Hyper

I am so late to this game and years lost building other cars but some odd reason I ended up with a beautiful NB chassis and a mustang with T5 manual transmission. I am learning everything I can about the 302 swaps. Who is a major vendor for parts and ford 302 conversions ? I am mostly interested in the tubular subframe if there is any vendors or any avalaible

engineer

Hi,

Martin at monster Miata can do a custom subframe for you. It is a lot better than modifying the factory subframe as you will have room for proper long headers and the exhaust routing is much cleaner.

Hyper

thank you for responding. it looks like the engine i have is a bit smaller. the intake manifold says Torque 289. how do I know if the block is a 302 or 289??

engineer

Its the same block externally. If its an older casting (60's) it may be a 289, the 80's/90's castings will be 302. Best way to check is to remove No 1 spark plug, bring engine up to Top Dead Center on compression stroke (refer to balancer marks). Use a long piece of stiff wire to pass through the park plug hole. gently, rotate engine to the bottom of the stroke (180 degrees away form TDC) and see how far the wire has "dropped" into the cylinder by measurement.

A 289 will have a stroke (or drop) of 2.87 inches

A 302 will have a stroke (or drop) of 3.00 inches.

So just measure off the piston drop on your "wire gauge" and see what it is, then you will know for sure

Cheers,