289 to 302 questions

[4bangen]

My Dad has a 65 GT with a 289 that originally came out of a 67. It looks like he's got a cracked head or a cracked block (exhaust getting to the coolant). Anyway I have a 302 out of a 95 GT sitting in my garage. If we swap that out, will his manifolds, distributer, stat housing oil pan, and such bolt right up to it? or is there any block differences in that damn near 30 year run?

Dad's retired and is doing all this on a budget. I'd like to get him going again for as little cost as I can.

[JV106]

I believe everything you mentioned will swap. You might need a different distributor gear for a roller cam. Maybe motor mounts.

[4EyedTurd]

Might need to swap timing cover if your planning on a mechanical fuel pump also. I don’t remember when they blocked the side off

[AnthonyS]

Everything swaps. Firing order is different. 5.0 uses 351W firing order. You need a distributor gear that works with a roller cam and you will need the timing cover and fuel pump cam from old motor. If you are going to use order final 289 stuff you need a 289 water pump too since 5.0 is reverse rotation.... or you can use 5.0 accessories instead. It’s an easy swap. 5.0 is 50oz imbalance and 289 is 28oz. You need correct dampers and flywheel/flexplate too.

[Kart21]

This is a really long shot but SOME 289's were 5 bolt bell housings, really early ones, later ones were the standard 6 bolt bell housings.

Every thing else said before is correct.

[slowturbocar]

If it’s a 3/4 speed manual car you will need a clutch pivot ball adapter for the Z-bar that bolts to the frame for the factory clutch setup,later model blocks don’t have the screw in boss for the Z-bar.If auto then most of what has been mentioned should take care of it.

[4bangen]

it is an auto.

[Baron Von Crowder]

the crank pulley is 3 bolt, swap out the balancer for a PP or one that has the dual pattern, and the dizzy gear needs to be changed. Otherwise everything swaps from there, IIRC.

[homealone]

If you have the small bell C4 you will need a 157 tooth flywheel with a 50oz imbalance. If you have a big bell, you can use the AOD 164 tooth unit.

And don't forget to plug the dip stick tube hole in the side of the 5.0 block. A .38spl or .357 shell is a nice snug fit.

[46Tbird]

This is probably the most aggravating "non-swap" engine swap of all time, believe me.

I guarantee you will get something wrong.

The crank, balancer, and flywheel (flexplate) all have to be for 28oz ('62-'81) or 50oz. ('82+) No mixing and matching.

Your early C4 auto trans will be the "small-bellhousing" 157-tooth version, which none of the factory 50oz flywheels and flexplates (164-tooth) will fit. You will need an aftermarket 157-tooth 50oz flexplate.

The distributor gear has to be steel to work with a roller cam. But the OEM roller 302 steel distributor gear shaft diameter is different than the early 289/302 distributors. You'll need to swap distributors or get an aftermarket steel gear that fits the early shaft.

Then you're going to deal with oil pan, oil pump pickup, and dipstick issues (block vs timing cover). You could just swap all of this over from your '65. I seem to remember something wonky about the oil pump driveshaft diameter or length, or maybe it was just trying to put a factory EFI distributor into an early block. Something about that was a bitch, I'm sure you'll figure it out! The firing order for a 289 is different than for a roller 302.

Reuse your '65 timing cover, water pump, and accessories unless you want to make a swap to newer accessories. The later stuff obviously uses a serpentine belt and the pump is reverse rotation. If you go with the modern accessories, you'll have to swap in an electric fuel pump because there is no provision on the cover for a mechanical pump. I can't recall off the top of my head if you can just bolt a mechanical fuel pump eccentric to a 302 roller cam.

The valvetrain is all different between a flat tappet 289 and a roller cam 302. Just leave the heads on the 302 and don't try to swap anything, you'll be fine.

Exhaust bolts right up unless your roller 302 happens to have angled spark plugs (not common, but some GT40P heads are this way). Then you'll need headers.

Anyway, there are a hundred little nuanced details that make this swap a big pain the in the ass!

[4bangen]

I've SENT HIM A LINK TO THIS THREAD, SO HE'S READING THIS STUFF TOO. THANKS GUYS.

[71chevellejohn]

That's a lot of questions.