This is my first post here so I'd like to start by saying Hi to everybody and thanks for all the awesome stuff I've learned reading the forums here.

So What I have is a 1983 F250. 2WD with a 302W in it. She is pretty much in stock shape right now. I have historic tags on her which in my state means that there is no inspection/emission tests to have to pass. I have the belt going to the A.I.R system/smog pump disconnected. Got to say that gave a nice little boost in performance. I don't have the actual smog pump removed yet but plan on doing so in the near future (once I figure out what plug and the like that I'll need). Also the previous owner had removed the cat and has dual pipes with glass packs on 'em.

Right now she still has all the EGR bs on her and I'm wanting to get rid of that so she can breath a little nicer. I've been looking at the Edelbrock 2121 intake manifold and I believe that it is what I want. My question is that it is listed for years 1966-72. Is that just because EGR came after those years? Will this intake bolt onto my 302 or will I have trouble with fit? Assuming it does fit my farther-in-law (best mechanic I know) tells me I should be looking for a 390cfm carb, but online it seems most people are going with 500-650cfm. Any though on that?

I promise I'll get some pics of the truck for you all real soon.

 

That manifold will be fine. A 600cfm carb will work fine also. I have run the 1850/600 cfm Holley on several 302s, and it works perfectly. Actually it's a little bit boring. It gives you a nice boost in power, but I have never had to mess with the jets or anything else putting this carb on a stock 302. No flat spots, hesitations, no bad reports. You can barely see the holley carb underneath all the grim on a old 302 mustang I have. It has ran for years and years with no problems. The only thing I recommend is keeping the stock aircleaner if you are going to drive this truck in cold weather. Without the heat system hooked up to the aircleaner, it will not run very well when it gets cold. You can run the chrome aircleaners in the summertime, but put the stock one back on with the vacuum hook-ups and the heat hose for the winter.

I am curious about the above statement. The air pump only requires a couple of horsepower to run. Normally it would not be noticeable. The EGR doesn't hurt anything much either, but it is known to get dirt in it and cause a rough idle, so I think it would be beneficial to get rid of it, just to eliminate one more thing that can go wrong and fail.

 

Having the smog pump disconnected may only be a few HP but at low RPM is where I really feel the difference. Like when I'm taking off from a dead stop it feels like she has a bit more pep. I don't think it made a difference at all at the top end though, just bottom end.

You 100% right about that. I actually bough this truck late in December and she took forever to warm up. Just this past weekend I started poking around under the hood and noticed that the heat riser tubing wasn't installed. I went ahead and put that in and am willing to bet she'll behave much better this winter than she did last.

 

The smog pump shouldn't give a "nice little boost in performance" as it only uses up a horsepower or two, like Franklin said. The same is true for your EGR system. It doesn't use as much horsepower as you may think it does, and some even say that EGR improves gas mileage. Don't expect your engine to suddenly become a dragster simply because you remove the smog pump and the EGR.

The Edelbrock 2121 (Edelbrock 289) intake manifold will work just fine on your 302 as long as you are removing your EGR. You are correct in that it is listed for years 1966-72 simply because there wasn't EGR in those years. That is what I am running on my own 1985 302 engine. Of course, my 302 engine isn't anywhere near stock anymore.

Keep in mind that your stock carburetor and distributor are calibrated to run with EGR. A lot of people have found that their engine "pings" with the EGR removed or if it is malfunctioning. To correct this, you are going to need to re-tune your carburetor and re-curve your distributor for optimum performance.

Franklin is right about the stock air cleaner. In addition to cold weather driveability, it also serves as a "cold air" intake when the flex tube from the air cleaner snorkel to the radiator core support is hooked up.

 

Thanks for mentioning the need to "re-curve your distributor." This is something that I hadn't heard about before so I'm reading up on it now.