I have a chance to get a 351W to replace the worn out 302 in my 92 f150.

There are a few questions I have that I haven't been able to easily find the answers to by the search function.

1. I know I'll need to change the ecm so the engine runs as good as possible, but does it matter what number the ecm is? Some are cheap, some are not as far as searching on the auto parts stores websites.

2. Is one source better than another to get a ecm from?

3. Can the electronics from my 302 distributor fit into the 351's distributor? The 351 was in a carbureted application.

4. The person I'm talking to says it has a computer friendly RV cam in it. How big of a cam can the computer handle?

5. Can one of those performance chips on my stock computer allow it to runs the 351 effectively?

 

Ideally you want a complete EFI 5.8 motor to do this swap because none of the EFI parts on your 5.0 will fit.. this is not the same block with more displacement it's a different block. I did this swap the hard way starting with just a bare 351 shortblock and it took quite a while to collect all the correct parts. A cam designed for performance carb applications won't work very well with the SD EFI system in this truck either so I suggest you swap it for the Crane 444232 which works very well in this motor.
If you start with a carbed 351 then you need the complete 5.8 EFI intake with fuel rails, a 5.8 EFI distributor, 5.8EFI timing cover(serpentine belt), 5.8 serpentine crank and water pump pulleys, and a rear sump 5.8 oilpan and pickup if not already equipped. Then you will need a 28oz trans flexplate or flywheel to match the transmission in your truck, the 5.0 version is 50oz and cannot be used. All the stock engine wiring will connect directly to the 5.8 and the motor will run on the 5.0 computer but it'll run better on a 5.8 version. And more specifically on that topic the computer must match the engine/transmission combo since most of the available automatics were computer controlled by that same computer so you must get the correct code for your particular combo, and you don't want to use an auto computer with a manual or mechanical auto(AOD or C6) as it will generate a ton of error codes when it doesn't see that electronically controlled transmission.

 

Thanks for the info. I knew about a few of those things, but it's always the little things that hang up a project. The pulleys are different, really? and the timing cover? SMH

I might just wait when a friend is going to pull his 302 out of a 96 4x4 and get his engine. It's completely stock but has fewer miles than mine and hasn't been subject to the abuse mine was.