I have a 92 f250 supercab long box 4x4 with a 5.8. I have already upgraded the cap, rotor, coil, wires, and plugs. I am going to fix a couple bad u joints and the rear main this weekend. Im just looking for some ways to upgrade the truck on a budget. Im not worried about smog laws since we really dont have any in nebraska. so anything will help. I would just like to get a little more power out of this thing. this is my first gas ford pick up and I dont know too much about it. if you gave me an old 6.9 or 7.3 idi and can get it spinning tires in a week. or if you gave me an old chevy pick up(like 70's) with a small block, I can have it running through the mud pits in super stock placing first each time. so I am very mechanically enclined I just need some Ideas on what would help with this truck.

 

could always look into a roller cam upgrade with rocker upgrade and turbo/supercharger, those are on the more pricey side of things tho, as for simple upgrades your looking more along the lines of clear turns, LED bulbs perhaps, fuzzy dice type of things, maybe bench seat swap to buckets? tho that could get a bit pricey...


first off tell us what you plan to use this truck for, so we can kinda gear our answers to that...do you plan this for your DD or is this more of a toy for the occasional jaunt into the woods for off roading and rock crawling thing?

 

Well right now it is my DD. I would like to see this become another mudder or rock crawler eventually but for now I just want some ideas on what I could do for a little more power and to add a little strength to the truck. Like a solid front axle swap. Ive read into this slightly and am pretty interested but have not been able to find any more information on what it all involves. Like is it just as simple as pulling the old IFS out and dropping in the mono beam or do I need to replace steering components, or reposition leafs? What about tuners I know its a 92 so an OBD I system can only do so much. Just wondering what a tuner is capable on one these trucks. Now I know I said cheap but I can always hold off on something for a couple months to save up for a nice upgrade. all ideas are welcome, thanks

 

Honestly, in my opinion it's really hard to get a cheap upgrade for out trucks these days, but that's coming from a guy who works at food lion and only gets 7.25 an hour, lol. What I'm going to be doing as far as "cheap" upgrades, Im going to be adding a Full Cold Air Intake,Throttle Body Spacer, Full Exhaust soon, and Possible Long tube or Short tube headers...I'm not sure yet, and i have to replace my front main seal. all of that should come up for less than a grand should give you a max boost power of up to at least 30 horse....possible 50 if you get the right parts lol. Also I'm going to try and put a nice chip in it. I know this is a little off the subject and I'm sorry moderators, but I like going into detail with what I put into my truck. lol....Because I too am wanting to get a little more umpth out of the 302 I have in mine, altough already its fast now, i just wanna shave a second or two off of my 1/4 mile time. I know those upgrades might not give me a full second but all I can do is try...If the miles on your truck are over 200K though you might want to consider getting a rebuild kit for it so you can restore most of the power that has been lost to it, thats probably the first thing that I'm going to invest in.

 

The exhaust system on these trucks is pretty restrictive so that should be the first thing changed, and I mean the complete systems from the motor back including the manifolds and cats/Y pipe because that's where the biggest corks are. After than there really isn't anything else worthwhile doing outside the motor besides a timing bump, the intake systems are more than sufficient for a stock motor and then some so any money spent there is wasted and chips do nothing but advance the timing and you can do that for free.. sorry Jason but that's the bad news, maybe this will save you some of your hard earned money. The real performance boosts come when you get those puny little cylinder heads off the motor in exchange for something more suitable(GT40s, Performers, etc), and upgrade the cam from the crappy little stock thing that just barely opens the valves enough to let the motor operate. Matter of fact a cam change is the single best upgrade on these motors, easily the best bang for the buck with the potential to unleash 50-75 real horsepower when combined with the full exhaust system. You can't just throw any cam in the motor however it has to be SD EFI friendly for these early trucks, but even with that restriction there are a few very good aftermarket candidates, Crane 444232, Comp 31-255-5 and 35-255-5, Crane 364211, Comp 35-512-8, Comp 35-349-8, and the of course the Mustang HO cam and the F4TE(explorer cam) both with 1.7 rockers.

 

So should I just delete the cats or buy some aftermarket high flows? and if I mess with the cats the O2 sensors wont be reading what they should causing either a lean or rich condition. also does anyone know whether a rear main seal on a 5.8 is one piece or two? just curious and are there any tricks to replacing a front/rear main seal so it wont leak again. i know pretty much every ford that has come through my shop had either the front or rear main leaking or both like mine. and did ford use knock sensors on obd I one vehicles? if so wont upgrading the cam cause the knock sensors to report a miss? thanks for all the feed back guys. keep it comin

 

If someone hasn't mentioned it I would do a sixlitre tune right off (ie: advance timing and add thick wires and higer power coil)
ignition upgrade and timing bump (no 56K) - Page 2 - FSB Forums

Long tubes and high flow cats will help you breathe better along with some gt-40 heads (5.0 explorer GT40P engine in Bronco - GT40P heads AND GT40P HEADERS that WORK - FSB Forums), and a cam that Paul suggested will get you moving a ton better!

other common junk yard (and part store) upgrades that don't cost much:

1.) fixing the oil pressure guage to read real time oil pressure ($20-$30)
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ure-gauge.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...al-gauges.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...onversion.html

2.) 3G alternator swap (if you have a 2g?)
You can pull a 3g from a 90's taurus in the JY and rebuild it urself too...
http://rjminjectiontech.com/collections/alternators]
Ford Fuel Injection » 3G Install Tech

3.) Mech clutch fan to electric fan for cooling system

4.) rear break conversion from drums to disks

5.) switching from ford oem PSP to saginaw pump (gets rid of power steering whine)

Have we given you enough to spend your money on now????

 

stay away from the CAI stuff, its not needed for our trucks in case you haven't already been told...a better thing to do is get the 7.3 hose that mounts behind the grill of our trucks and that wil help it breath better also

 

thanks guys. Ive looked up the 6L tune up and it looks like I just did that with out knowing it was called a 6L tune up. Ive got a 48K volt coil. msd cap and rotor and some msd wires. so it looks like Im going to completely redo the exhaust soon and upgrade the cam soon. now with the heads are the GT40 heads aluminum? and as for upgrading the fan to electric it sounds like a good Idea because even with a new fan clutch my truck never warms up. which also attributes to the lack of power.

 

The GT 40 heads are cast , with the addition of heads , cam and a full exhaust the 7.3 - I6 air tube won't do any good , the motor will need more air than the stock air box can deliver , so you will wan't to upgrade the intake system.....Lew

 

Both good options, though if you upgrade the cam at some point you may want a cat in the system to help tone down the exhaust note a little.

There is only 1 O2 before the cats and as long as it's present and connected it doesn't matter what you do to the exhaust.

One piece.

On the 5.0 yes but not on the 5.8.

No.

 

IE put an O2 sensor bung in the lower collector of your long tubes (if they don't come with one). Plug your O2 sensor in and everything will be cherry!