I changed my 1989 2wd 4spd to a 4x4 5spd only problem was the 5spd master clutch cylinder.. had to hack that into the firewall, the 4spd cylinder was different...You might want to look at your firewall and see what you have there for clutch cylinder mount..

 

No idea if this thread is alive still but I have a 1985 150 4x4 5.0 efi A/T everything is stock and I'm looking to get a little more power but I don't want to destroy the engine or have to replace it anytime soon or sink alot of money into it so were should I start?

 

Exhaust... Headers, free flowing cats, 2-1/2 dual

 

Thanks what kind of headers should i get? what are free flow cats exactly?

 

A gear change would give you more bang for the buck than anything short of going to a bigger engine that puts out more torque.

 

Ok I have no ideawhat my gears are at but I'm pretty sure there stock how do I find out what they are and what should I gear them to?

 

There should be a thin metal tag affixed to the rearend via one of the rear cover bolts (thinking you said you had an F150 here?) that tag has the gear ratio stamped into it, most times it's the numbers right next to the bolt hole. for example, it'll have 3.23, 3.55, 3.73, 4.11. If there's an "L" in the middle of the number, that indicates it's got a locking differential (3L23, 3L55, 3L73, 4L11). If it's got a 9" rear, the tag will be attached to one of the centersection studs, but will have even numbered ratios (3.25 3.50, 3.70, 3.90, 4.10) Same thing applies to the presence of an "L" in the middle.

 

You can get the axle code from inside the door too. Assuming the gears haven't been changed. If they have been, the metal tag on the axle will probably be missing anyway.

 

From my experience.... You can take a 302 all the way to 7000.... To do that you want to run a main girdle and run roller rockers with pushrod guide plates and rocker girdles... And you will need big breathing heads and a cam... a solid roller cam too.... And your engine will be lame until you get to 3500 rpm.... It will have no low end torque to it.... This is where you need a 67 mustang coupe body and a 4.30 rear to get off the line.... Or a trans with custom gearing.... A motor like that will not live long either.... Expect 30k miles or less before failure.... With stock ford hydraulic lifters expect them to float around 5500 rpms.... Crowers and Comp lifters will take you to six or a little over before they float... Imho in trucks a lift around .480 works best and that will work up to 5000.... It will give you good torque and hp with either stock heads an edelbrock performer, or basic al heads and a performer rpm cam... For cars .525 works well with basic al heads.... And that goes to 5500 rpms.... Imho its best compromise between low end and high end.... And if you build a screamer that makes 450 hp at 6700 rpms when you are driving at 3500 rpms you probably will have 250hp.... Which is what a decent stock engine will put out too... And the diffference will be torque... 250 for the stocker and 200 for the screamer.... Which in a truck you will notice every time you start out....

 

You don't need all that to go to 7 grand. Canfield heads (AFR 165 equivalents) B303 cam, 1.7 rockers, Comp hyd roller lifters, Tri-Y headers, stock bottomend with ARP rod bolts. Top it with a Vic Jr and a Holley 650DP, and you're ready for 7500.

 

It's the valve springs that will limit the rpm and most if not all hyd lifters are good to 6500.. you will need solids after that..

 

The other thing you will need to run at sustained high rpms is an expanded capacity oil pan and oil cooler... Running at very high rpms super heats the oil and will cause it to vaporize without a cooler which in turn mean you will experience bearing failure... Which sounds like an ied going off under your vehicle... Also you might want to put restrictors in the oil system because you generally end up with a lot of oil on the valave train and lots of windage too.... I generally agree with the one poster who said use 4000 for a truck and 5000 for a car....

 

Well, I don't really know what I've done, but it seems that I can hit 6k pretty easy now, maybe with all my mediocre tuning skills I managed to hit a sweet spot? I dunno, but I did take it on another interstate run and was pleased. The truck tops out around 83 and that's how fast I usually ran it, but it seems if I actually do the speed limit of 70 I'm pulling around 2700 RPM now which is where 302's make torque, and it actually made decent mileage this time!

 

Looks like heads intake and carb and cam all work together... which is what you are looking for.... Nothing like the feeling of accomplishment!

 

He tuned it..