Hello new member here . Been lurking around for some time but now feel i have something worth posting (well maybe lol) . I bought a 86 f150 2wd long bed last summer for $900 and have been slowly working on it . It was a farm truck for most of its life and has low mileage for the year . 103,xxx as of now . in 94 at 78,xxx the engine blew(302 efi) and was replaced at the dealership with engine #E5TZ(85 302 with the 86 efi on it) .I have all the paper work for the work done . It sat for the last few years before i bought it .The body is rough but the frame is very solid as well as the bed floor .

I have picked up a set of 93 ford lighting cylinder heads(3bar gt40) with original 1:7 crane roller rockers for $300 and a set of stock mustang gt headers for about $30 . I am in the procces of gathering the parts to install them and to build a dual exhaust system . I also plan to do the Taurus e-fan conversion , drop the rear 2" to level it , performance valve body for the AOD trans and a ford traction lock diff.

Please excuse the poor body work ,it is a bit beyond my skill level of turning a wrench lol

 

Welcome to FTE (well, thanks for de-lurking), and thanks for the pictures.

 

Might as well do some port work while those heads are laying around. Even if you just remove the thermactor bumps from the exhaust side and doing a simple gasket match you will see a difference.

BTW what are your future plans for the powerplant?

 

Yes, welcome to de-lurking. And I agree about removing the thermactor bumps - it helps the exhaust significantly.

 

Thank you for the welcome guys . I do not have the skill or tools to port the heads .other things i will be doing are measuring for correct push rod length and ordering some hardened push rods .I would love a supercharger but that's way out of my budget lol .I could probably afford a basic nitrous system but no idea if that would work with the speed density system ,I am guessing not . I will at some point get better headers , using these to build an exhaust that uses the more available mustang shorty headers . I don't like the collectors long tube headers use they seem to always end up leaking after a while .

I will be looking for some doors ,fenders and a tail gate . I have yet to find a 80-86 at the junk yard . Are the new aftermarket parts any good ? the patch panels other than the floors i bought sucked pretty badly and required a lot of modification to fit . I have though of swapping to a 90s front clip but i like the bull nose .

 

Excited for the turn out, looking forward to this build

 

I'm going to throw this out there since nobody's said it yet, those headers are for a Fox car and the driver side header will not fit the stock truck exhaust. Also, front clip swaps are a pain in the butt, I just recently swapped my '92 to an '80 front clip, it was not fun but looks a lot better. Bullnoses are awesome, keep it and I promise it'll grow on ya.

As for superchargers and nitrous, your SD system will go berzerk. If you're good with schematics, and don't mine repinning your EEC harness a little, you could easily throw the whole Lightning 351 or a mildly built 351 in it and run the SD system. Keeping the SD 302 computer in it now you can even go as far as building a 347 stroker if you don't bump the cam profile up too much. However, if you really wanna get involved, convert the truck to MAF, throw whichever engine you want in it, experiment with some power-adders, and just get a custom chip burned for the PCM.

 

None of the stock exhaust system will be used . I will be building a dual exhaust system that exits in front of the passenger rear tire with a single dual in/out muffler and 2.5" pipe .

I don't really want to convert to a 90's front clip but its all i can seem to find .I do like the bull nose . I might get some of the aftermarket fenders but i would prefer factory doors . the after market stuff is always so thin and cheap imo .

This is my only vehicle so i can't really go to crazy with it .I need something resembling gas mileage .It's not to bad right now . the heads , 1.7 roller rockers , hi flow exhaust , are what i will be doing now . Ordering most of what i need to install it Thursday .

After that i will be doing a taurus e-fan conversion getting a stage 1 sliverfox aod valve body and a ford traction lock diff . i plan to keep my current 3.55 gears . I will lower it a bit and get some new tiers as well . might look for a used set of aluminum wheels or just clean and paint the stock steelies. It should be a noticeable difference , not as good as a stock lightning but for what i can afford it should do . i hope

 

Sounds like you're covered then. Yeah the aftermarket stuff isn't great quality usually, might be able to find the OEM parts. The Lightning 351 was only pushed as far as federal regulations would allow, you could build one even better and more powerful for not a ton of cash. The AOD will help a lot, something like a .65:1 OD, and the 3:55's are a good set for usable torque. As long as the build isn't too radical you should make decent mileage still. Your 302 may surprise you though, I love them. Plenty of go-fast, just not much grunt. And personally, if you're on a budget the steelies with chrome lugs look pretty tough.

Good luck though, you got more ambition than I for sure. If you plan on starting Thursday, be prepared to work til Sunday. These trucks are the definition of Murphy's Law.

 

i will be ordering a good deal of stuff from summit Thursday . i don't expect to get it until the week after due to the forth . i I don't pull any thing and the most i typically haul in the bed is some tree stands and deer in the fall .the 302 has plenty of grunt for my needs . Murphy and i are already well acquainted , i suspect he will visit

 

I let Murph out from time to time, but he lives in my shop.

 

What are you ordering from Summit? I used to be in this mindset for many years, it's a conspiracy with the magazines. You read the magazines and all the hype, and then you start ordering a bunch of stuff from the suppliers who advertise in the magazine.

It's a lot of fun, but it's very expensive. I am not knocking their methods, it's the American way, but if you add up what you are spending at summit, you probably could actually find a used 351w lightning engine and stick it in there, or build a 351w to fit in there. You can also do some purchasing on ebay and possibly save some money. There are a lot of mustang guys doing the magazine thing, and they get rid of a lot of good used hi-po parts on ebay and other places.

