Old engines still ok for new stuff

[Gasser64]

Im looking to get back into a fox. Still, lol

But its taking me a long time cause im not in any real hurry plus im waiting for the right one. The perfect one

So a guy down the street has a 92 lx coupe, in half decent shape. He is looking to sell it but he has not really pursued it too far. Its old but you can tell it has been looked after over the years. Decent interior decent body, no wrecks. Needs paint, needs some refreshing as you can imagine. But it looks like a worthy starting point for a mean street machine

So how well do those old 5.0 bottom ends hold up to new heads and cam and such? The car has 182k on it. It runs good but that seems like a lot. He has all the oil change history since 89k when he bought it. And a lot of other service history too. But if i got the car is it worth just putting your standard heads/cam/intake/tune/exhaust on that old bottom end that has 182k on it? Is it a gamble

Should i even waste my time? Or go with whole new motor.

[Cooter]

if it was maintained, I wouldn't worry about putting heads, turbo, bottle, etc. on a 190k mile engine

it's not like they're expensive to overhaul or replace down the road

[Sleeper]

A 302 will last forever if maintained and not pushed too hard.

[Gasser64]

What is pushing too hard? If I got an older 302 what would be pushing that engine too hard. Is what I mean. There must be a limit that you shouldnt go over with power

[Sleeper]

Im talking 200 shots, big superchargers or big turbo.

If its got good oil pressure id still beat the shit out of it like cooter said. A 300-350 hp 302 will last forever. They say 450 and up you are on borrowed time. Mine never blew until 2 owners later and 600ish.

[Cooter]

if you keep it below 350rwhp and below 6300rpm, I wouldn't have much worry...

I had a little 150k mile 302 that I got 329whp and I regularly twisted it to 6700

Don't worry about it. If the engine is solid, do what you want to do. If you shit the engine, you're only out a few grand tops, but most likely it'll stand up to whatever you're planning

[FOKAI]

All depends on how hard you want to drive it. If you want it to last Just keep ur rpm low. I would just get it fresh while you are down in it already.

[crapstang]

This sounds exactly like a coupe I was looking at in Denton. The dude ended up backing out of the deal. One owner, red, 5.0, 5spd.

[BP]

450hp all day until you detonate it once.

[ktm300hater]

450hp all day until you detonate it once.

this

[Gasser64]

If the motor gives out do most people just use the same heads and cam? When they build a better one. Say if I had a pair of AFRs on there. Or would they need to be fully checked out and maybe milled