Ignition types/year of engine.

I got my maverick almost three years ago and for the life of me i can't remember the year of the 302 in it. Im pretty sure the guy said it was an '88 but my dad remembers him saying its an '82...sooo yeah im at a dilemma because i dont want to have to take off the starter to look at the casting number cause i cant fit under the car.

So is their any ignition out there (preferably MSD, Mallory, or Summit) that is sort of universal for the 302? Ive looked at MSD distributors and it seems as though some of them will work for any year 302. Just want some confirmation here is all!

 

Well...Any ignition system for a 302 will work...You need to determine if the engine has a roller cam/valvtrain or not....If its an all stock 88 5.0...Its most likely that its roller cammed but...Depending on what it came out of... It may not be. If its a stock 82 5.0...Its not a roller unless its been retrofitted with a roller cam. Its important since the roller cam set up requires a different alloy dist gear from a non roller...Good luck!!!

 

dang...ive always thought it was roller cammed...I asked my dad long ago and he said it was. now, for some odd reason that its not and i get a distributor that isnt made for roller cams, what would the outcome be?

 

The cam will eat the distributor gear and put metal shavings in your oil.

 

well...that is not good. This pretty much sucks.

 

Except for the TFI setup, I'm pretty sure you need an EFI EMS to run that.
I think 86+ had that, then also some of the last 302's didn't even have a distributor, they went to coil packs. Which also require an EMS.

 

Thats interesting. Its killing me not knowing what year this engine is.

 

You can take off the starter and check the numbers, that'll give you a clue.

 

Even if u get the starter off and the engne numbers u will just have when the block was made; it won't mean the engine has not been modified/upgraded at some point. Why not just upgrade ign sys with present dizzy?

 

No...you will know what year the block was revised. The prefix didn't change every year. It would be easier to pull the distributor and look at the gear

 

if you pull a valve cover and look down the push rod hole. you should be able to see if there is a dog bone holding the lifter. the top of the lifter will have two flat sides if its a roller. if its round then its a flat tappet.

 

I'm saying?? Ding, Ding, Ding... correct answer goes to....

 

Distributor should have a part number on it as well. But there is still a chance the gear was swapped.

 

I do know that when the guy rebuilt the engine, he only rebuilt the top end because the bottom end was in amazing condition. He said it came out of a police interceptor and its a High Output 302. The distributor is the original.

 

And roller cam pushrods are shorter than pushrods for flat tappets.