Can H.O. forged pistons be used in a 1968 block?

I have a 68 302 block, and a buddy dumped a set of forged TRW's out of his 88 H.O. since he's building a stroker. Could I use these in place of the cast pistons that were in the block? He gave me the pistons with the rods as well.
If I can use them, what needs to be done?

Thanks

 

a slugs a slug.as far as material is concerned. just check the clearances and other particulars, or you may have some ummm...... issues..

 

thanks for the reply.
What about the rods? Can I use the rods that are on the H.O. pistons, or do I have to put the forged pistons on the old rods?
Are the rods the same?

 

cant help ya on that one . if they are the same journal diameter and length, i would see no reason they would not work. have your machinist do a comparison on both. he should be able to tell you.

 

If they are the same length, etc as mentioned earlier then you shouldn't have a problem at all.

 

well I posted this on Ford Muscle as well, and found a guy that is doing the EXACT same thing. How lucky did I get on that one. Anyway, I have to use the rods from the '68 with the H.O. pistons and all will be good. I just have to make sure my piston to wall clearance is within spec of .004 -.006 IIRC PaulS actually answered that question for the guy on FM.

Thanks for the replys guys

 

Just exactly why the rods matter?

If they are exact same rods you wouldn't have to swap anything out.

 

Rods are the same...

 

hmmm.... really? well in that case, the swap will be a lot easier. Maybe the uy that used his old rods didn't have the rods from the forged pistons. The easier the better for me. so If the rods are the same i'll use them.

Everyone is certain the rods are the same?

 

You could just find you a junkyard 5.0 (since it has the roller cam) and just build it. You might as well get a little more power while your at it and another motor shouldnt cost over $250.

 

yeah i explored that, but I have this block, so I'm just gonna deal with this one, plus I already have the dogbone,spider setup to convert this block to roller if I wanted to.

 

While you have the rods out, it's always a good idea to put aftermarket bolts.
The regular ARPs don't cost much, and the stockers are a known weak link.

You'll need to run a dingleberry hone on the block, assuming it doesn't need boring, so the new rings will seat.

 

yeah I will be ordering the bolts for the reassembly, and just bought the hone tool for the job. The bore is good so I should be good to go.
I got a 351 cam from a swap meet for a buck brand new, I don't have the specs here with me right now(i'm outta town) but when I looked it up it was a clevite replacement for a bronco truck.

So i guess it would be like a RV cam in this block. I might use it if I don't do the roller conversion.

 

My buddy blew up his original '85 5.0 GT,the rod had a C8 cast # on it,I'd say they(rods) are all the same.

 

If you replace the rod bolts the rod's big ends will have to be honed, you can't just press in the new bolts and run 'em.