The old engine is creeping up on 200k and a rebuild. Looking to change some things around and spice her up a bit( new heads,cam, intake and headers.). Was curious about the options for the intake manifold. Not sure on whats interchangeable but I want something different. Seems like there are smaller ones with better flow. Keeping it fuel injected as it's my daily driver. Some suggestions on the parts I listed would be awesome. Not looking to blow the doors off of corvettes but I definitely want some more power. Thanks.

 

This is a popular topic and if you do some searches or cruze around there are a lot of good suggestions.

Start of by stating your intended goals with a little more detail and a little more about your truck.

Welcome to the site!

 

It's a bone stock truck. I'll be pulling the engine and rebuilding it at my shop in about a month. Really what I'm going for is to beef it up during my complete tear down and rebuild, and add some power. I'm satisfied with the low end of things, but I want more top end power. My trans is acting up lately so I already bought a brand new replacement. I do plan on swapping out the rear end to a 9 inch during my rebuild. Essentially I want more power and overall reliability. I do like to goose the truck a bit more than most.

 

There are a lot of problems with your plans. Both the engine and transmission in your truck are controlled by computer and it needs the speed sensor in the 8.8 rear axle to work properly, so unless you can fabricate something to replace it you're better off keeping the stock axle. It's no problem at all to get more top end power out of the 5.0, the problem is doing it without hurting the low end. You engine is roller so there are lots of cam options, but it's not likely your truck has Mass Air so that limits your upgrade potential.. you can add slightly better heads and a mild cam but you can't expand beyond the capacity of the stock 19lb injectors so GT40 heads and a HO style cam are the rough limits. The stock truck intake actually flows quite well, as good as the GT40/Explorer in fact so you need not spend any $$ there, instead put those $$ into the exhaust system which must all go if you want to see full benefit from the changes you make. A note on your trans, as mentioned it is COMPLETELY computer controlled and any sensor problem will cause issues with it's operation, so you need to determine if there are any and correct them before doing anything else, otherwise you could simply be throwing money away and end up with the exact same problem with the replacement trans since it wasn't the problem to begin with.

 

agree with everything conanski said

 

Going old school Mustang with a truck motor will be a great performer for both torque and horse power. It can be done within the stock computer parameters.

A short block with flat top pistons, stock style heads with 1.84/1.54 valves and a H.O. cam. The more detail you add to this recipe the better it will perform.

 

Here's a simple way to more power: swap in a roller 351W.

 

what tranny is in the truck? 2wd or 4wd.

doing a mustang build on a truck isnt the wisest move, mainly due to the increased weight of the truck vs stang. also most stang builds put the power to high in the rpm range and for a truck that is a bad combo.