As a 59 year old Canadian, I remember seeing these things everywhere when I was kid , the quintessential used car in the 70's 😊

Miss those days more than I ever imagined

Ford Australia designed and manufactured a 302 Cleveland, which was always called a 4.9 in the brochures. They were a very torquey, reliable, and smooth powerplant. I had a 302 Cleveland in a 77 Fairmont that wouldn't win any traffic light drag races, but ask it to tow two tonnes of broken concrete, and you wouldn't even feel it pulling the trailer. It was also a great long-distance driver.

It had the distributor in the right place! 😀

One of the most reliable motors ever made. The definition of bulletproof.

I had several 302’s over the years they were indeed smooth and solid engines - the only one that I still have is my old 300 inline 6, it will stay with me until I die

Love the 302 - I rebuilt one in an engine building class in the early 1980s. I did a 3 angle valve job, and it was bored .40 over. I put it in a 70 ½ Torino-based Falcon.

My first car was a 1968 Ford Mustang Coupe when I was 15yo in the early 80's. I sold my Honda XL-350 Motorcycle to pay the $400 for it. It had a 289 which barely ran and only had reverse, was in primer, needed interior work, and had some very minor collision damage. I bought and removed a 302 Windsor out of a friend's 1971 Fairlane and had it professionally rebuilt with a "RV Grind" Camshaft for incredible low end torque, and the car launched like a rocket! It sounded very throaty also with new custom dual exhaust with glass packs. I installed all new chrome valve covers, oil pan, timing cover, breathers, and air cleaner on the rebuilt engine. A friend of my father's rebuilt the Mustang's C4 Automatic Transmission with a shift kit and other better components. I did all the body work and repainted it Metallic Grey. It had the GT Hood with the inset turn signals. I also added additional rear leaf springs and shackle extenders to raise the rear of the car to accommodate much wider rear black and chrome modular wheels and improve the rear suspension. I installed slightly narrower matching ones up front with raised white letter T/A Radials all around. I had all of the stock chrome trim which I polished up and installed along with new chrome bumpers. I also redid the interior in matching grey with some of the original burgundy components. I also took apart the factory instrument cluster and drilled openings for smaller gauges I installed. I replaced the similar "Ford Padded Steering Wheel" in your video with a chrome and wood "3 spoke" and added a custom "Mustang Logo" center horn button The car ran and looked great. I wish I still had it today!!! Years later my parents gave me a 80's Ford Fairmont Futura with a rebuilt 302, and all the added emissions garbage and other "luxury" items removed, it was a lightweight "hot rod" with the hopped up 302 in a car typically designed for a 4 cylinder based on the fox body mustang platform. I always liked the body style as it resembled a "downsized Thunderbird" of that vintage.

My oldest sister bought a new '73 Comet with a 302 . I remember my dad proudly saying "it's got a 302!"

Adam , you're killin' me with all this 1960's Ford nostalgia, and especially the 302. Everything you say about them is spot on. I'm turning 73 and you're reminding me of my youth, which for the most part, was bliss...I miss our family's cars from that era, and my beloved '68 Galaxie. Growing old is a DRAG!!!

I’d say the 289/302 was the best Ford engine. Drove a 64” Galaxie stick with the 289. What a great easy to drive car. Had a 66’ Mustang with one. Even in 2bbl form it was a strong engine. Then in the 80s it revived the Mustang and had one of the decades best exhaust notes.

Had many Lincolns with the 302 and one currently with the 5.0 HO. I can recognize the sound of one starting and running anywhere. Fantastic motor.

Of my 80 some cars, my first cost me $2828.00 "out the door" in June of '68! Choosing between a '68 Camaro Conv. & a '68 Cougar "Dan Gurney Special", the Chevy had a weak 307 compared to the 302 I purchased, and of course, a weaker roof, a shorter wheelbase & and NO very cool special interior!! Love for you to report on that "Dan Gurney Special"! Might not have a lot of time to wait for it!! God Bless!!!

I owned a 1985 Mustang GT with the 5.0 l V8. It was the last year they placed a 4V carburator on the HO engine. Granted it had around 210 hp and around 250 ft-lbs of torque. It was also mated to a 5 speed transmission. It was a fun car to drive with a wonderful power on oversteer. My first car was my grandfather's 1968 Meteor with a 302.

My grandfather bought a 1970 F100 Farm and Ranch Special with a 302 2bbl, three on the tree and a 4.12 rear end. That truck could pull a mountain and take corners in the neighborhood in third gear and just chug its way up to speed no problem. Smooth running little engine.

