I have a 1989 F150 (2wd) with a 5.0 and the AOD transmission with a 3.55 rear end gear. I bought this truck with a fresh rebuild, and I would simply like to get more torque and performance from what it offered in stock form.

This is what I want to do:
XE250H-14 (31-255-5) cam
"Thumper" or "Powerheads" ported and polished E7 heads
AOD with 4.10 gears
Long tube headers, 2.25 exhaust pipe

Will the stock AOD be able to handle that? Would I need a different stall other than stock?

Will this combination get me anywhere near a stock first generation Lightning?

 

Well a lightning has a 240HP 325 FPT 351w with Mass air.

A 89 5.0 has 190 HP and about 280 FPT.

I don't know if you will be able to run the bigger heads on the SD without a chip.

 

Talk to Lew52 he has a 5.0 truck that regularly beats up on stock Gen1 Lightnings. As for building a performance motor with SD, it's certainly possible.. the Gen1 lightnings were SD.. not MAF for example. The stock truck SD system will also handle upgrades as long as the cam remains fully SD friendly.. which the XE250H-14 is.. though I'd suggest something else if you really want the 5.0 as strong as it can. There are also a few guys here with 5.0 and 5.8 trucks with GT40 heads and a 5.0HO or aftermarket cam running fine on SD. The AOD won't have any problem with this as long as it at least gets a shift kit, they're all calibrated too softly from the factory. WIth those PowerHeads there is potential for well over 300hp which is both good and bad, it'll stretch the limits of the stock fuel system though you should get decent results with an adjustable FPR.

 

That won't be a problem as long as the trucks not to heavy , the lightnings at 4400 lbs , stock will run the 1/4 in about 15.8 , you can get the 302s into the 14s with some work , heads , cam , MA conversion , headers , some good gears and traction control , just build the motor like its a mustang , i just used the truck intake though .....

 

Lightning was 240hp 340 tq and did not have mass air.

Throw a 100 shot on there and get that AOD shifting right and I think you will be good.

 

What cam would you suggest then?

I don't know much about shift kits, but I had a friend that had a shift kit and I didn't like it. Every time we took off in first from a stop in that truck, it was like we were waiting, bracing, and dreading the teeth-shattering "jerk" to second gear from the transmission. What does shifting "softly" have to do with the transmission and power output? What would happen to the AOD if I didn't get a shift kit?

I just found out that the Thumper heads are closer and will be cheaper because of the shipping. So it looks like I am going with the Thumpers. I assume that the Thumpers are comparable to the Powerheads?

Why would you say that? Everything I have read so far tells me to NOT build a truck motor like a Mustang. A full-size truck is much heavier than a Mustang, so that makes sense to me. I chose the cam because of the strong torque, thinking that would be better in a heavy truck.

 

I'm also one that will say, "build it like it's a mustang".. He doesn't mean that as in choose a cam like your driving a car either. When your looking for parts, don't limit yourself 100% to truck specific parts. The 5.0 mustang has a huge following in the aftermarket. So, heads, cams, intakes, etc. All those parts for a 5.0 stang, will fit your truck. Stang intakes aren't direct bolt in but you can use them on a truck if you want. I did..

 

This is an interesting thread. I have a similar 302 I built up two years ago, but I have never crossed a Lightning, so I don't know where my truck stands on that.

I have an emissions-stripped 2wd regular cab 1985 F150 Lariat with a 600cfm 4V carburetor, Elelbrock Performer intake manifold, Duraspark II ignition, "Thumper" E7 heads (VERY similar to the Powerheads), Comp 31-230-3 cam (VERY similar to the 31-255-5 cam) and Thorley Tri-Y headers leading into true duals with dual Flowmasters. I am also running the AOD (although I think the 1980-1986 version is a little bit different than the one from 1987-on) with 3.55 gears. I think the 3.55 gearing is a weak spot on my truck, but I don't race it.

What do you think, Lew? How do you think our trucks would compete against each other? If I changed the 3.55 gears to 4.10 gears with my combination, do you think I could take a 1st generation Lightning?

 

....Yes on the 4.10s , that will help a ton , i run 4.56 with the 4R70W , they have the wide ratio gear sets , so lower first and second gear , and it jumps , the gear sets will fit in the AOD to , with what you have with 4.10s i think you will be faster than a lightning.....

 

If you really want to run with the Lightnings you'll need a cam that builds more topend HP, because the 5.8 has a pretty sizable low rpm TQ advantage over the 5.0 so heavier or not it'll beat you out of the hole and your only hope is to reel him in with HP on the top end. The block you have is roller cam ready meaning it'll accept all the factory roller cam parts so this is where I suggest you go, collect these from a junkyard motor or from the used market in your area and install a roller cam like the Comp 34-349-8.



Soft shifts are death to an automatic transmission, it's the equavelent of slipping the clutch on a manual every time you shift. Shift kits can be calibrated at different levels so you don't neck snapping hard shifts just firm and positive shifts that don't waste any time getting to the next ratio.



Yeah they're similar.



Yes and no. Ideally you want a TQ biased powerband in a truck but the 5.0 doesn't move enough air to build BIG tq no matter what cam you choose so you got to work with what you got.. which is a motor that makes it's best power from 2000rpm up. You still don't want to go as radical as the Stang guys do with a cam.. they typically target the 3000-6000rpm range, but instead target 2000-5000rpm and that will retain some semblance of streetability.

 

,...Good luck , if you use a low rpm torque cam in a 302 it won't be fast , if you use a cam in the 1500-5500 rpm range you will still have more low end than the stock cam , and alot more mid to higher rpm HP & TQ , thats just the way the 302 is ,

 

Ok so when was the 1th gen lightning. I though they started in 94.

 

Yeah that's it, first gens were '93-95 and they were the only Lightning to have a 5.8EFI.

 

My 90 Bronco 302 block was not roller cam ready. As I recall, I was going to have to use an aftermarket "spider" kit and tap the block for the holdown bolts to switch to roller lifters.

My first mod back in the day on the stock SD was 35" tires, 4:11 gears and a hypertech chip. That thing made great power all the way to 6000 rpm's.

Then I switched the motor to Mass-Air AND added a high-torque low rpm camshaft at the same time, which eliminated the chip. The truck had great lowend but the cam was spec'ed for 800-4800 rpm range and around 4800 was the max that engine would go. In the mud, put it to the floor it would literally fall on it's face at almost exactly 4800. The point being, be careful with the low rpm-high torque cams or you may lose all the top end.

IMO, the only way you'll keep up with lightnings' longer stroke and higher displacement, would be to go to MA and add several more upgrades. If you start changing axle gears, that will help you get off the line better, but if you use high-torque cam, I'd bet you'll run out of top-end power, especially with an SD system.

I did convert the 5-speed to an AOD after those upgrades and promptly burnt up the first AOD in the mud within 6 months. After that I had the AOD rebuilt with a heavy duty cluthpack and supposedly a better hi-performance pump and also added an external trans oil cooler and never had another problem after that.

 

Ok. So was the 93 SD, and the 94-95 MAF?

Every lightning I have ever seen was MAF.