I am usually over in the 48-53 forum but I have a question regarding a 1996 F150. I bought the truck from a local Pick N Pull with no moter. The body is rust free and the interior is mint. It has the original transmission in it. What I need to know is what year truck is the best year to get a replacement engine. 5.0. Will anything from 92 and up work or should I stick with 96. I'm not sure if the internals changed or if they are all the same. Lifters and electronics. Any help would be appreciated. ,Doug.

 

You could go with a 5.8.

 

I think it would easiest to go with a 95 and up motor

 

94 5.8, all roller cam capable. Some actually are rollers. 95 & up, all rollers.

Question: How intact is the under hood wiring & do you intend to keep the EFI?

Your 96 is OBD II & if you keep the EFI, you'll need a crank position sensor on whatever you put in there for a 96.

And a 96 specific EGR.

If the trans is Auto, you'll need the original PCM to run it.

 

Was going to say the OBD II might be an issue. Depending on your current wiring harness status.

 

Yes a '96 F150 will be OBD2 so you need another '96 motor to have something that is 100% plug and play, any 5.0 truck motor could work but you need those OBD2 specific and '96 only components that don't appear on the earlier motors, those being the DPFE EGR system and the crank sensor and balancer.

 

It is an auto transmission and I'm going to keep it EFI. Also the wire harness is all there and intact. The block is still in the truck minus the heads and intake. It appears one of the pistons blew up in the cilinder and gouged the wall. Who ever owned it was going to rebuild it but gave up. So what I'm getting from your input is that I should stick with a 96 engine for OBD 2. Just trying to find a decent running truck that is inexpensive.