Takes me back to when my dad bought a new 67 Meteor with the 289. Many road trips we took and my driver when I got my licence. The aqua colour is magnificent!

I’ve owned 3 full size Fords with this engine, they were a joy to own and drive.

I also had a 4 door HT about 40 years ago, Ford LTD -67 with the 428 4 barrel. It was originally ordered here in Finland by big forest company CEO, and he has had a clear vision what to order : 428, C6, 9" with a LS, bigger gas tank, "police suspension",and only driver's side electric seat. All other things manual to save weight. It was a rocket ship... There were only 3 similar in Finland that time, but mine was the best equipped. I still miss that car, I literally cried when I had to sell it while studying. I just could not afford to keep it then...

Love Sadè and the 302... both incredibly talented 😊

I had a '68 Falcon wagon back in the 70's when I was in the USAF and it was just a wonderful machine. My young bride and I arrived to our new duty station (Nellis AFB) on the same day of the Great Flood that wiped out Caesars Palace parking lot. We survived that, but the car didn't survive being T-boned on North Las Vegas Blvd. My fault. I've looked and looked for another and nice ones are rare as hen's teeth. As always, thanks Ford the memories.

Your '67-'68 Mercury's are absolutely beautiful. Rare, smooth, and great styling. Truly envious. Love your Ford posts.

302 was one of the best engines Ford ever made

We had a '68 Mercury Colony Park station wagon. What a big beast. 12mpg in city, 16 mpg on highway with a giant 390 hi compression premium gas engine at 315hp. A unique looking car I wished I still had it.

They are a truly great engine. I have one in my extremely rare 1970 Mercury Montego MX Brougham, complete with concealed headlights. It will actually lay rubber. Not bad for a relatively small engine. 👍

"The Boss" and "The Judge." What great names cars had then.

Ford was very good with gearing. The C4 has a great range of gear ratios and the rear gear was really good for harnessing the power/ transmission gearing. They had that 1-5 knock because they fired 1-5 after each other. They later in the 351s to a 1 -3-7 firing order and of course they used it in the 5.0 liter. It eliminates the “knock “ . GM even changed their firing order on their LS engines. The firing order smoothed the 302 even more. I built a 302 for my father- laws 65 Mustang with a small Lunati Voodoo can and the idle was musical and so smooth and made 325 hp and 340 ft lbs of torque with the AUTOLITE 4100 that was on my 1965 352. My mother in law loved it too. They were both in their 70s and we met them for lunch and they were such a cute couple going for rides together. I had used some 289 heads with 2.02/1.5 valves and ported them and painted a Weiand Stealth, Hi po manifolds and dual exhaust with resonator and the voodoo cam had the smooth 1-3-7 firing order and internal balance. They really enjoyed it until my father in law passed away. We had restored it and she was afraid to put a scratch on it and it was in the garage until she passed. My wife and I treasure that memory. He , me and my son did it all. But they both loved the little chirp from the tires . When the were first married they received a new Buick Special and it had the big nailhead that was so smooth and quiet but would do the same “ chirp “. We are 63 now, but I can’t drive anymore because I lost my vision. We have a 22 Edge ST twin turbo 2.7 and 7 speed AWD that we love, and our granddaughter lives with us and she thinks it is the coolest! Memories.

I’ve had at least 10 Ford Windsor V8s over the years, have ever had to put a dime into any of them. From a ‘69 Montego, several Mustang GTs to an old Econoline with 3-on the tree, these engines just keep on running. An old neighbor had a Galaxie 500 coupe with a 302 that had almost 300k miles on it last I’d heard, still running great with only routine maintenance to keep it going.

Adam's comments are spot-on. Dad got company cars back in the day. He had a 68 Galaxie with a 302 V8 (2bbl). It was a very pleasant car to drive, the small V8 felt more than adequate. A few years later he got a 73 Torino with a similar 302 V8. The Torino was a dog, felt dreadfully underpowered. Not sure if the Torino was heavier, if the 73 engine had lower hp due to emissions or some combination of the two.

I worked at ford brookpark engine plant and my first job i signed up for was casting the 302/5.0. V8 , worked on the last one that came off. Worked as a corefitter/coresetter. Was a great motor, my aunt had one in her bought new 1969 mustang

I grew up with this engine, 3 of my Aunts drove ‘80s Grand Marquises. It wasn’t the fastest but it was quiet, silky smooth and reliable. Those old panthers were all around great cars. I currently have the current 302, 5.0 Coyote, in my F-150. Still smooth but also powerful. Ford has always managed to make a small displacement engine competitive with their larger displacement rivals.

