My ol' 89 f150 doesnt have the get up and go that big engine should have. I just got in all new Red 10mm Vacuum hose to see if I have some leaks hoping that helps a bit. One of the other things i want to do is clean the injectors or replace them. Any advice is Appreciated, thanks!

 

How many miles are on it?

 

air filter,plugs if gas,fuel filter,injector cleaner to start with will help,

 

I can only guess since it has a 5 digit odometer but if I had to guess at least 179000 but if the odometer rolled over again then 279000

 

So far I've changed the air filter, fuel filter sparg plugs and wires. Only thing I haven't done yet is try to clean the injectors I kinda wonder if the fuel rail is clogging up too?

 

Not likely, the fuel system is constantly circulating a large volume of fuel between the engine and tanks so the only things that clog up are the filter and injectors. Cat converters this old are well past their due date and the stock exhaust on this truck was restrictive to begin with so anything you can do to the system including cutting most of it off will increase power output.

 

With a lot of miles you're probably looking at a complete rebuild to get adequate power back. A set of GT40 heads would help, decent cam, etc. Probably just flat worn out, rings, bearings, valve stem seals. I think that's a flat tappet cam, and believe me at 279,000 miles it's shot!

 

Probably Right only thing that makes me think it might be less is because the truck had been sitting for 4 years prior to the guy i got it from who fixed it up turned out the plug wires were crossed and that was the fix he did haha

 

. HotRod mag did a rear wheel dyno on a Ford 400" and got only like 57 HP because several of the cam lobes were gone and valves were leaking... a rebuild with carefully chosen mild performance parts brought it up to 300+ HP...

. 351W in my boat seemed to be at about 150 HP... an earlier owner had apparently put one deeper dished piston and a 125HP emissions 302" car cam in it... I brought it up to 425 HP during a rebuild....

 

Jeez I guess I might as well start looking into a rebuild I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that for a little while but yea besides the low power I only get 5.3 mpg on highway. I should be getting at least 10, its not like I have 35" tires on it

 

. In gentle driving, you should prolly be getting around 15 MPG... gas savings could pay for a rebuild... the GT40P fast burn heads SDDL-UP mentioned would also help MPG and power... I think they were used on certain 5.0L Exploders... research here, look in junkyards... look at the burn color of the insulators of all 8 sparkplugs to see if anything funny going on with injectors... pictures available online of plug colors and what they mean...

 

Well i went ahead and got a cherry picker and an engine stand probably gonna save up for the rebuild and start it in June or so depending on how much it will cost in total. I'll probably start a new thread for it as well and call it "351W rebuild most bang for my buck". Wish I had more money for the rebuild but the military doesnt pay that well . AND will those GT40P's work on a 5.8L motor?

 

. Oh sure, the GT40's work well on a 351W...

. Start a new thread down in the engines section for more help from other 351W owners/builders...


. Where are you located?

 

I'm in Tucson, AZ, and alright if those gt40's don't cost a fortune I'll look into them. I will also start a new thread probably later today

 

I have a 1986 F250 4x4 with a stuck 351 that I got unstuck and used for 5 years hauling wood and plowing. Just pulled it this fall and had it bored .02 over. My compression was 130-140psi each cyl, but it should be 170 range I think.
First thing to do is figure out what your compression is. Probably needs rings and a bore or at minimum, a hone.
You might watch Craigslist in your area for someone pulling a 351w. Lots easier to find a decent one and just swap it...unless you will be driving it a lot and need one to last a long time...