302" Redline

[byroncobra]

Fellas

what's the recommended max rpm my stock 302 HO should be pushed to?

Thanks

[Merv and Sharon]

5500-6000?

[byroncobra]

geez, that was quick.......thanks Merv. I get all sorts of answers on Ford websites!

Ray tells me my paperwork is due this week, so hopefully an appointment with Qld Trans
is imminent

G

[Gav]

Rev it until the valves float then back off just a touch.

[Merv and Sharon]

Well done Greg. U will be fine I'm sure. The rev limit on stock depends on timing and fuel delivery and caution.

[Rog246]

Originally Posted by Gav

Rev it until the valves float then back off just a touch.

that'd do it....just like when your mates help you......" ow tight do i make this nut ? ' "tighten it till it strips then back it orf 1/2 a turn !"

[mic n gill]

valve bounce is a horid sound---Mic

[Gav]

And that is why I said to back it off just a tad.

[bobcowan]

Originally Posted by byroncobra

Fellas

what's the recommended max rpm my stock 302 HO should be pushed to?

Thanks

Your redline is predominantly a function of your valve train. A well built hydraulic roller valve train will easily run to 6,800 - I know, I do it a lot. But that requires the correct selection on non-stock parts, especially the springs.

With new stock springs and lifters, it will safely run to 5,800. That's about the where valve float will start; but you probably won't feel it until around 6,000.

If you have a stock cam, it stops making power well below that, like around 5,200. So your shift poiint should be right around 5,000 with a stock cam.

[blykins]

If it's a stock 5.0, then the cam won't let it rev very high at all. You should peak at around 4800-5000. No sense in spinning it a lot higher than you need to.

You can change the heads and cam and then feel free to spin her up higher.

[CobraEd]

My carbed 302 is about 410 HP. It will easily run to 7,000 rpm, but the bottom end is stock so I keep it to 6,000 rpm. I know it only has a 3" stroke and should be OK above 6,000, but I want it to live. So, having said all that, I think there are two criteria for redline. 1) The highest rpm with the ability to produce power based on the top end design, and 2) The maximum safe rpm in keeping with with the ability of the engine's bottom end to hold together.

In my case, #1 exceedes #2, so I hold it to 6,000 rpm.




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[blykins]

Originally Posted by CobraEd

1) the ability to rev and produce power, and 2) the ability of the engine to hold together..

Very well said. With a stock 5.0 camshaft and cylinder heads, you won't make power very high, so there's no use in spinning it up. A stock 302 bottom end will take quite a bit of punishment, but there's no need in putting it through that unnecessarily.

[Jerry Clayton]

the over rev situation that comes into play on a sporty type car is on downshifts

[CobraEd]

High rpm downshifts can be very hard on the rods. It tends to want to pull the cap off the bottom of the rod . When you are on the gas, you are compressing the body of the rod against the crank, . . exactly what it was made for.


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[byroncobra]

Thanks for all the replies, I guessed there'd be no straight answer.....you blokes crack me up