Well the subject say it all. Is the 302 and 351W distributor the same? If so can they be swapped for one another? If not what is different about the? Length? Cam gear? All help greatly appreciated. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

I went on a site and checked for you and they are not the same but I don't have the info as to why but the D.U.I site has different listings for 302/351. Check out thier site and you might be able to find the reason or e-mail them. They are great to deal with! Hope this was some sort of help for you! www.performancedistributors.com (http://www.performancedistributors.com)
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They are not the same.

the hex shaft to drive the oil pump is larger on the 351. There may be other diffs too but that's the only one I know for sure.

the oil pump shaft is different , however the cam gears are the same . A common swap is to put the 351w cam in the 302 and change the firing order to the 351w or 5.0 HO . <IMG SRC="smilies/jester.gif" border="0">

Originally posted by howiebilt:
<STRONG>the oil pump shaft is different , however the cam gears are the same . A common swap is to put the 351w cam in the 302 and change the firing order to the 351w or 5.0 HO . <IMG SRC="smilies/jester.gif" border="0"></STRONG>

What is there to gain by doing this? I've never heard of anyone doing this.

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OK , I'm sure that I will get corrected if I'm wrong on this one but here goes...
the 302 firing order causes more heat to be generated to the rear of the block and by changing the firing order and the cam to a 351W this tranfers the heat forward . I don't know if there is anything to gain there but the availabilty of cams is increased also . My personal favorite is the stock cam for the 1984 351HO . This is perfect for an aluminum intake and 4BBL installation on the 302 . I prefer using stock items vs high power stuff just to keep it more dependable . <IMG SRC="smilies/jester.gif" border="0">

you can swap a 351w distributer into a 302 but ou also have to get a 351W oil pump and a 351w pump shaft and cut it down. the only advantage here is if you are running a hi pressure or hi volume pump. as for swaping cams from the 302 order to a 351 order is to take stress off the front main bearing since on the 302 the #1 and #5 fire right after each other. the 351W doesnt.