302 engine upgrade or motor swap? Smog compliance?

[phil85ltd]

My lopo 302 is running sloppy and i've been debating whether i should build it up with HO parts and keep the block with the smog excess bs or if I should just give in and get a carbed 351 Cleveland. I have a bone stock tranny and rear-end gears. I've been hearing good things about the explorer motors and if they are smog compliant then great but my car is registered in an area that smog isn't an issue but it is stopping me because i'm moving to an area where smog is a must.

[sly]

Everything between the intake, oil pan, timing cover, and transmission is a direct swap for 302 based engines. Depending on which smog compliance you're dealing with and how perfect to original it has to look will decide what you can do with it. if your area is super anal, you'll have to get just the HO long block and intake that's not tubular so you can make it LOOK correct. You will need an engine that's got air injection on the rear of the heads as well. If your area is just a pass the sniffer area like mine, then you don't need any of the smog stuff and just good cats. go GT40 and tubular intake and enjoy.

[gadget73]

Do you need the smog stuff where you live? Unless its for a visual, they pass just fine without the smog pump and all that on there. The converters need to be present, and I'd leave the EGR but the pump can go away with no ill effects. Or if visual is required, that junk bolts to an HO or you can fake it on an Explorer motor. I've been getting through NJ inspections for years without the smog pump. Amusingly, the car that failed had it's smog pump working at the time it failed for emissions.

No chance in hell of getting a carb 351c through emissions if you'd fail with missing smog parts on a 302 though. Also, the bracketry is different so you'll have to figure out accessory drives. Even finding a good Cleveland block these days is not exactly the easiest thing. They haven't been made since what, 73 or 74?

[phil85ltd]

Well the smog isnt an issue anymore and my area doesnt require any emissions. Now my issue is just either a junked 351 or HO 302. They have junked 351's at the junkyards in san diego all the time so it wouldnt be hard to find, and it'll bolt right in with my mounts and transmission without a major overhaul. I'm wondering about any hiccups in the road though, ie; accessories, lines, sensors, ECU, EGR? Can these just be ripped out or am I going to have to close connections and leave them in?

[packman]

If you go with a 351W, you can do what a few here have done and retain the EFI. I would look for a 351W out of a truck/van from '95--'97; they came with hydraulic roller cams those years. You may need to get an aftermarket intake, as the Lightning intakes are hard to come by. Scour places like E-Bay and NLOC.net. After that, it would be like swapping in a HO engine (procedure-wise). Edit: some people run the speed density from a MKVII, though others converted to mass air. It depends on your skill level and how far into a swap you want to go.


Packman

[sly]

the only hiccup on a 351 swap really is the AC bracket. Finding one of those can be a bugger because it'll have to come from a 79-91 351 panther. (maybe only 87-91... I don't remember if the bracket changed with the compressor change... and I might be mistaken about the year that changed as well.)

302 swap is plug and play though.

[gadget73]

The compressor changed in late 88 for the 89-91 model year. I know the 302 bracket is different from early to late, but it changed a couple times on the earlier compressor as well. I *think* the several variations of early AC compressor bracket all fit the same compressor but don't hold me to that.


Something to consider with the 351. In stock form, they are not really any better than an HO as far as performance goes. They just eat more fuel doing it. Lots more potential there, but you really don't want to stick a bone stock 351 out of a pickup or a Vic in your car. Largely this becomes about budget and goals.