Adam is the absolute best auto historian. 👍

Oh man, my favorite car to date was my 1970 Ford Torino with a 302. I'd give my left kidney to have it back running now.

One other nice trait of the 289, and 302 that I don’t think I heard mentioned, is they are usually much less thirsty than their big brothers and deliver surprisingly good fuel economy. Terrific engines no doubt. Easy to work on, easy to tune; and although my ‘88 5.0 mustang only had 225 HP, it was still pretty snappy, and required H rated tires, or 150 MPH; I was able to achieve fuel economy numbers of as high as 32 MPG with that car on at least one occasion. That little engine was a really nice piece with roller rockers, and headers straight from the factory. 👍🏻

Adam, I'm with you! I'm a Cougar guy, and have owned a number of them, almost all with a 289 or 302. I currently own (31 years!) a very stock '68 with the 289. It is smooth, quiet and has quite a bit of power for being the smallest of 7 engines offered in the Cougar that year. I love driving it.

Smoothness is attributed to how well the engine is tuned, and balanced. The tune is only thing your average owner can mess with. Ive has many impalas with the 307 and 305 engines. With proper tuning, very smooth and torquey. Not the power of a 350 but still very enjoyable to drive.. I think people had a hard time with Rochester carbs, i enjoy them.

I'm a big fan of the Ford 302. The 1969 Mustang Boss 302 is a really cool car. The Fox Body Mustangs from the late 80s are awesome muscle cars with the 302. The Lincoln Mark VII LSC is a sweet hot rod with the 302. The power and torque for such a small engine is also amazing. A Ford 302 can outrun a Chevy 305. A really nice thing about the Ford 302 is there's lots of aftermarket parts available for it, making it a great engine for tuning. If you were to do more videos on American small block V8's, 3 you should mention are the Chrysler 318, Pontiac 301, and Oldsmobile 307.

Great engine! I got 220,000 miles out of a 1968 302 in my Mustang GT/CS (until the block cracked). You could set the timing by turning the distributor and listening to it smooth out. Bolted a Cobra intake and a 600 Holley on it and it ran beautifully!!

What a beautiful car. The blue with the white top is perfect.

Adam, For all your Ford V8 needs, trust the people of Windsor to build them for you. 😉😉 Although I don't personally remember Sade endorsing FoMoCo's 302, I will take your word for it. Maybe she had the 302 in mind when she sang, "....moves in space with minimum waste and maximum joy" 🤩🤩

Had a few Town Cars with the 302. Absolutely bulletproof.

My 5.0 1989 F-150 does well w it's 5.0. Same engine as the Fox Mustangs but with a better intake and simple EFI. Added shorty headers and a 3" single exhaust. Took off the top and bottom intake manifold and port matched. It has surprised some of the newer cars. Torque for days.

I have a 1968 Torino GT with the 302 (Built in Atlanta) and it doesn't have the fan shroud either. I also had an '88 Mustang GT 5.0 for 25 years: legitimately great car! -yes it was fast and could certainly get around a curve, but it was hugely reliable, it was great on a long drive and got pretty decent gas mileage with the 5-speed stick!

Hi Adam, Thanks for this video as this is a topic worthy of discussion. My father was a long time Top Notch mechanic back in the 1960's and his favorite V8's were the Chevy 283 and Ford 289 as well as the Chrysler 318. Indeed all of my cars being a 1987 Crown Victoria with almost 250,000.0 miles, a 1989 Mercury Grand Marquis LS and a 1991 Crown Victoria LX all have the 302 5-liter fuel injected V8's and all run like a swiss watch. Horsepower is only 150 but torque is 270 foot pounds which still allows them to pull strong.

Small fact, when Ford engineers were tasked with developing what later became the Coyote V8; they immediately knew it had to have the 302 displacement so they could bring back the 5.Oh name. The 302 is probably Ford’s most iconic engine.

My best pal in high school had a '68 Cougar XR7 with a 302 4V and duals. Man, that was a great engine - smooth and powerful. Great memories of cruising in that beautiful car. I had many company cars with a 302, I loved that motor. Thanks for the memories!

Great video, great engine. My mother's '68 Cougar, which became my car after college, had the 302-2V engine. These days I drive an F150 with the 5.0L V8. It was the only engine I would consider.

That's a nice, tidy engine compartment - stock, no less. My dad had a '77 Ranchero with all of the smog equipment, and it couldn't get out of its own way. Thank you, as always.

