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what's a 302 worth?

H

hbar

Member
A buddy has a 302 for sale, runs really well, pulled out of a 66. I have a 289 now, and think it might be fun to upgrade.

a) decent idea?
b) what should I look out for?
c) what's a good price? He's asking 5, but I bet there's room to move. Never priced them before, so I really have no idea.
d) what's my 289 worth?

thx
 
Hmpf, and I thought you meant 5 as in $500. I've never seen much value in used engines. Not that I don't appreciate the value of a well built engine that happens to be used, its just that you typically see a used engine depreciate relative to amount spent even more than say a new car coming off the dealer lot.
 
I would say $50 to $250 for a long block. You need to do a compression check, check the seals, etc.
 
I'm giving Shag's original 302 away to a local high school automotive class. That might indicate my opinion on a 302 block that's been sitting for almost 30 years untouched.
 
LOL, $500, not $5k. Has 5k miles on the rebuild. It's complete, minus the distributer and carb. Has a Edelbrock aluminum intake as well.

Regarding the depreciation of used engines...so what then, buy new or don't ever change?
 
Are you thinking of swapping engines just because of a bigger "302" vs the small "289"? What is wrong with your engine. Lots of work if you are not gaining anything but 13 cubic inches......

I sold a J-code 3 years ago for $100 to a guy that just had to have one because he thought they were gold. Used, stock engines are not worth much when buying.....but if selling, they are worth every penny spent on them when rebuilt 70,000 mile ago based on what I have seen in the past.
 
Now that I think of it (a rare moment for me), I bought Red's current 302 for $400 used with unknown mileage and it has worked just fine for me. The only items I added was an edlebrock performer intake, carb & duraspark ignition. So maybe you will have same luck.
 
The 5.0 short block that's in my fastback I paid $50 for. The cylinders were clean, still had cross-hatch in them, no ridge at the top. Pulled the main and rod bearing caps and the bearings looked great. Put it right back together as-is with new gaskets and my rebuilt top end.

Not at all saying not to use a used engine, just saying they don't sell for much. 5000 miles and $500, if you are ok with that, then pay it, that's the bottom line. Don't think you can build the same block for that much. That said, $500 is steep even if you were buying it off Craigslist from somebody you don't know. Seems a little high, particularly if its coming from a buddy.
 
I don't honestly see much difference between a 289 and a 302...six of one, half dozen of the other.

I wouldn't make a switch just to do it unless you have some other compelling reason like wanting to preserve a numbers matching block or if your current motor is burning oil, etc.

That said, $500 is probably about right if it's low miles, etc. I see them going for about that price locally on a regular basis when people are doing an upgrade to fuel injection or going with a larger motor and things of that nature. I spotted several on the local Craigs list when I was looking to do something with my old motor and you had to be very fast to get one...as soon as they posted the ad it seemed like they were gone.
 
"buddy" may have been an overstatement. A dude I know knows a dude selling a 302. I could probably get him down on the price a little more. Of course, I'd be offsetting the cost by selling the 289. I don't expect the car to be appreciably better or anything. If nothing else, it would be experience pulling/replacing an engine.....and the chance to live my Vanilla Ice fantasy and say I've got a five-oh. There is a risk, because my engine appears to be fine, but since I don't know the history, I could be moments away from disaster as is.
 
If you just want to drive the car and have fun, leave well enough alone. If you are looking for a well price and significant performance boost, and the 302 was built such that it is a significant performance boost, then go for it.

If you just want practice yanking an engine, pull the 289 out, detail the engine compartment, and put the same engine right back in there.
 
A big +1 on that. Sounds like you have an itch that pulling an engine would fix,,,,,,just use common sense.
 
I gotta agree with the above two guys. If you have the itch to do some work and want the experience pulling a motor, pull your 289 and put a cam and new intake/carb combo on it. It'll wake up your 289 for sure. You may have spent a little more on the 289, but you have something you know you worked on. Also, selling your 289, especially without knowing much about it, won't be easy. A buddy of mine a few years back (read: when the economy was strong and muscle cars were selling for much higher money) pulled his running 289 he knew nothing about and swapped in a late model 5.0 out of a fox body. He got $100 for the 289 after sitting on it for a good 2 months or so. Just some food for thought.
 
"68stang289" said:
I gotta agree with the above two guys. If you have the itch to do some work and want the experience pulling a motor, pull your 289 and put a cam and new intake/carb combo on it. It'll wake up your 289 for sure. You may have spent a little more on the 289, but you have something you know you worked on. Also, selling your 289, especially without knowing much about it, won't be easy. A buddy of mine a few years back (read: when the economy was strong and muscle cars were selling for much higher money) pulled his running 289 he knew nothing about and swapped in a late model 5.0 out of a fox body. He got $100 for the 289 after sitting on it for a good 2 months or so. Just some food for thought.
Click to expand...

I guess the advantage to not doing any work on my lone engine is that I can go from one working motor to another relatively easily. What is really going on is that I'm less intimidated with unbolting one huge thing and bolting a new one in than I am unbolting a few tiny things, replacing a bunch of gaskets that aren't currently problematic, etc.... I should just sack up and learn how to do it. Maybe I just want a 302 badge on the side of my car. :p

Of course new cam = new roller cam = new roller everything else = $
 
"AzPete" said:
With that logic, I can make my 289 into a 5.0.........
Click to expand...

Now you're thinking with your dipstick. The magic is in properly applying the business rules.
 
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