is i tworth it to build a 302, just wonderin.
i know you are all going say go 350, but i would like to be different and
not travel the beaton path but follow the road less traveled
is it worth it money to power wise
i know you are all going say go 350, but i would like to be different and
not travel the beaton path but follow the road less traveled
is it worth it money to power wise
Senior Member
A ford motor???
TGO Supporter
lol ford motor 
worth it ? what do you mean? if you're thinking is the extra expense and effort justified for less preformance than you can have out of a 350 then yes it's mosrt definatly worth it. i don't really think you're being too differant or original, it's just another SBC
worth it ? what do you mean? if you're thinking is the extra expense and effort justified for less preformance than you can have out of a 350 then yes it's mosrt definatly worth it. i don't really think you're being too differant or original, it's just another SBC
Senior Member
srry I couldnt resist
Supreme Member
This comes up every couple of weeks. Somebody always wants to know if they can make more power by downsizing their motor. They have heard (not having been there at the time, like some of us were, not even a gleam in their daddy's eye yet) from their father's neighbor's uncle's girlfriend's boss's cousin's roomate's dad that some guy at their local track ran 11s on a bone-stock 302 Z28 with street tires by twisting it up to 12,000 RPM every Saturday for years. 
The answer is, not in this universe, at least not until they enact new physical laws for it.
That's not the same as saying you can't make a fast 302. But, it will cost you more money to make a 302 than it will to make a 350 out of the same block; and it will cost you more money to build and operate a car that will support any given power level from a 302 than it would to support the same power level from a 350; and a 350 will make more power than an identically prepped 302, every time, no exception. We all quit building 302s and 327s the minute we could start getting our hands on 350 parts, because the 350 made more power! We were getting beat!!! If we could have made more power by sticking with the smaller motor, we would have; but that isn't the way it was, or is. Just to give you some idea of the difference, the factory "rated" the 302 at 290 HP from 67 to 69; the next year, it was replaced by a 350 with the same heads, cam, intake, carb, exhaust, ignition, trans, and gears, but was "rated" at 375 HP. Now we all know that the 302/290 was under-rated, and the 350/375 rating was pie-in-the-sky; but there is some truth to the increase in power. The motors probably actually went from about 320 HP to 360 HP, by simply increasing the stroke from 3" to 3.48".
So, if "different" means "get beat" to you, yes you can build a "different" motor. It's certainly worth it to the rest of us for you to do that, because then we'll have an easier time of going faster than you. But it isn't "worth it" to you to use your own money as the weapon to defeat yourself.
The answer is, not in this universe, at least not until they enact new physical laws for it.
That's not the same as saying you can't make a fast 302. But, it will cost you more money to make a 302 than it will to make a 350 out of the same block; and it will cost you more money to build and operate a car that will support any given power level from a 302 than it would to support the same power level from a 350; and a 350 will make more power than an identically prepped 302, every time, no exception. We all quit building 302s and 327s the minute we could start getting our hands on 350 parts, because the 350 made more power! We were getting beat!!! If we could have made more power by sticking with the smaller motor, we would have; but that isn't the way it was, or is. Just to give you some idea of the difference, the factory "rated" the 302 at 290 HP from 67 to 69; the next year, it was replaced by a 350 with the same heads, cam, intake, carb, exhaust, ignition, trans, and gears, but was "rated" at 375 HP. Now we all know that the 302/290 was under-rated, and the 350/375 rating was pie-in-the-sky; but there is some truth to the increase in power. The motors probably actually went from about 320 HP to 360 HP, by simply increasing the stroke from 3" to 3.48".
So, if "different" means "get beat" to you, yes you can build a "different" motor. It's certainly worth it to the rest of us for you to do that, because then we'll have an easier time of going faster than you. But it isn't "worth it" to you to use your own money as the weapon to defeat yourself.