Hey All,

So just looking for some advice and opinions here, I finally found a donor motor im going to check out this weekend, its in a 94 bronco with a 5.8 and a rear dana 60 and front dana 44 all for 500$. Im lookin to swap the 5.8 for my 5.0 in my 95 f150 and need suggestions for the build. The motor will get a fresh tune up and new gaskets and such but im lookin for some more power to it. I dont know a whole lot about cams but i know quite a few people on here do. Im really wanting more low end torque to " get up and go " Not really looking to bore the engine as this will be a budget build as much as possible. What are some ideas to get this thing some nice power. I may get it bored but dont really want to unless its needed for the power im looking for. I've seen these motors kick out 800-1000 HP before at max bore and a super charger + nos, My idea is to push this thing maybe around 4-500 hp if possible without a charger, Any input would be helpful. Once i start the build i will get a in depth thread going so others can see

 

more power is one thing, but what you are asking for really doesnt make any sense. you want more low end torque, but to get that you will have to sacrifice high end horsepower.

so before i can give you good recommendations on parts combinations, first i need to know exactly what you want from this motor, and what you are going to do with the vehicle when you are finished with it.

is this going to be a race truck, a pre runner, or a daily driver that goes out in the wilderness and you do some wheeling now and then, or even once a week.

 

I should have phrased it better. What I'm looking for is to be able to get up and go or take off nicely, I want to be able to hit the gas and go instead of slowly getting to speed, every now and then maybe show off a bit ( daily driver 80% of the time, 20% race truck )
It won't see off-road as I've got a 4x4 I'm working on as well

 

ok then, now i can give you general recommendations, as well as some specific ones;

lets start with the cam shall we?

you want a cam that works best in the 1000-5000 rpm range. your choice of flat tappet or roller cam, i prefer the roller cam myself. when you look at cams, the manufacturer will tell you what rpm range the cam was designed to work best in. since we have the rpm range set, you can now select the cam by lift, duration, valve overlap, and lobe separation angle.

some suggestions

valve lift - you dont want to go too high as you will run into clearance issues between the valves and the pistons, so keep the lift between .472 - .520" lift. you can go with a single pattern or dual pattern cam, dual pattern cams you should pick one that favors higher exhaust flow. for instance something like a .472"in/.496"ex lift.

duration - you have a choice of advertised duration vs duration @ .050 lift. advertised duration is just that, what the manufacturer advertises. they start measuring lift as soon as the valve moves, until the valve stops moving. they also measure lift starting and ending at .050 valve lift.

so advertised duration select a cam that has no more than about 270 degrees or so, and at .050 lift, select one that has a duration of less than about 225 degrees.

valve overlap and lobe separation angle tend to go hand in hand. the wider the lobe separation angle the lower the valve overlap, and vice versa. i like cams with 110 degrees lobe separation angle as they are a good compromise between low end performance and top end power. the wider the lobe separation angle, the more dynamic cylinder pressure you have. this is nice, but you can run into detonation issues at low speeds. the narrower the angle, the lower the dynamic compression ratio, but you hurt the low end performance.

the cam i selected when i was going to build a 351w for my mustang, and will use in my 289, has 260 degrees advertised duration, .480 valve lift, and 110 degrees lobe separation angle. this cam has a fairly flat, and wide, torque curve, and it still produces good power as well in the upper street rpm ranges.

heads - next to the cam they are important for building power where you want it. with a 351w, i would go with a head that has a 205cc intake runner. this gives enough port volume to supply the engine, but does not hurt low speed air velocity. you also want a 64cc combustion chamber, along with 2.02in/1.60ex valves.

intake - a dual plane intake, something like a performer rpm or weiand stealth intake will again give you good air velocity as well as good volume to feed the engine.

headers - a good tri-y header with a 1 5/8" primary tube works real nice for low end and mid range power, and again doesnt really hurt the top end.

you want to keep your static compression ratio around 9.5:1, this usually means a flat top piston and the aforementioned 64cc combustion chambers.

for an ignition system, its hard to beat the DS2 distributor, hooked to a chrysler "orange" ignition box, and an msd blaster lll coil. i used this very combination on my old 66 falcon, and it would light off in 30 degree weather, usually on the first try, with the stock one barrel carb on the 170 six.

for rocker arms i would run a good full roller rocker with a stock 1.6 ratio.

this combination should get you around 380-400hp with a fairly wide torque curve from about 1500-4500rpm, and would make a real nice daily driver, and still surprise people at the track.

