1990 Grand Marquis 5.0 EFI motor - need input.
 

Okay guys.. here goes.. I need to know the difference between an HO and non-HO 5.0 EFI motor. Guy has a 1990 grand marquis with like 86k miles on it and says I can drive the car to see that its a good running motor. I know the intakes face the other side..(why?) but other than that looks exactly the same. Says if I come pull it out I can have the entire motor manifold to oil pan for $250.

So whats the difference? Would it have a forged bottom end being a 1990 motor? Where the heads just different? Should still be a roller cam motor? I don't see a 1990 302 being a non-roller.

Can someone please tell me if buying this motor as a backup block/motor thats in running condition for $250 being a good deal? I want to use it for mock-up reasons for a project with my motor but also as a back-up block/motor incase mine fudges up.

Thanks for any insight guys. I know its not an HO but is it a good deal?

Yes its a roller block heads are the same Should have the dual sump pan. In my book its worth the 250.

someone on mustangforums.com said the same thing about a double sump pan. Whats good about that? All I heard from mustang forums is that its the same motor but with a different cam. Put a b303 cam or even stock HO cam and it'd be just as much power.

Question though.. being a 1990 motor why did they put the intake on teh other side? Just because they did for that model of the motor/car? Also.. besides cam is it gonna be a forged bottom end being a 1990 car?

I'm gonna try to talk the guy down to $200 since I have to pull it.

That won't work. The firing order in a Non-HO 302 is different; the lobes would be hitting in the wrong order. You would have to get a custom ground cam.

The way the intake is facing is only due to the body it came out of. The Lighting 351W are facing the opposite way too.

he made it sound like I could throw in a different cam and just change the firing order to a HO. Sure that isn't possible?

Sure, you could do that... but he failed to remind you that you'd also have to change out the crank to one with the HO firing order.

:think:
The crank? Cam swap is all you have to do to convert a non h.o to a h.o. Crankshaft doesn't care they are all the same.

Lol so whats the answer? I got mixed oppinions. So just a HO or upgraded like b303 cam and changing the firing order of the distributor would convert it to HO?

Yeah, you're right. I was thinking I had read somewhere that the cylinders actually hit in a different order on the crank, but I was apparently mistaken.

Yes, all you would need to do is swap cams and rewire the plugs.