Hello everyone, my father has a 1986 f150 4x4. Well 6" of lift and 35" super swampers later let's just say the mostly stock (shorty headers)302EFI is a little short on power. Now with that being said he's an old timer and won't be doing any rock climbing or mud bogging but he does like to go off road in the snow and do some hunting. My question to you is what can we do to the old girl to get some more power without screwing up the speed density computer? Should we just pull it out and find a donor truck with a 5.8lEFI? I am a licensed mechanic so we should be able to do all the work ourselves.
Ps I already told him we need to get rid of the 3.55 gears and install something along the lines of 4.56. Thanks in advance for any input and suggestions.

 

Leave the engine alone, and change the gears. I believe he will be perfectly happy after that. You are correct you can't do much to the engine without a lot of fiddling with the computer, and even a 351w is going to be a dog with those gears and those tires.