I have a 93 f150 4x4 with a 5.0 and e4od... the motor is real tired, I have at my disposal an older 351(nonFI) which I posted about in another thread and received some excellent advice on regarding a swap. I am still considering this as a viable option, however I have come across an '86 5.0 with low miles for a very fair price. With the money i would save by dropping another 5.0 in I could do some performance upgrades.

What are any potential issues I might run into between the two: The '86 is from a full size car which had an AOD. Considering a budget of $500 to play with performance wise what would be my most bang for the buck- I know the 5.0 is not exactly a torque monster so i want to concentrate on low-end power. The current gearing in the F150 is unknown but I know it is high- I am thinking 3.08... A gear swap is in the plan at a future point, to high 3's or low 4's (numerically)...

Any advice and suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thanks

 

There's a great can by lunati that curves the torque curve to idle to 5200 rpm and its only 150 bucks headers and exaughat is a great way to free up some power.

You will want to swap over your accessories to the 86 and your sensors other than that you should be good

 

Also use your wiring and puter

 

Thanks! Will I want to swap my intake and related components over to the '86 as well?

 

Yes you will cause its coming out of a car.


Lunati Voodoo 638-10350700
Lift .466/.483
Duration 250 degrees/256 degrees
Lift Separation Angle 114
RPM Range idle-5200

Works perfectly with speed density.

This is the specs on the cam I was telling you about

 

cool, thanks! Will work with the stock converter?

 

Yup. It is titaly compatible with a stock pick up. The main thing it does is makes you get your peak power at lower rpms and addsbpower to boot. It is designed as a better that stock replacement

 

Totally ooops

 

That 5.0 you're looking at is a very low output version, it has flat top pistons with no dish or eyebrows, the most restrictive heads Ford every produced for these motors(E6SE high swirl casting), and a tiny flat tappet cam, and the whole package was rated at 150hp. Ironically it's a good starting place for a torque build because of the heads which better mix combustion gases than the relatively flat D chamber castings, but it's still only gonna make 5.0 torque numbers so you're not building a giant killer. The kidney bean shape of the combustion chambers in the heads is why these are a good choice for a torque biased motor, clean them up and remove any sharp edges in the chambers, cut back the chamber wall around the intake valve a little so it's not as shrowded, and hog out the exhaust ports as much as you dare from just below the seats to the gasket surface making sure to completely remove the thermactor mountain that is blocking 50% of the exhaust port. Then have the decks shaved down a bit to achieve about a 62cc chamber volume. With that done and a cam like the Lunati suggested above the motor will make very good torque and will be very detonation resistant so it'll also take lots of ignition advance.

 

Thanks for the info 75three90, it very helpful!

Sounds like a good base to start an upgrade with Conanski... and torque is the name of the game. As is the current 5.0 is pretty wheezy, especially with the high gears, high miles, and over-abundance of hills here of western PA.

 

The cheapest thing to do is got to the junk yard and find a 5.0 explorer at get the gt40p heads off of it and throw them on your new motor along with your intake and with that can you will be rock in and rollin

 

what year(s) Explorer? Would the entire 5.0 from the Explorer be a good choice?

 

Anything 96-2000 is going to have GT 40 heads and intake on it but mid 97 they changed to the GT40P heads with the funny spark plug angle which can cause a little but of issues for your exhaust manifold/headers. You don't want the stock ones of the explorer but there are a handful of Mustang headers made to fit the GT40P heads and you could have a custom exhaust made or slighty modify a set of F150 headers to fit.

 

Yes and no I can get heads for 50 to 100 bucks out of a jy so it's a budget call. I say go with the low milage motor swap top ends put the lunati cam in and call it a day

 

seems like sounds advice... sorry for all the questions- I am new to the truck scene. Would the Explorer not be a roller-cam motor though? Also, what differentiates a car intake from a truck intake: torque/rpm range?