i have a 302 out of a 1990 f-150. The rings in the engine are shot....needs a rebuild. i want some power out of it....anyone have any ideas?......money isn't that big of a deal on this....it'll prolly be goin in an f-150 4x4 of the same year.

 

I'm doing it right now. I've read posts and talked to folks for about 2 years now. There's a bit of conflicting information out there. Things you will hear considered the most are bigger heads, porting/polishing, RV cams, full length headers, roller rockers/cam, and Edelbrock intakes/throttlebodies. If you want to stay EFI, money is what it takes for a 5.0. If you go carb, you have a sea of options on power.

I'm sticking to EFI, so I'm going with cost effective and proven combinations. The most reasonable recipe I've heard is to build up stock, and use the Crane cam specified for the engine. I stock with this because it is known to work, I don't have to be a reasearch scientist to build it, and it's the most bang for the buck. Any extra power you need for 4x4-ing should come from a ring&pinion change and Low Range.

Once the cam gets "bigger" than that Crane cam, heads should be upgraded and the EFI should be upgraded to mass air. That sentence costs you about 1200 - 1600 bucks right here. Then there is still machine work and engine parts to buy/assemble.

GT40P heads are better left to mustang and explorer vehicles due to sparkplug clearance issues. Aluminum heads are said not to be well suited for 4X4-ing, although I question that nowdays. Porting and polishing decreases fuel mileage and is more trouble than its worth on a truck. Edelbrock intakes are another option that is more cost than worth, plus you really need the heads and the cam to be effective with it.

If my hurried response helps, I'm glad. If you need more details look at other posts, or I can respond to yours. I'll be publishing results on a webpage when I find a host for it. Maybe I will be more useful with that documentation effort.

 

I just went with a Mustang shortblock from Ford Motorsport. I bought the GT40 turbo swirl alum. heads, did a roller conversion and added roller rockers. I was going to rebuild but after I added it all up getting the block checked out, machine work, getting the heads done the savings was not as large as I thought is was going to be, for a few hundred more dollars I could have brand new stuff and save tons of my time and truck down time. I went kind of crazy and ended up spending around 4600 dollars. That was for a new engine, roller valve train, heads and rebuilt c-6 tranny with all new parts and mass air conversion. I was going to skip the mass air conversion because there was a roller cam available I could have used but after contacting several Ford dealers I finally found one for 375 dollars(way to much money). There is also a knock sensor hole in the truck block that the Mustang block does not have, that would have been some money to have that machined in. I got to thinking if my computer took a dump that would be another couple hundred dollars to fix that so I just bought the mass air kit which comes with a new computer and would assure that everything would work. I also read all the speed density info and although Ford Motorsport said the cam I was hunting for would work it wasn't worth chancing. Plus I am not comfortable building a small block or changing a cam so that would have been even more money to have done. I took the block, heads, rockers, push rods ect... to a Ford engine guy who helped me put all the stuff together and adjust the valves, it was simple for him and I helped as much as I could. He had it done in an 1.5 hours. He didn't even charge me because I put everything on, he just torqed all the bolts and made sure the adjustments were correct. I wanted another 16 years of solid service out of my vehicle though so spending the extra money was not a hard decision. I nice new used vehicle like mine would easily be 4k dollars, a new truck is way out of my pocket book. I am totally pleased with my outcome, tons of power, tons of fun. I bought all the parts I would need from the junk yard to put on the engine for around 80 bucks, I was able to have them dipped in a cleaning tank, paint them and have the engine pretty much ready to go when I did the swap. I hope to sell my old engine for a few hundred dollars, it is complete, has 150K miles on it and still ran fine when I took it out. I used the flywheel and throttle body off it and that was it. Hopefully that will get my total cost down to 4300. You can check out my gallery for pictures. I wish I wouldn't have purchased the new valve covers because you can't even see them, I don't know if the 1.7 cobra rockers would have hit the stock valve covers though so maybe it was a good choice. They were a lot of money and the only thing I really through money away on I feel. I could have almost bought a new ignition system for the price of those things.

