Posted by Charlie (IP: 131.204.59.115) on November 04, 1999 at 11:21:43:
In Reply to: 5.0 comparison posted by WM on November 04, 1999 at 08:52:58:
The non HO motors have a different cam, pistons, & heads. The cam is roller in the HO, the pistons are forged (up until 1993, I think, not sure). The firing order is also different, as the HO motors have the 351W firing order and the non HO's have the old 289/302 firing order. The best thing about the late model truck engines is they have the same block, crank & rods as the HO. So it is easy to make it an HO motor if you rebuild it. Buy a set of roller lifters and retainers, roller cam, good aftermarket forged pistons and a steel dist gear, and its basically an HO motor. (You cant convert the older blocks to roller cams because they are not machined as such; it can be done with aftermarket cam & lifters, though.) The HO motors also had a dual roller timing chain and a few other things to make less drag, but if you rebuild a late 302 well, its as good or better than a stock HO motor. -CP
: I have stumbled across a 1987 multi-port fuel injected 5.0 that is in a full size van. does anyone out there know how this motor compares to an 87 5.0 HO in the mustangs. (diff cams, compression ratio etc?) Thanks.