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5.0 vs 5.0 HO. Is it worth $1250 more


Guest HolyLlama

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Guest HolyLlama

Did a search and I was surprised to not find anything on it. I'm looking at sticking a 5.0 into my 280zx and I've been going around looking for a motor. A guy I go to church with has about 10 out of tbirds and trucks. He told me I needed to get an HO but I can't see why. All the local dirt track racers are buying them up and there's a huge demand. HO's go for $1500 or more even at the redneck junkyards for just the motor, while for $250 he'll bring whichever vehicle I chose that has a 5.0 in it over to my shop and I can pull the engine and whatever else I need to make the swap work and he'll pick the car up when I'm done. So am I better off to buy the HO or buy just a normal 5.0. I plan on building both, but I'll have 1250+ more dollars in my pocket if I buy the normal 5.0.

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Llama,

Would you drive up to Tennessee to save $800.00? I picked up a HO out of a Lincoln LSC last month for $500.00. Had a guy at the local Mustang junkyard outside Knoxville, price an HO with 5 speed and complete wiring harness and computer for $1,200 to me last week.

For the difference in price down there I'd rebuild a regular 5.0, just remember your engine balance will be different between the HO and generic 5.0 when buying flywheels or flexplates. This can be expensive if you are planning to use a 5 speed as the flywheel costs more for the 28 oz than the common 50 oz balance.

Drop me an e-mail if you are interested in a HO motor and I'll check and see if Thomas at Mustang Madness still has that one available.

 

Adios Amigos,

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Be careful and do your homework before buying either engine. Determine what you plan to do the engine and then make your purchase. The balance issue Zorro brought up is valid but it is really an engine year change and not an engine model change that brought about the change from 28oz to 50oz counter balancing. The change took place in the very early 80's and all Ford 302's afterwards were 50oz engines. The important differences between the 302 and 302HO's are forged pistons, 351W firing order (due to cam design) on HO's and heads. The HO's received the better parts and had a slight increase in horsepower and torque because of this. If you are looking for a base engine to tear into, change the pistons, cam and heads don't bother with the HO. All of the parts you will be replacing are the parts that make the HO different.

 

As Capt. Zorro stated, I would look into buying the Lincoln LSC engine over a Mustang engine. I have been buying these engines for 302 build ups for a long time since they are generally cheap, for the same engine, and most Lincoln drivers treat their cars a little better than Mustang drivers. If you decide to go with EFI there are other changes to be aware of so search the forum and read up on those differences.

 

Josh

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Hit a couple junkyards today, found another HO for $500.00. It's an 86 or 87 model complete with wiring harness and computer, mileage unknown. It will turn over but isn't getting any fire, won't crank but the yard will gurantee it to be good. The guy doesn't know for sure which year it is, will have to check the cylinder heads to be sure. The 86 was sort of a "bastard year" had forged flat top pistons with the valves sitting higher in the heads. Can only run about .450 lift on the cam without cutting valve reliefs in the pistons. Also had the early speed density instead of Mass Airflow computer. Drop me an e-mail if you're interested and I'll pick it up for you.

 

Adios Amigos,

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Guest BIGSHOT357

Josh and Capt are correct...it will pay to stick to the HO...both are a dime a dozen around here. Your aftermarket and your fun will be behind the HO, just shop around a while longer...there are complete 5.0 longblocks lurking alot cheaper...Remember 92' is your cut off year for Forged parts...Bigshot

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Guest HolyLlama

Zorro, where exactly is Knoxville, isn't it a few miles from Pigeon Forge and Seiverville. If so, that's only about a 4 hour drive for me, it'd be well worth it to save that much on the motor, and I can vacation at the same time :D

 

If the price is that cheap not that far away, I may be able to locate an HO fairly cheap in Atlanta, a much closer driver, and most of the dirttrack racers don't have vehicles reliable enough to drive to Atlanta so maybe I can get one cheap at Pull A Part

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Llama,

Yep, you go right through Knoxville on I-40/75 on your way to Pigeon Forge / Gatlinburg. The "Shades of the Past" street rod show is coming up the weekend of 10 -11 Sept. So you could take in a great car show and hit some of the junkyards also.

 

Adios Amigos,

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  • 2 years later...
Guest rampntlion

Sorry to intrude on your quest to find HOs but i have a quick question relating to HOs:

 

Eventually i wish to drop a better/bigger engine in my car and i was wondering whether i should go for a HO 302 5.0 or a 2004 Cobra R [or SVT]. I would like to be able to customize whichever engine i choose to purchase but im not too sure that the HOs are very customizable? I would like to mess around with throttle body sizes, air intakes, headers [though manifolds may be the way to go]...etc. and ultimately i would like to add a supercharger. Which engine would I most likely want?