 

kyle1175243...I disagree with your statment that porting and polishing heads decreases fuel economy and is bad for trucks.

If you think about it, you will make the motor more volumetrically efficient by removing restrictions and making it run better. I have seen ported heads/big cam LS1 Z28's get close to 28MPG and run high 11sec 1/4mi times...there has to be something to efficiency.

Read this for tons of info on GT-40P heads and well all heads in this area. They work great and can be picked up cheap. The spark plug clearances are remedied by specific GT-40P shorty headers...no big deal!

Here's some reading on heads and power... https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...hreadid=135936

Seriously read that entire post I linked to you will have lots of info.


19903024x4...This will tell you how to build a 351W (just a longer stroke 302)...

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...4&goto=newpost

 

I'll check it out. Wasn't aware that there was a GT40 header for trucks, now. Past experience with p/p heads on a 5.0 5-spd F-150, and others I've spoke with lent me to the opinion of decreased fuel mileage. Perhaps non-stock heads may be different, but with the increase of flow comes the increase of excess when under normal driving conditions. Frankly, I've had a hard time believing p/p could decrease mpg, as well. It may also be dependant on iron vs. alum.

As for the SBC getting 28mpg, that is fantastic!

 

The GT-40P heads have a different spark plug angle and "P" specific headers are made. All 5.0 Mustang shorty headers bolt up to pretty much every SBF cylinder heads and clear everything fine on my 2x4 (I'd assume 4x4 will be fine too).

If you have more power it is hard not to go fast, but if you can contain yourself I think the porting of pretty much any heads will gain power and economy...I figure the motor works less hard to make the same power as before. People who lose economy are ones who always speed around.

Now if you go super wild on a cam, then I see losing it for sure. I read in Car Craft I think a few months back that SLP has a heads and cam package for the LS6 Z06 motor and the car came in averaging 25MPG and left with ~400rwhp and 28MPG! Up until about 4 months ago I owned an '01 C5 automatic 3.15:1 gears and it would average high 20's MPG, best of 29.

My WRX Subaru gets 26MPG only freeway totally stock. Well I have spoken with a few people who have full exhausts on their cars (uppipe, downpipe, muffler) as well as some engine managment to get everything optomized and now getting close to 30MPG+! Efficiency is the game here.

I'd assume as long as you keep on the mild side cam wise (under 220* intake dur) and pick one matched to the efficiency of your cylinder heads you can achieve greater economy than Ford ever envisioned for these trucks.

I hope that makes some sense...

 

Yep, makes sense to me. Interesting information. My heads aren't bolted down yet, so I may look into some porting after some more research. I'm completely stock with a bit of work done to the E7's (likely a waste of time, but were purchased this way). The little cam I have works on SD, so it's quite tame, but couild make use of a MAF set-up. I'm having EEC issues at the moment due to some U-boat manuvers while off-roading, so the MAF upgrade may happen anyway (then I might whine about the cam I should have selected).

As for significan mpg increases, I can't expect too much driving a 5200lb brick down the road. I'm hoping to regain the 16mpg I used to complain about!

 

http://www.budgetperformance.com/articles.shtml

They have some excellent writeups on how to get the most from the E7 heads.

I think running oversized tires is worse for gas milage than anything. My Z71 with 285/75R16's get 15city/17highway. I think my F-150 gets somewhere around 15-18 now too, I don't drive it enough to check...I can tell you tho it's far better than before.

Also if you are running 33" tires and 3.55:1 gears, consider a swap to 4.10:1 or 4.30:1 to get back you gas milage and power...you are just driving around bogged out.

U-Boat manuvers eh, what were you doing in the mud?

 

They clear fine. The P head has a specific header that is made to clear the plug locations. However a standard header can be used, it is a tighter fit around the plug.

