50stang wrote:
It all depends on your mechanical experience and how much you feel you can do yourself... If you have to buy a fully rebuilt engine, it is going to cost more. If you can do some of the work yourself to the engine to get it back to tip-top shape, then you can find something cheaper. You can usually find an old 70's T-Bird with a running 302 for well under $1000. Like I said earlier, the nice thing is... you can use just about everything out of it. The Engine, Tranny, all pulley's, power steering pump, alternator, etc.
For our project, we actually picked up a '70 Ford F-100 with a 302 for $100 and used the engine out of that. The transmission (FMX) we took out of a '78 T-Bird though.
Pretty much any of those old 70's T-Bird's should work well for this swap project of yours. If you can, try and find one with a C4 transmission. The FMX we found works great, but I have heard/read the C4's were more durable.
Good luck!
And also 302's are one of if not the best engine as far as parts and mods, and the abundance of them anywhere. So even if the 302 is missing something like headers, heads......lots of options to find parts for em.
