I have a 1995 351w from an F250, F4TE block. I am going to keep it SD and use it for daily shop use. I want some good power, but not looking for a high horse motor. Just something a little better than stock. Wondering what cam or cams would be good choices for low to mid range power that won't require a new chip? Any other basic upgrades that won't require a chip change?

 

also, I've heard that Long Tube Headers, an H pipe, Comp 35-512-8 cam and 1.7 ratio rockers were great upgrades that wouldn't require changes. Those pretty standard upgrades?

 

Good luck fitting an H pipe on a truck with longtubes. Headers themselves are good upgrades but you'll end up running all the exhaust down the passenger side because of the tank and Xfer case of it's 4wd so you may as well stay with a single system. For your uses changing the cam is a bit of a sideways move... the one listed above isn't much more than the stock cam with 1.7 rockers, so that's what I suggest you do.. just add the rockers. Adding that cam and 1.7 rockers will require changing the valve springs but the extra lift isn't buying you any more output so it's not $$ well spent. There are other cams you could use but they will stretch the adaptability limits of the SD system and may introduce some rough running and/or stalling, and you don't want that in a shop truck.

 

the truck is actually a 1979 F100 2wd with a rear fuel tank where the spare use to sit, so it's open and currently has duals all the way back. The motor came from a donor F250.

So, based on that (and a few other threads of yours) I should just do the 1.7 ratio along with LT headers and that should be a decent setup?

 

which 1.7's do you recommend? Would they need to be paired with pushrod guideplates? Also, does everyone use the stock pushrods or longer ones?

 

These motors use pedistal mounted rockers so no guideplates are needed and usually the pushrods don't need to change either.

 

Found two on summitracing.com. One is the Proform 66878 for $175.95 (no shims included), and the other is the Crane Cams 44746 for $239.95 (shims included). Is one better or more often used than the other? Just wondering why there is a $64 difference between them

 

The Crane rockers should be a little better built, not something you may see just looking at them but reports are the stuff from the big brand names usually last longer.

 

Supose a guy wanted to do more intesive mods, such as cam, intake, throttle body, heads, are there any speed shops that can modify the SD computer to handle those mods instead of going MAF?

 

The Gen1 Lightning crowd has been tweaking on their factory SD based trucks for years: Gen 1 Lightnings - The National Lightning Owners Club Inc

Of course there are plenty of MAF conversions in there as well. From mild to somewhat wild they have done it!

 

other than that though, doesn't sound like much difference aside from the shims. Thanks for the responses, this gives me good info to move on. I had considered a MAF conversion, but I'd dump another $200-500, more work, more hassle, and from what several folks have said, not gain much in the throttle response and reliability area (most of them said their SD system had better throttle response and was smoother).