Fun fact: Ford made 4 different 351 designs; the 351W, 351C, 351M and... The 352 FE (yes!). All of them had the same bore and stroke. If you calculate the dimensions, the displacement is actually 351.86 cu in, meaning all Ford 351s are in fact 352s if rounded up correctly.

Nice size engine for that Canadian Mercury. The car itself is such a perfect 60s color.

I think the windsor 302 with headers is one of the best sounding v8s ever

One of the best engines ever many by any manufacturer.

Here in Australia Ford produced the 302 Windsor from 1991 to 2002. They also produced an Australian only 302 Cleveland from 1971 to 1982 alongside the 351 Clevo👍

I have a 73 ltd hardtop (green/green with a white vinyl top,) it has a 400 and drives so amazing. I absolutely love driving it!

Sweet, and beautiful neighborhood you drove through. Thank you for the ride.

Adam. I owned 2 Ford vehicles several years ago with the 302cid in them. A 1969 Falcon 4-door, and a 1972, Custom 4-door. The 72 fortunately had dual exhaust, so it gave it a little more power. The Falcon was pretty quick, weighing around 3,000 pounds. It would lay rubber with ease.

In the mid-70's I had a '69 Fairlane with 302 Windsor. Automatic trans, a two barrel carb, single exhaust, and a complete DOG.

I really like the Windsor small blocks. Great engines are more compact than the Chevy small blocks, also very good engines. I have a 1979 E150 van I bought brand new with the 300ci six. After I put an Offenhouser 360° dual port intake, a set of Clifford research headers and an Edlebrock 400cfm carburetor on it, and put 4:11 gears in the 9" rearend i surprised a lot of V8 powered rigs. Still have the van and six, but have installed a built 460ci engine from another project I had. Really enjoy your videos, I am 74 years old, and they bring back fond memories from my younger days. I am saving the 300ci six for a future project and plan on making it a little hotter this time around.

No other channel on you tube lauds the 4 doors like this one.

The SBF is truly a small engine, and can fit into almost any engine bay, width-wise. It's also very light (one of the features of the design, thin wall casting technique) and a design that had very strong initial development thrown at it from not only Ford, but Shelby and the aftermarket. This engine is a real winner, IMO, and hits way above its weight in output compared to a bunch of other American V8's.

Thank you Adam. I enjoyed the 1980's Sade reference. This was a engine used in a lot of Fords over the years. I think about the Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis, and Town Car and Mustangs, Thunderbirds and Cougars that used the engine.

Fan shrouds (as opposed to a fan guard) are mainly there to ensure positive air flow through the radiator. Keeping cars cool in Canada is only a concern during the two weeks of summer.

The way the car was geared and the transmission setup is designed to ensure that it was smooth and perfect for the take off and the top end for the freeway was FOMOCO's claim to fame.

Had a ‘79 Ford Econoline van with a 302 in it. Very dependable. I had 176,000 miles on it before I traded it in. No issues at all with engine.

My first car was a '67 Custom 500, like the police cars at the end of the movie "Deliverance", with the 289-leisurely performance, but very smooth and reliable-enjoy your videos-thanks!

The 302 2bbl was a workhorse but they responded so nice with the common hop-up practice of the day, headers, dual exhaust, aluminum intake, 4bbl carb. With stock internals they revved very well, but it was common to spin en too high in racing, you could harm them

I had a 68 Fairlane 500 2-door with the 302 Windsor. White with black interior. Tough little engine, but the power brakes were so sensitive nobody could drive it. Got it dirt cheap back in the day

The meteor is like a junior Park Lane. Love it

Back in 1990's I owned a 1977 F-100 & a 1979 F-150 (both were the Freewheeling edition with the wild graphics) that both had the 302, C4, 9 inch rear driveline. They were both great running trucks. I used to get a lot of compliments about them.

I owned a '71 Comet with a 302-2V... I put on a 4V manifold from the bone yard and headers... with 2 cherry bombs and it was a little pocket rocket.

My first car has a 302. Wonderful little powerplant.

One of Ford’s best engines throughout its entire production run. Perhaps the perfect balance of performance and economy.

The 302 is a beautiful sounding engine, for sure. And I like the Canadian Meteor shown in this video. I'd bring Rush and Triumph along for the ride, maybe April Wine, also.

When you started talking about 80's music I swore you were going to reference Vanilla Ice and his 5.0!

Noted your comment about the fan shroud and safety. I was peak teenage driving age in the late sixties, and a dedicated, brochure studying card nerd prior. My recollection, at least in the States, was that the shroud originally was installed as part of the optional AC. It may have become a safety feature in later years, though.

