I am getting ready to swap in a 302 SBF into my S13. I haven't picked up a engine yet but, i have a few lined up i'm going to look at. I picked the 302 SBF because they are cheap and fairly easy to make fit in the engine bay compared to other v8 swaps. Once its in i plan on putting a HX50 or equal size turbo on there to help get some power out of her. My first question is:

How do you covert the cable clutch to a hydro? Bell housing swap off another ford?

I plan on having the engine and tranny by the end of october so i can start mocking stuff up. For now i'm going to stitch weld the bay and clean stuff up a bit.

nelson8708 wrote:How do you covert the cable clutch to a hydro? Bell housing swap off another ford?

Anybody? I know a few of you guys have done this swap.

Well, this is what she looked like about a 1.5 weeks agoand this is how she looks nowSo far i have stitch or tack welded the bay and i am repairing a few rust spots on the frame. I'm going to cut out some plate to weld over it tomorrow hopefully.

I should be getting my ES master bushing kit in by thursday and will be installing that next weekend. I hop to finish enough of the engine bay to spray it flat black. Still hunting for a engine.....there are plenty of 5.0's but, i need a HO 5.0 since they have forged stock pistons over the sand cast pistons that are in the plain jane 5.0's.

^ Stitch welded the bay^ Then sprayed the bay

^ Removed the sound deadner^ Found a lot more rust than i was expecting...repaired the major spots^Got my ES hyper-flex kit in but, there was no grease included so they are shipping that.....may not get here in time to do it this weekend.

I'm going to at least hit up a junkyard this weekend and just see what they have. I'm not 100% its going to be a 302 swap.....just depends on what i can find. If i find a Gen 3 SBC then i will defintally snatch it up. I dont think i'll find 99' and newer vehicles in there with the power train still intact.

Went to one junk yard on saturday and only found a handful of HO 302's. All except one had over 300K miles on it. The one that didn't have high mileage was in a merc cougar and while rotating it over with a rachet i noticed that one cylinder had a much more noticeable blow by (could hear it through the drain plug in the oil pan) than the others so i opted to pass on that one. No chevy's other than early 90's v8's.....going to go hunt in a different yard thursday and see what i can find there. Seems like the hardest part is finding a manual tranny to go with the engine.....there were two mustangs in the yard i went to but, both 4 bangers

One of my buddies has a HO out of a cougar so i'm looking at picking it up with in the next few weeks once i get my shell back together. Right now i have installed all the front bushings but, i'm waiting on a ball joint i ordered and i need to get a new end link for my sway bar. I'm working on the rear this weekend and hope to have the sub frame back in the car some time this week. It seems like most people are cutting the rear bushings in half so they can press them in with ease over leaving them in one piece. I'll probably do the same but, first i need to burn out the old ones and cut out all the metal inner rings before i get to that point. Replacing all the bushings is a PITA so i hope i can feel improvement next time i drive her.

after another 302 deal falling through and a ka deal popping up i decided to go the ka route again.

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