I have two 302's. One is a 114,000 mile 1973 and one is a 80,000 mile 1977. Both run pretty decent. As I'm getting ready to build my motor, I wonder which one would be the better investment?
toss up to me as i'd be changing most of the parts and just using the block, crank, and rods. all the rest would be aftermarket anyway.
The blocks, rods, cranks are the same. If you must use the heads, then use the 73 heads. They are not the best, but the 77s are the worst. I agree with the last post though, use either as a core, but build it wisely and use alot of aftermarket... which will replace the 'year specific' parts anyway. One thing to look at, for a couple years in the early 70s, Ford used a slightly taller deck height on the 302. Don't remember the years of hand, but it was .020" taller. If you know it's there, you can just have the block decked and start out fresh, but if you don't think about it, it can hurt your compression. The 77 is NOT the taller block... the 73 might be. Dave
