85 302 to HO???

Topic: 85 302 to HO??? (Read 6453 times) previous topic - next topic

85 302 to HO???

February 06, 2011, 10:11:28 PM

As you all probly know tax refunds are gonna be showing up soon so I've been shopping for goodies.

I've found mustang ho pistons, heads, cams, and even a whole HO engine.

I was wondering...could I:

put the pistons, camshaft, heads on my SO block and use mt TBI intake?

use the whole HO engine with my TBI intake and computer?

I figured I'd probly have to use larger injectors and a different pump...at the least.

-edit-

oh also found a 91 & 93 cougar 5.0 that claim to be HO...is that true? and if so what would I need to do?

I've looked on here and can't find much for write ups...maybe I'm having a hard time since I usually have a fiance, and kids trying for my attention.

85 302 to HO???

Reply #1 – February 06, 2011, 10:56:22 PM

the 91/93 5.0 engine has an HO with 200 HP. Eric has a gret writeup and says that your best HO motor should come from an 86-93 mustang. That's here: http://www.coolcats.net/tech/advanced/

Now I don't know much about these swaps, having never actually done one, but from observation and input from others, if you can, it's best to switch out your SO block. I believe the HO blocks have valve reliefs...something the SO doesn't have.

And I hear you on the fiance and kids thing. While they're both great, I can't do the v-8 swap on my car anytime soon...

85 302 to HO???

Reply #2 – February 07, 2011, 01:10:24 AM

The 91-93 cougars are an H.O. The thing that gets them is the restrictive intake/exhaust. I am not sure if they have valve reliefs or not. I can't find specs for the cam, but it should be close enough to be

85 302 to HO???

Reply #3 – February 07, 2011, 01:23:58 AM

well this is getting put on hold...no garage, landlord is being a prick and won't be able to move for sometime...but information is always a plus.

85 302 to HO???

Reply #4 – February 07, 2011, 04:34:54 AM

I generally wouldn't consider an '86 Stang 5.0HO engine, as they had the less desirable E6 heads (same as '87-'88 Tbird 5.0)

Starting in '87, the HO engines (and the truck 5.0, as well) came with the E7 heads, E7 itself meaning 1987.
I'm not sure if the '86 pistons had valve reliefs, but from '87 and up they did.

Another option is an explorer block, but keep in mind most, if not all of those had distributor-less ignition.

Good luck with your project.

85 302 to HO???

Reply #5 – February 07, 2011, 11:16:49 PM

ok so toying around looking at parts...trying to find parts to convert to sefi was getting me into the $1000 price range with just the wiring goodies.

So I got to thing about Megasquirt. They have a plug and play module for the 86-93 mustang 5.0(http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/megasquirtii-v357-plug-and-play-for-19861993-50-mustang-p-418.html), wouldn't that work with my 85 bird? Or is the wiring harness for the 85 different?

I've been looking and the 86 tbird and mustang pinouts look exactly the same...but I have an 85 lol.

-edit- uh duh on my part...I have cfi...won't work without upgrading to sefi anyways.

85 302 to HO???

Reply #6 – February 07, 2011, 11:30:57 PM

CfI is tough to make HO cheap and quick. A SEFI motor would be the easiest route... It's much like swapping a 3.8 to a 5.0.

85 302 to HO???

Reply #7 – February 07, 2011, 11:49:58 PM

Well I may have a line on a 88 mustang rail, injectors, regulator, and injector harness. Intakes are about about $60-70 a piece around here. Would the mustang injector harness plug into the harness that runs to the eec module on an 85 and then just swap in a mustang eec module or the MS pnp module?

oh and I've renewed my interest in this because a co-worker keeps saying a t-bird isn't worth modifying and I should get something worth modifying like a srt-4 or cavalier or mustang etc. He's a dumbass, but I have to deal with him on a daily basis and one day I'd like to pull in and say,"yea it was worthless...ya hear that? thats my H.O."

85 302 to HO???