 

By the way, my car that i would be dropping this engine into is a 2004 V6 Mustang coupe.

 

Suggestions would be much appreciated.

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IMO the older 5.0 would be better there is a Huge Aftermarket for those engines and some parts would be cheaper ,plenty of Supercharger options too. the 04 would likely require more electronics,obd, etc. higher part prices...correct me if im wrong but, isn't the 04 motor a mod-motor ? that could be a 75 hp advantage from the start,but again I think its wider than the old school 5.0...just my 02 cents

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Well... this is very Z related at all. You might find better luck with that question on the Mustang forums?

 

Honestly it comes down to what you can afford and how much power you ultimately want. A 5.0 HO is only good for about 500hp before it splits in two from what I hear. It would be cheaper to make power from though. An 04 SVT Cobra engine would run you alot of $$$ as the terminator is extremely desireable. Search on the mustang forums for the specs... There is no 2004 Cobra R. It was 93, 95, and 2000. The 2000 model had a 5.4L V8 with 385hp N/A. Only 300 were made. Try the mustang forums...

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Guest DARK RINGLEADER

Me being a mustang guy and owning a 5.0 Cobra. It all depends, are you keeping the stock rotating assembly and just putting a H/C/I or are you building a 331, or 347 stroker. Because the HO is a waste IF you are building the whole engine. IMO, I would get a HO and put a H/C/I and make 310hp all day. That's what I'm doing in my 5.0 right now and it's a blast. I suggest NOT using the 03/04 Cobra setup, because it is MUCH wider than a 5.0 and the T56 is comes with is not cheap either.

 

The engine/tranny combo is going for around 8-10k. Which you can make a 310bhp 302 with a T5 for under 5k if you pick your parts right. I've seen some 5.0's make 330hp and all motor with a great setup. Anywhere from 290-330hp is norm for a H/C/I 5.0

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For a mild daily driver, any year Ford 302/5.0 with a carb should be right in the 330hp range with the Edelbrock Performer RPM power package. The cast vs. forged pistons issue might be worth considering if you don't plan on rebuilding it before installing it, but if you're going to rebuild it anyways, most rebuild kits for either engine have forged pistons as an option. As mentioned before the main thing to watch is the flywheel/flexplate balance, and firing order. I believe it was either '80 or '82 that the HO came out with both changes. Ford sells flywheels and flexplates to match old-new engine and transmission combo's. Ford also swapped to the roller lifter camshafts on '85 and later Mustang 5.0 HO's, but the trucks kept the flat hydraulic lifters. If you use a truck engine you can use either the 5.0 camshafts, or cams designed for the older 289/302's by simply changing the firing order at the distributor cap. The roller cam engines use a different distributer drive gear to compensate for the harder materials used in the roller camshafts. If you pull both the engine and transmission from the same car there shouldn't be any issues with either style engine. If you decide to go with fuel injection, Ford also sells a universal stand alone wiring harness to retrofit the newer engines into older cars. If you want to go wild on a fuel injected engine (huge cam, supercharger etc), it would be easier to start with a engine out of a Mustang instead of a truck engine since the trucks didn't have Mass Airflow Sensors. The strength of the 5.0 engine block shouldn't be an issue on any street drivable car, since many Pro 5.0 class cars are running over 1000hp without having them "split in two".

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WEll some of the 94 model truck 302/5.0's came with mass air, also in 94 they came with the roller camshaft. I have have of them and they both came with mass air, also roller cams. The cam is not a performance at all( junk ) . The truck 5.8L / 351W in 94 came with a roller cam , but not with mass air. The 351 is about an inch taller and around 2 inches wider. You can up to 427 cubic inches out of a 351, also built with the right components, you could get 500 or more HP and the same of torque out of one.

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  • 1 year later...
Guest badasslincoln92

Hey man ic u wer wondering about the performance you can do to these 5.0 HO motors I have a 1992 lincoln Mark 7 LSC and it has the 5.0 HO in it and I have headers, cold air intake, cobra intake which is bigger, and you can supercharge them. Ive looked at some places you can even put performance chips on them theres a lot of stuff you can do and my lincoln is around 350 to 400hp the motors are worth it.

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  • 1 month later...
Guest Gr8White
cam, supercharger etc), it would be easier to start with a engine out of a Mustang instead of a truck engine since the trucks didn't have Mass Airflow Sensors. The strength of the 5.0 engine block shouldn't be an issue on any street drivable car, since many Pro 5.0 class cars are running over 1000hp without having them "split in two".