I would question that theory as well, seeing as how aluminum heads take excess weight away from the front of the truck, as well as dissipate heat faster than iron. Plus you can generally run more timing with aluminum without pinging issues.


Not true at all. It is not difficult to open up stock heads with a dremel, and the gains can be significant, as well as very beneficial for a truck's needs. Although porting a stock casting has nowhere near the effect of using an aftermarket head, both can benefit the entire rpm range.


Not too many people offer a direct replacement efi intake for the truck, hence the price. Cheaper options would be to get a used aftermarket mustang intake or a lightning setup. Regardless, it is a good improvement with our without the addition of other mods.

 

i was thinkin of makin a mustang short block out of it then doin the rest in performance parts.....any thoughts on that?

 

Check this post, this is the way I did it. Works great, I worked with Ford Motorsport to get everything I needed, bought all the parts through Summit Racing. Had a blast doing it also, took about 6 weekends doing it all myself, I did have help putting the heads, rockers and lower intake on. I also have pictures posted now.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...hreadid=132485

 

Yep, HitMan, U-boat manuvers with my U-150. Went through a huge "puddle" and sunk up to the bottom of the windshield. Turns out the EEC is fine, though. Last night I ran it down to a loose ground on the EEC.

Thanks for the link to the "budget" site. There was some info there on another set of heads I have from 1969. Not likely I'll ever do anything with them, but it cured some curiousity.

For my purposes, I wanted to stay away from full lenght headers, and this seems to be the only option to use the P heads on my engine. As for aluminum heads, they had two strikes against them for my usage; one being cost (heads + MAF conversion), the other being at or near idle for hours on end lends the possibility of the dissimilar metals theory to take effect. That would likely never be an issue, but I traverse in places where a tow truck is not likely to respond, and I'd rather be ultra safe, than ultra sorry. Call me "old school", if you like!

As far as the intake goes, I did try to locate a saleen/vortech/etc. upper intake (mates to truck lower) for the benefit of a single TB and retaining the longer runners, but just no luck. The mustang intakes are great, but I have more of a need for low rpm torque than hp. On the gears, I am 4WD, so I haven't seen 4.30's for the D44 front diff, so I'm leaning toward the 4.56's and stepping up the tire size to compensate. This project will more resemble a tractor engine than a car engine.

Glad to see these posts working, and I appreciate all the info you guys provided. I'm at a point now where I'm committed to the set up I've chosen, however. Besides, I'm ready to put any motor with compression into my tired old Bronco, and get the project behind me.

 

P heads with some slight clean up and the shorty P heads will yield excellent results, they are excellent heads for the money! FMS makes the best P style shorty, MAC's are crap.

The stock 302 intake is great, if I was building a 302 based motor (306, 331, 347) I'd keep it! But if I was going with a 351W based motor I'd scrape up the cash for that Edelbrock one.

I thought the D44 IFS used 8.8" ring gears! I guess not. I'd just go to a 4.56:1 if you are over a 33" tire. 35" tires + 4.56:1 shall be awesome! That and your 4Low in the transfer case...

 

You can use shorties.

You can use different heads with speed density. And you can get the GT40's, or P's in iron.

You wouldn't be sacrificing much low end IF any. Its not like these motors actually had any amount of exeptional low end torque to begin with. Nearly everything you can do, short of too large of a cam or open exhaust, will improve the curve.

I hear this alot and it urks me. More factory gas motors in cars have made outrageous torque than I could begin to name. A performance engine built to race on a strip at high rpms is built to sacrifice certain areas of the power curve to gain more hp. You can fully build an engine in your truck to do the opposite, it doesn't mean not using aftermarket parts, just choosing the right ones.

Good luck with your project.

 

from what i see so far i have a pretty good idea of what i can do......thanks for the help guys....just one last thing.......is there anything i can do to get power for highway driving??......right now my truck is kinda a dog on the highway.......hills kill.