A truly great little V8. Inexpensive and relatively easy to build. Hard to go wrong. I would argue that the the roller cam late 302s with E7 or GT40P OEM heads are superior to the early 302s. Especially the ‘86-‘91 forged piston HO variant.

Of the two main small blocks. The SBC snd the Windsor. These are probably the two main engines used for engine swaps. For several reasons. Availability, aftermarket support and overall size. Especially the Ford. Definetly more compact than the Chevy. Mainly due to its low deck height. Just look at a Windsor intake manifold vs on for a SBC. The Ford is narrower simply because of the deck height.

Cant wait for your video on the indestructible 300cu inch inline 6. That engine refuses to die. Probably Fords most reliable engine ever.

You have a great car there. Respect the originality

These are the famous "Quiet" Fords. My '79 T-bird has a 302. Has pep.

Those are beautiful cars and well made / well engineered. Thanks for sharing 😊

Wow, that really is smooth and quiet.

Yes the 302 was in my dads 1971 ford fairlane here in Australia he loved the fairlane!!

Here in Brazil we had this engine too, in f series, maverick and galaxie line up, in galaxie line up we had an alcohol powered 302 version, with 11:1 compression ratio

I am very impressed by your vast knowledge on this subject. Love your channel, watched nearly all of them. Shalom ❤️‍🔥

To me it seems that Detroit had 3 primary v-8 engines that were outstanding for reliability and overall use - GM's 350, Ford's 302, and Chrysler's 318.

This auto content is off the charts! Really enjoy it and glad I subscribed 👍🏻

There was also a 302 Cleveland which was sold in Australia.

These Ford 302 engines were produced locally here in Australia along with the 351's, and because we didn't make the switch to regular unleaded gas & catalytic converters etc until the mid 80's (and our emissions standards were also not as intrusive as in the 'States back then) they were old-school high compression motors; their 4-barrel carburettors were jetted rich and they ran on premium leaded gas. These engines were very peppy and made great power & torque in stock form, and would really shine with the simple addition of headers and a mild cam upgrade. Any fans of the original 1979 Mad Max movie would be pleased to know that the fastest of the three yellow MFP pursuit cars featured in the film was running a stock 302; it was the one that famously crashed through the caravan near the end of the opening car chase after earlier wiping out a small van (then performing a memorable sustained, tyre-smoking burnout to get back into the chase with a destroyed front-end). The yellow Ford that Mel Gibson's character Max was driving in that scene (also an ex-highway patrol police car like the other one) had the stock 351 motor in it but apparently (according to the movie's stunt drivers at the time) wasn't as quite as fast or peppy as that 302 car.

we had a 302 in our '71 4-door maverick. it was peppy!

My dad had a 67 Mercury Montclair that same color and it shared most of the body panels. I overhauled my 68 302 in the late 70's at 85,000 miles, which was considered typical back then. Funny how you remember details like the #1 cylinder was the front passenger side, and where to loosen the distributor clamp, and the rubber hose connecting the fuel filter. The 302 was indeed a good engine.

Everything about that car is beautiful. Great video.

Nice! If that fan wasn't spinning you would doubt that it was running.

I love the 289s and 302s. I also love the Ford FE. The pre-smog engines are awesome. The beautiful bore to stroke relationships of the 289 to the 428s are all great iron castings compared to any other group of engines. I love them. The 289 with headers and the Shelby solid cam and the Shelby aluminum intake and the 715 cfm Holley that would make 310 hp. Sweet engine for the street. The 427 FE was needed for LeMans but the 289 was a sweet little engine.

That 302 sounds just like the 289 2 bbl. I had in my 65 Fairlane 500. So smooth. Great engines!

Gr8 -Looking '68 Mercury Meteor Montcalm, Adam....Luv the colour and wish they had sold these in OZ, but the Boss 302 is probably Ford's Best-Ever Engine. Cheers fm Damo😊👏

I had an 86 Ford Club Wagon with a 302, loved it. It had p.s., p.b., ac and dual gas tanks.

I had a '70 Galaxie with a 302 in it, and it ran smooth as can be. Even though the newer 302s were basically the same engine, they just didn't seem to sound the same as the older ones or run as smoothly. .

Thanks for all the photos, none stock.

I had a 76 Granada Ghia 2 door with a 302 . It had a Canadian body works mark. I don't know for sure but that 302 ripped. I even burned out the diff. and replaced it. It was even better after the change.

The quietest engine I ever had was a '65 Chevy Belair with a 230 six and manual transmission. The standard idle speed was 500 rpm. At a stop the only way I could tell that it had stalled was the oil pressure light.