Hey everyone. My truck has alot of miles on it so I have decided that in the near future im going to pull the motor and rebuild it. I have read that it is worth stroking the 351 so I would like to do so but can not get the right direction on google haha. I have a 1996 F150 ext. Cab with the 5.8. Any and all advice is a great help to me. Btw. This truck will be used as a regular truck. Pulling trailers, hauling things etc. Im not looking for a race truck just want some good ol' truck power.

 

402 or 408 is best bang for the buck, because its a good compromise between cubic inches and cost . Damn near pointless to build a stroker with stock heads, so misewell budget for a good set.

Plenty of info on google or search function in this forum.

 

I did a 393" kit because it uses stock 302 pistons, but in the end I don't think there's much cost difference.

I'd say GT40 heads from a pre-97 explorer / mountaineer would be the minimum, however, unless you can get a good deal on cores it might be cheaper to get aftermarket heads. Maybe you can talk the machine shop into exchanging the GT40 heads for your E7's

 

I was thinking 393. But I dont know if that is best or not. I def wouldnt use stock heads. I am trying to get some torque and horse power but keep compression low for mpg purposes.

 

Did you use gt40 heads on your 393? And how did you overall like the 393? Im also not sure what cam to use along with it. Im def thinking on doing the 393 though. Seems more practical for me

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think you would lose MPG with higher compression. Just more power

 

Keep compression low for mpg purposes? Who told you that?

 

Sorry. Alittle mix up on my part. I mean stay lower on compression for the type gas I will use. I still want to use regular gas.

 

Oh you can go up to at least 10:1 on pump gas. I'm not sure what 351's are stock, but I know my 460 is barely over 8:1.

 

Thats a good thing. Thank yall. Just trying to get an idea of where to go with a 393. I have never done it before so trying to figure out what heads and cam and all that stuff is where I get confused.

 

I don't know what you would want for heads. But to pick a cam, check out Cam Quest, its awesome, it gives you estimated power numbers too, not sure how accurate they are.

 

I'm not an expert on this, but I'd be really surprised if you can run 10:1 compression on regular 87 octane, at least not without retarding the timing an awful lot. You ought to be OK on premium, if the concern is being able to buy gas at a normal station rather than in 55 gallon drums from a distributor. but don't expect to be able to use the cheap stuff.

 

You're correct, I believe you can run 9 on 89 and 10 on 91. However if you wanna go with E85 or water-meth injection you can go to at least 13.

 

stock engines are barely over 8:1. makes for a very soft and abysmal throttle pedal. i'll take higher compression all day long, especially in a truck engine that will be used for work, and torque is a must. when setup properly, and accounting for the added cost per gallon, it'll at least break even with an 87 counterpart with the addition of great pedal feel and better overall driving experience.


the only problem with using the 393 is the pistons themselves. the short skirt can promote premature cylinder/skirt wear. I cant attest to it personally, because ive never run a short piston stroker for long periods of time, but its not a coincidence that engines utilizing long strokes across the board also use taller pistons respectively.


I'd get a kit that comes with pistons, with some high flow small"er" port heads, and run 10.5-11:1 compression, and of course an SD friendly cam with 1.7 rockers. intake work and long tubes are a given, I assume. you will not be displeased.

 

Since his truck is a 96 it will have mass air. So his mods are also endless