Ok, so i almost have all the little crap ironed out with the new rig, and i'm ready to make some plans for upgrades. My question is, well, what should i do? Im happy with the stock ride height and 31" tires for now, they will do for what im using it for (mostly back and forth to work). Are there any weak links i can fix? what engine mods will a stock 351w respond best to? It's an '84 with the 4v h.o. Any advice will be appreciated.

 

The very best you can start with is an exhaust upgrade, Longtube ceramic coated headers will do the trick, that and 3" piping all the way back. Weak links? I have found none so far (but yours is different to mine, so maybe there are other issues...), but you could start to think about rust-proofing the shell of the tailgate and whatever else you feel that needs extra protection.

 

Even short equal-length headers are a good upgrade. The constriction in the OEM exhaust is the simplest "performance killer" to rectify in these trucks. Check out the red link in my signature for the most common issues that folks have with these things.

 

saginaw power steering pump form an econoline, theyre better and dont whine like the stock pumps

 

Alright so exhaust sounds like a must. Is the saginaw pump a direst fit or will i need a different bracket? is so will the econoline bracket fit? My steering box is a little sloppy too so i guess a new box is in order. From what i've read on this forum Redhead is the way to go? great ideas so far, thanks guys. Would an aluminum dual plane intake help much? or will that not make much difference unless a bigger cam is put in?

 

you need the van bracket + high pressure line, after that its bolt-on. 5.0 and 5.8 brackets are interchangable

 

The first mod I recomend is new ignition. I used the MSD and it is a plug in 1 1/2 MPG improvment. It also obviously runs better. I honestly felt more differnce then shorty headers made. Alot of people have had trouble with MSD, so if you dont want to go with them, pick another MFG. (there are sevral) But I want to make it clear, I have only good to say about it.

 

What all would be included in that? Just a coil and distributor? Would it benefit from just an MSD coil or would that be kind of pointless without a nicer dist.? Also which coil/dist. do you recommend from MSD?

 

I was gunna say underdrive pulleys will be your biggest bang for the buck until I saw that its an 84. dont know if they make them for v belts........other than that, a set of gt40 heads, and maybe an edelbrock performer intake and cam would really wake it up......then headers and exhaust of course

 

I've got a '94 Bronco 5.8L with auto & 4" lift that is otherwise stock.
What's the best DIY go-faster performance mod I could do for $500?

Front & rear gears?
New exhaust tailpipes & muffler?
Header?
Something else?

 

exhaust, headers, new y pipe and hi flow cat..

 

I have yet to find a full exhaust system that was less than $800.
Most are well over $1k.

 

go to a reputable exhaust shop, I had my exhaust built from the headers back all new for under $400. That included the hi flow cat.. I already had the headers (JBA) and Muffler.

 

Thank you, @Kemicalburns


I forgot to mention. I have 295/75/16 and stock gears (3.55?).
I've read these are about the same thing as 33" tires. Or 33.5" tires.
Would full exhaust still be the first way to go over upgrading to 4.10 or 4.11 gears front & rear?

 

thats a tough call. Gears are spendy and something you only want to do once. If that tire size is your max for awhile then get the gears. With that said exhaust upgrades are an inexpensive way to gain some giddy up. just dont expect a huge bump in power unless the system is really clogged.

a cheap method for getting 4.10's is going with a D50 center pumpkin as most of those are 4.10 gearing, grab the stub shaft which is an upgrade anyway. its a direct bolt inplace of your current D44 center pumpkin. then you are only paying for gears out back. or track down an 8.8 with 4.10s

if you plan on going to 35's i would run 4.88's . i found this to be a great setup on mine.