Hey Folks,

I have a '92 F150 that was my grandfather's work truck for 18 years. I've owned her for 2. He was a maintenance freak so she's in pretty damn good shape. She's got 220,000 on the clock and still pulls real strong. For a truck that spent its life in New England, near the ocean and saturated in road salt, she's got surprisingly little rust. Lately she developed a tap that goes away after about 5 minutes. The tap only happens in the morning when I go to work and sometimes when I leave work. No taps if I run the truck, go somewhere and then start the truck back up ~1-2 hours later. So I'm figuring it is valve / rocker / pushrod / tappet related. Haven't checked it yet, but the noise is not coming from the lower end. Oil level & pressure are good. I need to check the oil pump to make sure nothing is blocking it but who the hell wants to drop the pan on the 4.9?? Not me. I'll be taking the pushrod and valve covers off to check for slop but that's not a problem, time is.

In all honesty, the taps couldn't have come at a better time. I need to replace my core rad support and I'm planning on doing an engine rebuild. The front clip will be off so now's the time to do it.

1. Has anyone replaced their factory cam with the Clifford Performance cam and kit? If so, how'd that go? Is it a quality cam and are the rods and tappets that come with it quality as well? I've seen some vids on the web but never any talk about the whole process in relation to my application. I'm planning on having the head taken to a head shop in my area to have it cleaned and to have the valves, springs, and all of that stuff replaced. Wondering if I can use OEM type valves with this cam? Not sure, Clifford isn't clear on this.

2. Has anyone replaced their factory header/manifold with the Clifford headers? How'd that go?

Now the real concern:

3. Has anyone done this to a Speed Density system? The '92 is SD so I know she's not going to like the new cam right away. Unfortunately there are NO shops in the Rhode Island area (huge area lol) that are currently programming SD ECUs.

So, here's where I'm at. Since it is hard to find a 4.9 in a junk yard (at least around here) I'm wondering if it would be worth it to convert my truck to a MAF system. I believe the '96 was a MAF system but it is OBDII. I'm fairly certain the '95 was MAF but OBDI so if that's the case then I should be able to replace the ECU, Wiring Harness, and intake / MAF sensor... at least I assume. This is do-able, just not ideal. I wouldn't mind dropping a carbed 4.9 in there but I'd rather have EFI and I can't legally carb this thing in Rhode Island until 2017 (California-Style Emissions Testing) and she's my daily driver so that won't work. My only other option is to mail my ECU to someone who specializes in SD systems. Hell if I know who does that so if anyone has some preferred shops and wants to share, that'd be wonderful. I know I could drop a 351 in there or something like that but I want to keep her as original as possible and I really like the 4.9.

Guidance and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Mike

 

Well, you are in one of the two right places to be. The other one is here: FORDSIX PERFORMANCE • View forum - 240-300 "Big Block" Six Performance

Sit back and start reading. Take notes, make a plan and work the plan. Keep in mind the EFI doesn't lend itself to major modifications without the ECU going bonkers...plenty has been written on that on these Forums.

Avoid Clifford...period.

Comp, Isky and Crane make cams that are computer friendly. Check out their website catalogs and call or Email their Tech Support for specific questions on their cams. Most of us with carbed engines use the EFI exhaust manifolds as an upgrade to the stock log manifold. JMO, headers are not worth expending the resources for especially when considering a number of problems that may come with them.

 

I don't believe 4.9 EECs can be reflashed.