 

Just to let you know they are out there. They are expensive though. Here are some 351w lightning used engines.
1996
Engine
Ford Truck F150 MARINE APPLICATION AER REMAN 84-05 BLOCK# M35185F NOF $2250 Trans West Auto and Truck Parts - PRP West USA-UT(Lehi) Request_Quote 800-963-0200 Request_Insurance_Quote
1994
Engine
Ford Truck 150 5-94,5.8,G,NRAI,OILED,X72128 60,543 A OG0002 $2000 Kubis Auto Parts, Inc. USA-NY(Auburn) E-mail 1-800-233-3799
1995
Engine
Ford Truck F150 NOTES 140-180 COMP 5.8L, VIN R (8th digit, Lightning, 8-351W),MI=83K 83,000 A P131140 $1953.33 Gundies Auto Recycling USA-WA(Seattle-Portland) Request_Quote 1-800-444-4344 Request_Insurance_Quote
1993
Engine
Ford Truck F150 160 COMP,18 VCM,5.8L,LIGHTNING,TESTED 00140058 $1850 Pacific Auto Salvage, Inc. Will Call Only - SCADA, ARA USA-CA(American-Canyon) E-mail 707-255-1938
1993
Engine
Ford Truck F150 WBG17487 $1642 WeaverParts.com USA-SC(Greenville) Request_Quote 888-957-3231 Request_Insurance_Quote
1994
Engine
Ford Truck F150 WBG16058 $1613 WeaverParts.com USA-SC(Greenville) Request_Quote 888-957-3231 Request_Insurance_Quote
1995
Engine
Ford Truck F150 WBG15978 $1591 WeaverParts.com USA-SC(Greenville) Request_Quote 888-957-3231 Request_Insurance_Quote
1996
Engine
Ford Truck F150 WBG16299 $1581 WeaverParts.com USA-SC(Greenville) Request_Quote 888-957-3231 Request_Insurance_Quote
1993
Engine
Ford Truck F150 5.8L,190 COMP 86,827 A YA0014 $1250 Condon's Auto Parts USA-MD(Westminster) Request_Quote 1-800-543-7274 Request_Insurance_Quote
1994
Engine
Ford Truck F150 5.8 HOP 25/45 COMP 145/150 1-9-13 144,022
--km--
231,919 A 13R012 1050
--Can--
$1050.00 Southside Auto Wreckers Can-SK(Weyburn) E-mail 306-842-2641
1993
Engine
Ford Truck 150 5.8L,AOD,06/93,MFI,RWD 94,048 027215 $Call Feezle Auto Wrecking USA-PA(Enon-Valley) Request_Quote 1-724-336-5512 Request_Insurance_Quote
1994
Engine
Ford Truck F150 LIGHTNING,5.8,EFI,ATOD,RWD,Facto ry 128,781 A 11C078 $Call Mitchell's Used Auto Parts USA-GA(Conyers) E-mail 1-800-682-9257 1-770-483-4716
1994
Engine
Ford Truck F150 5.8L,LIGHTING,COMPLETE,-329 UPPER 240089 $Call A-1 Used Parts USA-FL(Moorehaven) Request_Quote 1-863-946-3535/1-888-946-2234 Request_Insurance_Quote
1995
Engine
Ford Truck F150 5.8L,AOD,1-95,RWD,RUNS GOOD 93,119 A 10071 $Call Albion Auto Parts-ELITE USA-NJ(Berlin) Request_Quote 1-856-768-2250 Request_Insurance_Quote
1993
Engine
Ford Truck F150 LIGHTNING,5.8L,2/9 1FTF15R2PLA95344 A95344 $Call Bronco Truck & Auto Salvage USA-TX(Houston) Request_Quote 800-383-1961 / 281-448-2792 Request_Insurance_Quote
1995
Engine
Ford Truck F150 MOTOR IS COMPLETE W-HARNESS COMPUTE 058783 $Call J&V Auto SALVAGE-ELITE USA-NY(South-Hampton) Request_Quote 631-283-5111 Request_Insurance_Quote
1995
Engine
Ford Truck F150 0 A WAP50300 $Call WeaverParts.com USA-GA(College-Park) E-mail 877-809-8072 /678-783-1433
1996
Engine
Ford Truck F150 0 A WBM11956 $Call WeaverParts.com USA-NC(Monroe) Request_Quote 888-959-3231 / 704-261-0102 Request_Insurance_Quote

 

Ordering gaskets , fasteners , a few tools , thread sealer and a few other things . It's cheaper than the local auto zone or O'reilly and i get it the day after i order it in most cases . I don't read any car magazines . doing what i am already doing is all i can afford , i had to save for a couple months just to get the cylinder heads . in a couple months i'll get stuff to do the e-fan then in a couple more months the trans valve body and a couple months after that the traction lock diff . then tiers and some more body work (yay sanding ...) .

I'm not trying to build a lighting clone by any means . Just a sporty 2wd truck . Just kinda lighting inspired , if i can get about 230hp at the crank i will be pretty happy . If i had the cash I would likely do more but as the title indicates i am pretty broke . heck i don't even have a credit card just a debit card to my checking . keeps the debt away

 

The 302's are fun, and plenty powerful, you'd be surprised at just how much it's capable of. It's no lightweight by any means, and I'd go so far as to say it'll do anything a 351 will do, just doesn't have that seat-of-the-pants feel when you mash on it. Stock power ratings are similar, power band is just higher RPM on the 302.