The 5.0 engine in my 1986 E150 van needs replacing, my mechanic says a 1993 would be a better engine. Why is this? I'm replacing the AOD transmission also, should it be replaced with a 1993 AOD transmission? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

 

Your '85 motor has low compression smog heads and a small flat tappet cam while the '93 has higher compression heads and a roller cam so yeah the '93 is better. However...
The absolute best motor you could get would be a 96-97.5 Explorer 5.0 since it has even better heads(GT40) and a larger roller cam, and the next best option is a '94+ truck motor because it has the same roller cam as the Explorer motor. These '94+ motor have a different firing order than your '85 but that doesn't matter as far as the EFI system is concerned since it fires injectors in batches and the resulting overlap works with both firing orders.

 

He has an 86, so it should still have the roller cam like the 93. I'm not certain on the trucks, but on the mustang the 93 came with less hp and hypereutectic pistons instead of forged. The 93 was MAF instead of speed density, which you wouldn't even notice in the van. The truck, van and bronco 5.0's also came with about 175 hp and the mustang came with 225 hp, so that could be an option as well. X2 on finding one with gt 40 heads being the best option.

 

Nope sorry... the truck motors didn't get a roller cam until 1992 and even then it was the tiny little thing from the 150hp crown vic motor. And mass air didn't happen until 1995 50-state and Canada with Cali getting it a year earlier.

 

Thanks for clearing that up. I have built a lot of 5.0 mustangs over the years and didn't realize there were that many differences between it and the truck engines.