Post by stude on Jan 8, 2023 13:02:24 GMT
Hi All,
I am building a 77 Cobra II with/for my daughter. Since the OEM engine was stuck, and the fact that 1977 reportedly had the worst 302 cylinder head ever installed from the factory, I purchased a low mile reman 5.0 out of an 89 Corn Vic to install.
After overhauling the 5.0 engine, I started the process of installing it. Because Ford engineers are recruited from the local ARC, nothing interchanges with anything, but that is a discussion for another day. After overcoming many non-interchangeability issues, I FINALLY reached the point for the install. I installed the short block first, then proceeded to place the cylinder heads along with a nice set of polished stainless shorty headers from eBay that stated they fit 75 to 78 Mustang IIs. Well, the right side header wasn't even close to fitting. So, I reinstalled the OEM exhaust manifolds, which I dam neared cried about. What was the point of grinding out the thermactor bumps in the 5.0 heads if I have to stick those choked down POS manifolds back on? Such is life, I guess.
Anyway, once I installed the intake and carb, Something looked off. Lining up the center rib on the header panel to the center rib on the cowl panel, the carb stud is off center by a couple inches. Hmmmm. So, I pulled the cylinder heads off the "purported" original engine and discovered that the heads were something like D2OE, not the horrible D7OE heads I expected, indicating that the engine may have been swapped from a non-Mustang II car of earlier vintage.
Which brings up my question: Is the engine supposed to be off-centered in the Mustang IIs? Are the 302 motor mounts a Mustang II only part like the bellhousing, bellhousing spacer, flex plate and torque converter? (That is a story for another day) Any chance someone with a known original 302 in a Mustang II could verify that for me?
I suspect that maybe a previous owner pulled an engine out of something else along with the non-Mustang II motor mounts. That would make sense since the headers would not fit with engine offset to the right by a couple inches.
If anyone is interested, I can shed some light on issues installing the 5.0 roller cam engine along with components that will work for the bellhousing, flex plate, torque converter, Durspark distributor, etc.. There were a ton of issues I ran into.
Thanks in advance for anyone that can answer my questions.
I am building a 77 Cobra II with/for my daughter. Since the OEM engine was stuck, and the fact that 1977 reportedly had the worst 302 cylinder head ever installed from the factory, I purchased a low mile reman 5.0 out of an 89 Corn Vic to install.
After overhauling the 5.0 engine, I started the process of installing it. Because Ford engineers are recruited from the local ARC, nothing interchanges with anything, but that is a discussion for another day. After overcoming many non-interchangeability issues, I FINALLY reached the point for the install. I installed the short block first, then proceeded to place the cylinder heads along with a nice set of polished stainless shorty headers from eBay that stated they fit 75 to 78 Mustang IIs. Well, the right side header wasn't even close to fitting. So, I reinstalled the OEM exhaust manifolds, which I dam neared cried about. What was the point of grinding out the thermactor bumps in the 5.0 heads if I have to stick those choked down POS manifolds back on? Such is life, I guess.
Anyway, once I installed the intake and carb, Something looked off. Lining up the center rib on the header panel to the center rib on the cowl panel, the carb stud is off center by a couple inches. Hmmmm. So, I pulled the cylinder heads off the "purported" original engine and discovered that the heads were something like D2OE, not the horrible D7OE heads I expected, indicating that the engine may have been swapped from a non-Mustang II car of earlier vintage.
Which brings up my question: Is the engine supposed to be off-centered in the Mustang IIs? Are the 302 motor mounts a Mustang II only part like the bellhousing, bellhousing spacer, flex plate and torque converter? (That is a story for another day) Any chance someone with a known original 302 in a Mustang II could verify that for me?
I suspect that maybe a previous owner pulled an engine out of something else along with the non-Mustang II motor mounts. That would make sense since the headers would not fit with engine offset to the right by a couple inches.
If anyone is interested, I can shed some light on issues installing the 5.0 roller cam engine along with components that will work for the bellhousing, flex plate, torque converter, Durspark distributor, etc.. There were a ton of issues I ran into.
Thanks in advance for anyone that can answer my questions.