A good friend had issues with his thermostat on the intake manifold, couldnt find a replacement, BUT also found out his heads are cracked too! so is SOL with this 302, no $ for a expensive engine, so far no 302's in any of the yards.

Question, I have a great low mileage 318 with tranny, how hard might it be to swap? considering I would give him the 318/tranny?

great truck no rust, worth fixing IF we can find him an engine!

ideas?

 

Yeah, either start saving money for a new engine or wait for a junk yard to come up with one. By the time you fabricate motor mounts, transmission mounts, and all of the electricals, the 318 would be a money pit. Can it be done? Yep, you got the money honey, it can be done but it's going to be expensive and little to no gain. You might call and chat with a junk yard about finding one of the most common engines in the world and taking yours in trade or as a trade in.

 

Would make no sense whatsoever to do a conversion like that.
I don't know where you are that they don't have 302's scattered around (I have 2 sitting on the floor of my shop, they get in my way), but maybe you're just not looking in the right places.
Like Labnerd said, it's one of the most common engines out there, start looking for someone parting out a truck.

 

for whatever reason 302's are hard to find around her rite now? yeah, common engine!

I had a guy offer a 351W that has a good top end, would the heads fit the 302 block? from what I've read yes, bolt sizes are bigger so do you need spacers/washers???

 

I'm under the impression that the heads are interchangeable, but the 2 blocks take different size bolts. I think the 302 bolts should work fine the way they are.

Before you go to the trouble of bolting the heads on, it's usually only about 200 to have them cleaned up and the valves and seats reground. You have to provide the valve seals, which will come in your head gasket set.