hello all, new to the forum here.

i have a 94 F-350 with the 460 in it and only 62,740 miles on it. the only mod i have done to it is the Flowmaster and dual tail pipe. other than that, it's bone stock and runs like a champ. as you can tell by the mileage, it dosent get driven much, (only use it mostly to pull my race trailer) but im looking to make some adjustment in the power department due to me being a motor head and getting bored with the power. the problem with me and this motor is, im an old school guy that knows my way around the old carburated vehicles. there motors and tranny's that are computor controlled have me scratching my head.

my question here is....does anyone know of some good mods under the hood to help this thing out besides just a cold air intake? i have heard that bumping the timing up 2* would add a little noticable power and actually help out with gas milage by maybe a mile or so per gallon. i know there are throttle body spacers and such, but i've never messed with those, and dont really know if the price is worth paying for the gain if it's minimal at best. i dont think that im interest in pulling the cam out at this point or even adding headers yet, but any other tips and tricks would be helpfull. Thanx.

 

Advance the timing as far as you can and not have it ping.

Throttle body spacers are JUNK. look into a throttle body(BBK)

Also look into getting rid of your cat and putting a high flow on.

In your intake tubes there is a plastic junction box 1/2 between the air box and the throttle body. Take the hoses off it and then CUT the 'Horns" off, just leave enough material to clamp the hoes back on

 

thanx for the tips. im going to assume that the thottle body (BBK) can be found at either Jegs or Summit?
i am however going to do away with the intake tubes and install a cold air intake system here in the very near future, but in the meentime i will try shaving that junction box your talking about.

 

first, the famous "six liter" tune-up

ignition upgrade and timing bump (no 56K) - FSB Forums

Then remove the air horns in the intake. Someone did a writeup on this recently with pics if you need it. This will make it as good as any aftermarket intake. My understanding was the throttle body was sufficient for the stock cam but Brad would know more about that than me. Beyond that, headers and a new full high-flow exhaust system is all that's left short of having the heads done and swapping the cam that I know of.

 

Don't go with an aftermarket "cold" air intake. The stock intake draws air from behind the grill and will provide one of the coolest air charges for a stock motor; just cut out the air horns in the crossover pipe. They are there mainly to reduce intake noise and won't hurt anything by their removal.

For other performance upgrades, look at the "six litre" tune-up as Burnout mentioned. Also, a set of long tube headers will make a world of a difference. Using synthetic oils for the engine, transmission, and rear end netted the guys at FOUR WHEELER Magazine (FOUR WHEELER Magazine's Project M.P.G.) some performance and mileage gains on an '88.

For more radical changes, look at RHP (Re-in"car"nation High Performance) for head and intake porting (username MadPorter at 460ford.com).

Don't fall for any "chips" that claim to increase power on the OBS Fords. Unless your truck is OBDII (which yours isn't as a '94), there aren't any chips that will do anything but lighten your wallet. For tuning changes, you'll have to look into a Quarterhorse or Tweecer system (which may require a different ECM).

 

im not sure i understand the meening of "6 litre" tune up, but im going to assume that the princable is the same with the 302 as with the 460?? what are the draw backs of just doing away with the cat all together? does it effect the 02 sensor in anyway that will cause fuel air issues? thanx for the help so far guy's. i will post back my findings as i try some of these out. the headers arent completely out of the question at the moment, but would like to try the simple and cheaper things first.

 

Being that you have a 460 (iac not on tb) you can bolt on a cobra or lighting tb very cheap instead of the bbk tb. All you need is the throttle cable and the know how to make a throttle bracket.

Only advance your timing 4* because on that hot day or bad tank of gas it will frustrate you with all the preignition. Wait til it's really hot out, and you're towing the trailer, then adjust timing to the max before preignition. Then you're good. Remember, if you adjust timing with it running, you need to pull the "pip" or "spout" out or else the computer gets cranky. I usually just shut the truck off and adjust (keeps body parts from the fan also)

The stock air box and piping and whole setup is pretty decent. Just find a cheap washable drop in filter. No need to spend upwards of 300 on a k&n setup.

Headers and highflow cat are very helpful. Banks makes a sweet stainless kit if you got 1600 kickin around. Well worth it and it comes with air box top and filter and all kinds of awesome stuff. I've used it. It's well worth the money.

 

i was actually going to make my own intake with leaving two tubes and running them to the location of the airbox with two seperate K&N filters. not a good idea?? if not, then i'll leave that part alone and just do the junction box mod and get a nice K&N factory replacement for the stock airbox. i use the K&N filters on my race bikes, so i have plenty of cleaner and oil to keep them maintained. as far as the chips go...i really havent given that a second thought. i've never been interested in plug in horsepower, so there is no chip in my plans for sure.

you guys are great

 

People call it the 6liter tuneup because a person with that username created a writeup on how to completely tuneup your truck.

It's plugs wires coil cap rotor filters and stuff.

If you live in emissions free state... Get rid of the cat.

 

The biggest drawback of ditching the cat is not being able to pass emissions if you live somewhere that requires it. IIRC there's only an O2 sensor before the cat so it shouldn't cause an issue.

 

ok, i just done the junction box mod. wow, what was Ford thinking with choking the intake up like that??! i know the stock muffler that was the size of a 55gal drum really reduced the exhaust on the inside. it's amazing that this thing could breath at all.

im taking a trip to the track tomorrow, so i will be able to at least see if there is any gain in the junction box mod. i also installed some small filtered plugs on the intake side of the filter in the airbox lid. i installed four of them, they are 1" in size. they are designed for the airbox on an atv, but thought i would try them and see what happens.while i had the junction box of, i took my dremal in there and smoothed out all the square edges. dont know if that will help, but while i had it in my hand i figured i might as well.

my question about the o2 sensor was more toward the fact that, if the CAT is not there, will the exhaust gasses escape too quick for the o2 sensor to get a reading and cause it to make adjustments that will cause a lack in performance. if the back presure is not there, i would think that the EGT would be lower due to faster evacuation. i have no problems at all with cutting that thing off if it will offer a gain in performance.

 

If there is an 02 sensor after the cat and the cat is removed. It will read rich and try to keep cutting the fuel to make it leaner

 

Yes, if there is an O2 sensor after the cat then you won't want to ditch them so look carefully for that. the whole idea with the air horns is to act as a muffler on the intake side. Most people care too much about comfort so the manufacturers have to sacrifice some performance. If it weren't for that then you can be sure that every truck would have been maximized for performance and/or fuel economy any there wouldn't be much of a need for the aftermarket. Even as it is these old trucks don't need much to get the most out of them short of tearing into the engine.

You probably won't notice much just from the intake mod but combined with a good exhaust setup and the performance tune-up you should be able to notice a bit of a gain.

 

mine is in the front. so im good on that then.

 

I think there's always one in front but some vehicles put another behind also. I don't know personally on a '94, I wouldn't think so but I've never had a truck that new.