300 horse wont blow out an 8" you will want to change the rear gear ratio and add a limited slip differential. the stock gear ratio of 2.80 or 3.00 wont help you beat any body. i would recommend 3.25s if you do a significant amount of freeway driving or 3.55s if you dont do very much freeway. unless you are using the aod transmission. if so then i would recommend 3.80 gears.
the spider refers to a stamped mettal thing that is in the center of the lifter valley that holds the "dog bones" down that keep the roller lifters from being able to rotate in the block. this is the spider on the left and dog bones on the right here it is installed
Ok, looks like mine. is there anyway to improve my stock head so they aren't so "restrictive"? Upgrade the springs and valves? Is it worth it to adapt the AOD or is it too much work/money? I'm not putting a clunky speedo on the column so I need to figure out a way to replace/adapt the electronic setup to my mechanical one...
Update: 86 Ford T-bird 302 that had MFI but has an older style water pump (fits 80-88) (plugs indicate 94-83) So, since it's a serpentine style, I checked the PS pulley ID and it's .689; the stock pumps shafts diameter is .684-.685 so I'm going to make a shim to cover the distance and stick to the original pump. Getting away with murder here
i would go with the aod. the overdrive will allow you to have awesome off the line acceleration and still be able go freeway speeds at a comfortable rpm. it sounds like your motor is still a mystery motor as for what it came out of. the aod should have a cable drive speedo just like the stock maverick would have. it may need just a longer speedo cable.
Because it has the long reach plugs, it's no doubt from something that used E6 heads, only possibilities are, '86-'91 Grand Marquis , Crown Vic or '86-'90 Town car... These engines used a dual belt serpentine setup also all Lo-Po... Another possibility is '86-'88 T-Bird/Cougar, these used single serpentine belt like Mustang and LSC Lincoln, again all Lo-Po.... Also '86 Mustang & '86/'87 Lincoln LSC used the E6 heads, these were HO engines... Yeah I forgot these possibilities in my first post(and the 5.0 I had in my Bird was from a '86 LSC) Nick, post the partial vin number on top of block, behind intake & I'll tell you year and what it came out of... This is stamp on my Comet, later engines use two letters and six numbers...
Update: can I use these frame mounts?https://www.autokrafters.com/p-1770-motor-mount-71-77-maverick-comet-302.aspx
That's an exploder motor with gt40p heads, notice the 4 bars on the heads. Headers will be an issue with those heads.
Heads have been swapped on, and I have purchased BBK shortys (known GT40P headers) but yes that is correct