 

Getting 400 to 500 FWHP is going to take a lot of money. The factory EFI intake is a boat anchor, E7 heads are poor and if that 5.8L has a flat tappet cam it is very anemic as well.

Do yourself a favor, set a budget then add 25%. That's just for the engine. Once you get passed ~325HP the $$ increase exponentially. Your stock fuel system and drivetrain will maxout around that level.

300 FWHP can easily be attained with headers, GT40 heads and the cam Conanski usually recommends. You can just sneak under the wire with 19 lb. injectors.Anything beyond that will require substantially more money and parts.

 

If it's stock it would have an 8.8 rear axle.


Well you're on the right track, as delivered the 5.8 makes quite a bit more lowend torque than the 5.0 and that can be boosted even more with simple mods. With no other changes to the truck the 5.8 I had in my '90 was 3 seconds faster 0-60 than the 5.0.

On a '94 5.8 the best bang for your buck are longtube headers with a 2.5" single exhaust and 1.7 roller rockers. So what is it gonna be, a no holes barred kick buildup or a quick swap in with a few minor upgrades to wake it up?

See.. now you've gone off the deep end, 400+ is double stock and waaaaaaaay beyond what the factory EFI system can accommodate, this simply does not qualify as a budget build because you have to replace the whole topend of the motor(heads, cam and intake), plus upgrade the fuel pump, injectors, and MAF meter, and then get it all tuned.. and that's assuming you are starting with a MAF truck to begin with.

 

Was hoping you would find my thread and chime in, always enjoy reading your posts. 3 seconds faster then a 5.0 is a real nice start, Personally Im kind of leaning towards the no holds buildup for some real nice power. My 5.0 is on its way out and probably will last another year so i can keep driving it around until i get the 5.8 done without a problem. I dont plan on anything insanely crazy, 400-500 would be enough to satisfy my needs ( in this truck anyways ). I read one of your posts the other day where u recommended the Crane 444232 cam, Is that what you would suggest in my application or should i go with something different? As i said before i dont know a whole lot about cams and the internals but i've been researching and learning every day to better myself. As far as the axle as well, the axles are not stock, i talked to him last night and the floor pans are rusted though and the b pillar is rusted badly on the driver side which is why hes selling it for 500, about 80 miles from me so i plan on going to check it out soon and see if the engine is even good as he said it was or if i need to keep looking

 

Thank you for all that info, that is a hugely great start for me and helps alot, all within my range as well and in the range of the power im looking for


Yeah i figured that as much, i was planning on already dumping the stock intake and getting a nicer one, ive heard everyone doing these builds go with gt40's so i plan on looking into those as well, little bit at a time will probably be how it goes since money doesn't grow on trees

 

Have you actually had a truck with that much power? I think you might be grossly underestimating what some simple boltons would do to wake yours up.

4-500whp is ALOT for these old light trucks. You will have a slower 0-60 just due to spinning, hah!

 

Ha, no i havent, ive only had older trucks with max 150-200 hp in the higher range ( ie. 5.0's ) Thats why i was thinking with a new cam, heads and exhaust system that should be plently enough

 

I think you'd be happy with a refreshed 5.0 with heads/cam/exhaust, aiming for 300whp and a set of rear gears and quality tires.

 

I mean probably i would but the motors got close to 210k on it for what it would cost in a rebuild kit, heads, cam, exhaust, and gears it would be cheaper to get the 5.8. Plus down the road i can always add on to it. the bronco its in is only 500, that comes with good axles( i believe the rear is running 4.10 ) good tranny, and of course good engine. For me 5.0 wont ever have enough give, even max bore if im correct only goes to 348 or around there, and to get it at that point is quite a bit of $$.

 

Fair enough. Even so, the same applies to the 5.8. You can swap it in, but it doesnt need to be a all-out build. Refresh it and do the basics and you'll be set.

 

Yeah thats compltely true and most likely what i will do to start off, at the least its still much better then a bogged down 5.0

 

Well it's gonna be expensive, you need to do a complete rebuild with a stroker rotating assembly($2000), buy really good after heads and intake($3000), a healthy roller cam($350), fuel and EFI upgrades($2000), a built transmission($3500) and a beefy rear axle.

I bet your would be happy with a solid 300hp 351.

That motor should have a roller cam or at least be roller ready so I'd suggest the Comp 35-349-8 instead, then just add GT40 heads and longtubes and bolt it in.