I've decided to get out of all my other hobbies and now that I'm graduated and done with school I want to devote all my time and money into one hell of a monsterous street machine. I'm wanting to do around 400hp naturally aspirated while just using the stock 302 block and rebuilding from there. I have a budget of around $4000 or a little more if need be to make this thing haul past chevy's. If anyone has any input, that would be great.

This is what she looks like as of now.

 

stroker motor with a little bit more compression if you want some more HP w/o doing a power adder

 

trying to sell my truck is what im doing lol, seriously, intake, exhaust, headlers, high flows, cam, heads, but if your really serious then stroker

 

5.8L, 5.8L Lightning, 4.6L SOHC, 4.6L DOHC, 4.6L SC, 5.4L 2V, 5.4L 3V, 7.5L

See what Quint did: http://home.comcast.net/~qcrispin/bronco/

 

put a turbo kit on it and you might have a little change left over to build the transmission you're going to trash in the process ;-) Seriously though, 400HP out of a "stock" 302 is going to be a stretch w/o either stroking it or some sort of power adder (short of spending more then your 4K budget) but we all know someone/somebody who has built XXXhp out of a "stock" 302 but spent a $h!t ton of $$$$ in the process

 

400 HP out of a normally aspirated 302 is pretty much a fool's errand. It can be done but it will cost way more than it's worth and will not be particularly streetable when you're finished since it will have very little mid-range and you'll have to rev the pee out of it to see the HP. You're far better off starting with a 351 or with adding a turbo or blower to your 302.

Rather than a turbo (nothing against turbos, I love them in the correct application) you may want to look at a positive displacement blower like an Eaton or a Whipple.

The reason I say this is that with a 4000# plus truck you're going to want immediate boost at low revs and the positive displacement blower will give you that. It won't give you the top end power of a turbo but that may or may not be relevant to your wants and needs. I would tend to avoid the centrifugal blowers (Vortech, Paxton, Powerdyne etc.) They make lots of boost at high revs but have to build those revs in order to do it.

 

good points there Strange....

 

I remember seeing a website where a guy was getting 1,000hp from a NA 4.6L on pump gas & driving on the street, but I didn't save the link. It was a couple of years ago, but try Googling it.

 

Just slap a 351 in and then build up from there. Don't bother touching the 302 if you are looking for good power.