 

 

Yes, the truck engines are not roller motors anyway, stay away from these. they are not compatible with the HO engine internals. If you plan on modifying this then use an 89-93 engine which is mass-airflow. The 87-88 speed density engines are better running slightly (bone stock) however. You can't modify the speed density engine other than very mild bolt ons realistically.

 

If longevity and daily driving is intended then stay away from the 347s, the rod stroke ratio is bad and they will not last, stick with a 306.

 

Lower end girdles/support systems are a joke and do very little for the strength issue. All that these will do for you is keep your mangled crank and block in one "assembled" hunk when it breaks.

 

I'll have to disagree on the comments about the strength of the 5.0 block not being an issue on streetable cars. The aftermarket for the 5.0 is spectacular and the newest technology makes a streetable 500 to 600 hp Mustang easy to build, it's living with the HP that makes it dicey.. I have split stock blocks on several occasions with my Mustang and it has had nothing to do with the state of tune (in my case). The blocks simply can't take over 600 crank horsepower without block failures. As for streetability, I would call driving a car 150 miles one way to race (no interstate driving either) a streetable car, and my car put around 500 to the wheels (Mid 10's and 130+ traps 1/4). When I stepped up to 600 hp (Nitrous only, no reduction in streetability) I started seeing the block failures. The car was still fully streetable and could idle in traffic for an hour. The other problem with this power level however is with the state of tune. At this level of power the tune has to be dead on, there is no room for detonation or pre-ignition and if you have one that is high HP and out of tune then it's a bomb that hasn't gone off but soon will. If you stick to 500 hp or less and have it tuned it will live. Mine did for several years and about 8K per year driving. Not a daily driver but certainly capable of it.

 

Pro 5.0 cars are hardly production 5.0 blocks, this is an apples to oranges comparison. These are all Dart, "R" or other aftermarket blocks. You put a stock block around a pro-5.0 assembly and I don't want to be around when you drop the hammer! The term "splitting" the block in this case would be like calling a Hydrogen bomb a firecracker.

 

It's a great engine and proven to be very reliable. First thing up for mods would be to get rid of the factory E7TE heads. They are the limiting factor with your basic mods.

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hello, i am new to the 5.0 engines, i am actuly new technishion. i have only rebuilt 1 engine, a 3.4 pontiac grand am 2000. i just baught a 1990 F-150 5.0, the body is in ok shape and the engine has almost 200,000 miles on it. i would like to rebuld it!!! i know cylender #5 has warn rings and has 85% cylender leakage. im thinking about boring the engin 40 over and stroking it 30 over. i would like to put a new cam, crank, and all new manifolds in it. i also want to put roller lifters in it.im thinking about puting HO heads on it. is this a good idea??? will it be compatable??? if any one has any ideas i could really use the help.

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Guest Gr8White
im thinking about boring the engin 40 over and stroking it 30 over. i would like to put a new cam, crank, and all new manifolds in it. i also want to put roller lifters in it.im thinking about puting HO heads on it. is this a good idea??? will it be compatable??? if any one has any ideas i could really use the help.progress.gif

 

The problem with the truck motors is that they are simply not performance engines. By the time you spend the money upgrading the valvetrain you have already spent more than what you could buy a used 5.0 HO for. You still wouldn't have the HO intake either. If you are looking for some performance, use the 5.0 HO from 89-95. I would personally stick to the 89-93 engines because the 1994-1995 engines have a more restrictive intake due to the new body style in 1994.

 

If budget is a concern I would rebuild the HO when I got it and leave the crank alone. The gains you will see in torque will not offset the cost of the stroker crank and you have to be careful with rod/stroke ratio if you plan on putting a bunch of miles on it.

 

For a budget build and assuming you won't spray it,-get a stock rebuild kit, (Hyper pistons) put the E303 or B303 motorsport cam, extrude hone the intake and get some ported TEA stock heads (look them up, Total Engine Airflow) and 24 lb injectors. The engine should make approximately 300 HP and last a long time. You can find used E303 cams everywhere cheap and since they are roller cams they can be used again...

 

The E303 cam will have less lope than the B303 but more lift. If it were me I would put the E303 cam in.

 

There are deals to be had, you just have to do your homework. Last year I picked up a 89 5.0 HO with T-5 tranny and 85K miles for $300.00. The car would not run. It was the in tank fuel pump, engine was fine.

 

Good luck, spare yourself some grief and pick up the HO.....

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