Hey all!

My 15 yr old daughter and i purchased a 82 F100 "Flairside" To restore as her first truck. The one in the avitar.

It has a 2bbl 302 with an AOD and a 9" running 3.0:1 gears.

The goal of the project is a daily driver that has enough "kahunas" to take to the HS drags on the weekends.

After some advice from a respected machine shop, I aquired a 351W with a roller cam from a 95 f250 for $300- It even ran when it came ito the wrecking yard, so i have a first hand account that it is a good core that has nothing broken or bent.

Im dropping it off to the machine shop next week after it gets pulled and giving the shop a $2000 budget cap. This needs to include the machine work.

The build target ammount does NOT include the 650 CFM carb, HEI ignition, Headers/exhaust that i plan to run.

Can you all offer advice to me on what i need to be asking my machinist for to hit a targeted HP of 250-300HP?

ANY advice would be helpfull- Im thinking that i want to use the stock heads IF possible. The shop is reputable and has been making engines for quite some time.

Cam combo's???

Compression rating? (daily driver remember)

Different valves?

HELP

 

250-300hp requires nothing more than letting the motor breath, and that only amounts to a cam, intake, and full exhaust on an otherwise stock spec rebuild. If you can lay your hands on a set of GT40 heads from an Explorer or Lightning, or some lightly used aftermarket heads by all means snap them up, but that's just gravy really and not absolutely necessary for this power level. Don't put any serious amount of money in the stock heads, if they need anything more than a valve lap and guides start shopping for rebuilt replacements or lightly used heads that are ready to go, the stock heads just aren't worth it. I'd suggest the comp cams 35-412-8 with an Eddy Performer and 600cfm Holley carb. The other thing you're going to have to address is the rear axle gearing and trans, with the steep OD of the AOD you could easily go as high as 4.10 but for the sake of transmission life you're gonna need at least 3.55's in there or the trans won't be long for this world, matter of fact it will need a shift kit just to have a chance of surviving behind a healthy 351 and don't be surprised if it starts to slip anyway, the early AODs were built pretty weak. All those weaknesses can be addressed with the updates from later versions and aftermarket preformance parts.. but this requires a trans rebuild of course. Overall the AOD isn't that expensive to rebuild and can be built to handle just about any power level, see Ford-AOD.com the ultimate AOD Transmission Perfromance Website for all the goodies.

 

Conanski-

I had the thought that i would be changing the rear end ratio. 3.50, 3.70, 0r 3.89 were on the radar screen. Thoughts?

As far as the AOD, shift kit was on my list. I was also going to examine the torque converter and if i had the correct stall speed. Not sure what is optimum here.

If i get gt40 heads or gt 40p heads, whats the difference? I have a GOOD salvage sorce- what rigs do i target and what casting numbers am i looking for?

What pistons do i run? Compression ratio? Im told that for every jump in compression of 1.0 that i gain 20 HP all being equal? Is this true?

I plan on a good HEI sys to go with it.

Also, everyone says good intake. Edelbrock performer? Performer RPM, Victor Jr? Weiand Stealth? Lots of good intakes-Wich one is best?

What would you do? I have a golden oppertunity here and just dont want to mess it up


Sean

 

Depending upon tire size I'd say 3.55 to 3.73 gears for 28-30" tires, good performance with the potential for equally good fuel milage. GT40 heads flow about 20% better than the stock heads, and the P version flow a little better again but present header fitment issues because of a radical spark plug angle so they're not as desirable. GT40 heads have F1, F3, and F4ZE casting numbers and were found on '96-97.5 Explorer/Mountaineer primarally though also showed up on the G1 Lightning and '93-95 Cobra Mustang, while the P heads are F7ZE and are found on '97.5+ Explorer/Mountaineer. If you want to run regular pump gas you'll want to keep CR at about 9-9.5:1, stock pistons deliver 8.8:1 so you don't want to much beyond flat tops with valve eyebrows. The Eddy Performer is sufficient for this though the Weiand Stealth is also highly recommended, the heads we're talking about here flow about 200cfm per intake port max so you don't need anything hugh.

 

thank you! Specifics i can actually use. I will be looking for GT40 heads on ebay to see what can be found.