand of S&S Manufacturing, Inc.

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So, what's you're preference:

SureFire/Spartan/Powertorque/ATK
Hiperformer
Tri-Star
Jasper
Other

JJJELLO

Along those same lines, if I wanted to what engine can I dream about putting in my 95 f-150 2WD flare side currently with a 302 V-8, 5.0 and only 90089 miles on it? want more power and umph besides the K&N air intake system I just installed. Is a 351 enough or do I go higher and more in debt - although happily in debt with a larger motor. What is the advantage of a big block -if any besides $$$- transition over a small block for my daily driver?

“Proud Woman Vet Driving"

BLDTruth

I mean if money isn't a limiting factor, there is a guy here who did a 460 MAF swap into his flareside. The engine bay is big enough to do pretty much anything if you want

justintendo

go jasper if you can afford it..

JJJELLO

Thanks for the ideas. That is when the lottery and I connect. LOL. Now that I know the engine bay can handle a bigger motor my search just got more interesting. Whoopee. I love research.

seschenburg

The main problem with Jasper is that they only sell through installers. I wanted to do this myself.


So, here was my decision and where I'm at...


The other brand sold through AutoZone is TriStar. They are located in Wisconsin and have a website here - http://www.tristarengines.com/


I didn't find any indication that they sold under another name and their web site has useful information, not just sales-related stuff. I decided to go with them over the mass-production companies. There's also no shipping charge since it's handled through AutoZone.


I bought the stock replacement 302, their part number 3058. It arrived at AutoZone in a nice reusable, plastic crate. The assistant manager and I opened it and gave it the once over. All seemed ok so I took it home where it sat for another couple of weeks while I finished prepping the items I was moving over. This was a (multi) weekend project so I didn't get to do much on weekdays.


I was a little surprised to find that the engine wasn't fastened down inside the crate. It only had a web strap over the top to hold it down. It hadn't been flipped or anything, but had slid back and forth on the wood rails. It was wrapped in thick plastic. Altogether it seemed like a nice build with plenty of assembly lube all over the inside components. The outside had been spray painted black. I will say that the heads were unmatched. Not different as in "unusable", just different. This is a non-issue since there were so many made over the years, really, but still worth noting.


They include a gasket set which was nice, but no oil pump. I put it all together using new bolts for some things (manifolds mainly) and wire-brushing the rest. I'm sure I spent more time cleaning/prepping/painting old parts than I did assembling the whole thing. Still, it all went together pretty well and I have about 150 miles on it so far.


It's running fine and I'm pretty pleased with myself and this engine, but only time will tell for sure if I made a good choice.