Reply #8 – February 08, 2011, 12:01:30 AM

I think the wiring harness is the same it just uses diff pins, or something like that for firing the injectors... someone here will know for sure

85 302 to HO???

Reply #9 – February 08, 2011, 12:13:07 AM

From what I understand CFI is speed density with only 2 injectors. If I have to add a few wires in I'm not afraid to do that. I just don't want to be shelling out $600 for a wiring harness like they want....I mean for $600 I could have my pick of either a 351W or a 460....I'd buy them but no where to store them(no engine stand or hoist either).

85 302 to HO???

Reply #10 – February 08, 2011, 12:17:28 AM

Jcassity knows what needs to be done to make it work from CFI to EFI... there's a thread around here about that

85 302 to HO???

Reply #11 – February 08, 2011, 12:21:49 AM

from what I remember the EFI injectors fire in banks from the computer, and some wires need to be re-pinned I believe

85 302 to HO???

Reply #12 – February 08, 2011, 08:50:43 AM

I know your just thinking now so here are a few bullets to stew on..

-Your car (CFI) uses two blue top injectors approx 52Lb high resistance.
-Your computer fires each injector everytime the fin in the distributor is not blocking the magnetic pickup.
-There are only wires from you computer going to the injectors, these are the grounds being switched off / on by the computer while the red wire is hot with koeo or koer.
-The stock fuel pumpe was 65L/hr for all our cars 4cyl-v8 and the fpr narrowed down the pres to 40psi returning the remaining to the tank.

-it is interesting to study what was done on the common "ELECTRONIC Fuel Injected (as stamped on the intake)" V6 motors as they are configured exactly like CFI in that only two pins from the computer controll 3 injectors at at time switching them off/on based on the distributor rotation.
Having said that and if your ambition is to use a CFI (aka chevy TBI), the addition of one more injector to each bank may not have an adverse effect on the computer. The V6 "Fuel injected (not multiport fuel injected)" cars are already running 3 injectors on a single computer output pin but adding another to have 4 on each bank hasnt been done before.
I believe Mega squirt uses the same approach in that it controls 4 injectors at a given moment,, which makes it a mirror of your existing 5.0 now but less 3 injectors on each side.

Another option to is to take the CFI apart and hone out the lower half of the throttle body and add larger butterflies. I dont know if that will make you happy or not but there is a lot of restriction on the lower half that could be opened up more to complement the stock intake runner size.

An HO cam requires an indepth understanding of the valve train and the block provision changes. as an example, crawl the web for this phrase "convert to a roller block, 5.0" . Most people dont bother and just start thier project with a roller block.

Im just skiming the surface, figure out which way you want to go. If your looking for something different like keeping the motor and figure out a way to have the look of SEFI but keeping the computer as EFI, then you'll figure that out soon enough. Im just speaking in general , until you figure out which way you are going.

85 302 to HO???

Reply #13 – February 11, 2011, 08:49:22 PM

Thanks for all the info guys. I've been busy at work, drying 100-300(500 on a bad day imho) cars a day is harder than I thought. I think I'll probly just do the mass air H.O. swap. For now I'll probly do little things in preparation, like going to dual exhaust. I still have to find a way to figure out what tranny I have. I'm told it's AOD, but my cluster has a c3 pattern(p-r-n-d-2-1). The vin indicates a V8 car though? I actually argued with my brother that it's not aod because I can only feel 3 gears....1st up to about 15-20, 2nd to 37-39, then done...no more shifting. So I might try and find an AOD to throw in to...don't know...might wait till I have a garage(just like I'll have to do for the engine/mass air).

85 302 to HO???

Reply #14 – December 31, 2012, 10:35:14 PM

Bringing up an old one here. Hope Dragon got it together.

How about a 1988 T-Bird SO short block with a 1989 Mustang HO top end? I'm thinking '89 HO heads/cam and a carbed induction.....Same pushrods? Use '89 HO factory headers?