A Whiff off the Heads, and Central Coast Mustang has a Nifty High-Compression Long-Block for You
Like the last heat waves shimmering silently out of a hoodscoop in the paddock, small-block Ford production has dispersed noiselessly into history. No announcement, no fanfare came from Dearborn—just a quiet factory-side service for those intimately involved. The last 5.0-powered Explorer had been built, extra service parts cast and machined, and then the casting plant went cold, the machining centers quiet, and the assembly line motionless. While most enthusiasts were barely aware of the exact end of Ford’s pushrod V-8 era, a few have been stocking up. Among these is Dennis Hilliard at Central Coast Mustang.
Exercising some carefully cultivated contacts at Ford, Hilliard has ordered hundreds of 5.0 blocks, heads, and associated parts from the factory and is offering same either solo or assembled all the way up to long-blocks. Several variations of the assembled short- and long-blocks are offered, including a $1,895 version built using a new block, a new Ford crankshaft, new Ford connecting rods, new hypereutectic pistons, and new GT-40P heads. This combo arrives at what is essentially an all-new ’93 GT-40 engine fitted with either a B303 or an E303 cam. CCM rates this engine at 320 hp, which can vary some depending on whether it is dressed with carburetion or fuel injection, of course.
Stepping up to a $2,199 price tag brings you to the engine we’re paying the most attention to here. That’s the high-compression version—meaning the heads are milled to achieve a 10.5:1 compression ratio and the cam is moved up to Ford Racing’s X303. CCM rates this combination at 340 hp. If you need more, CCM has stroker versions too.
All these engines are built from the last run of GT-40P parts—that is, stock two-bolt blocks and GT-40P heads as Ford was using in the 5.0 version of the Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer. These parts are essentially identical to Mustang practice, differing only in sheetmetal configuration—namely the oil pan, which is not included—and exhaust-port location. Naturally, the blocks are roller-cam, single-piece rear oil-seal units, while the heads are identical to the GT-40P castings sold by Ford Racing Performance Parts.
Central Coast Mustang augments these stock bits with selected after- market items to arrive at low-cost, high-performance short- and long-blocks that can boast all-new parts reliability. At $2,199 for the high-compression long-block, for example, this is quite a deal for the enthusiast in need of a new or better engine. In fact, if there is a downside to this arrangement, it is the supply of these all-new engines is bound to dry up rapidly. CCM estimates they’ll have a three-year supply of blocks and heads, but after that… Such estimates roughly agree with what FRPP says it has available in its warehouse, so it seems the market for new small-block Ford blocks will be wide-open here shortly.
In the meantime, these engines slip into a Mustang with little fuss or financial hardship. A Mustang oil pan takes care of any clearance issues at the bottom of the engine; a set of GT-40P– specific headers are necessary to mate with the late-style head’s exhaust ports. Other than that, it’s dress the engine with your choice of carburetor or fuel injection and enjoy your part of an era that is certain to be the best of Ford V-8 engine values. Ever.
Horse Sense: Now that 5.0 H.O. engine production has ended, speculation on who will build a replacement 302 block—and where—is rampant. A few U.S. sources make sense, but so do Mexican and Chinese foundries. At this point, gaining access to Ford’s production tooling is the main issue. Word is Ford has ordered the tooling scrapped. We certainly hope such a misguided decision is not carried out.