Distributor and gear questions

[fatcalvin]

Ok i went to order a distributo for my 302 as it is one of the last things i need . I talked to a guy at a race store and he said that there are 2 different shaft lengths? And i also wasnt sure what type of gear to use. The distributor he has has a chrome moly gear. Here is a run dow of what my block is:
302 from 87 truck
roller motor NON HO
85 mustang stock carb and intake.

Any help would be awesome with this. I couldnt really find what i was looking for anywhere else. Thanks in advance

 

[baddad457]

The SEFI motor with the TFI distributor has a longer shaft, but uses the same oilpump drive. This is only an issue if you get an HD oildrive that's meant for a pre TFI distributor. Now, you say you've got a roller motor from an 87 truck, does it actually have a roller cam in it ? Being from an 87 truck, it would have a roller block, but with a flat tappet cam. If that's the case, you'd need an iron geared distributor for the flat tappet cam. If you've got a roller cam in it, you'll need the steel geared cam. And an 85 Mustang(w/manual trans) distributor, if you're going to use a Duraspark setup.

 

[fatcalvin]

well the cam that i pulled looked the same as the 96 explorer 5.0 cam that i had. Not sure if there is a difference. But i wanted to put the explorer cam in it.

 

[baddad457]

Trust me, they were not the same. A flat tappet cam's lobe tops have a shorter radius than a roller cam's lobe tops. And without measuring the lift, it's impossible to tell one from another. Not to mention the duration of the lobes either, that's something that can only be measured with the cam in place and by using a degree wheel on the crank. 87 trucks did not come with roller cams, they had a roller block, with a flat tappet cam. If it's got a roller cam, then it's not the original engine.

 

[fatcalvin]

The code i found on my engine was E7TE. Which when decoded comes out to be a 87 truck engine. Well i put some pictures up and people said that the intake that was on it wasnt from a truck because it was lower. It kinda looked like a mustang intake but non HO. So i looked up the block by code and there are a few differnet applications through a range of years with the same engine code.( weird) i DO know that it has E7 heads and that when I pulled the intakes of that it had roller lifters. I looked up the designs of the flat tappet vs. the roller cams and the one from the block LOOKS like a roller cam. Just a little confused now.

 

[baddad457]

The numbers you're looking at are the engineering numbers or casting numbers. They in no way are an indicator of what vehicle or year the block was originally installed in. Roller blocks come with these three numbers: E6SE, E7TE, F1SE, plus there may more, but these three numbers are all I've run across. And all were used in all applications that had 5.0 engines. The ONLY indicator of year the block was cast is the date code, which can be found on one of the bottom rear surfaces of the block. Now, just FYI, E7TE heads were in production for slightly more than 10 years, from late 1986 to 1997, so this is a prime illustration of why you cannot use the engineering numbers to accurately date and judge what vehicle any Ford part came from. If it has E7TE heads,and a roller cam, then it's either a Mustang HO motor, or a 92-97 5.0 from a pickup or van. The std base roller cammed 5.0 from the Crown VIc/Towncar/Marquis line all had E6SE heads. (and this motor was in production from late 1985 to 1991). All that aside, if it's got a roller cam, then you'll need a steel geared distributor to run it with.

 

[fatcalvin]

Thanks SO MUCH for your help. The guy i got the motor from said it was from an early 90s f150, but after reading online and looking for engine codes the only number i found was the e7TE number. I'll go search the block again and see what i can find. Again, thank you for the help