96 EXT, F150, 4x4, 5spd, 4.9L, 3.55, 32 BFG's, cats removed, single outlet, turbo muffler. I just put the restrictor on my truck. (completely blocked) Before, acceleration was lackluster, I was dissapointed in the performance (truck is tuned and in excellent condition, 78,000 miles) and you had to mash the peddle pretty good to rev above 2000RPM. It would remind me of a tight engine that just wasn't broke in. I usually shift at 2000.

After the restrictor plate: Amazingly, The truck would freely rev easily to 3500 under moderate acceleration. Much like a v-8. I drove it just once into town. Eight miles each way. The check engine light did come on on the way home. but damn what a difference. It ran so good I forgot to do the full throttle test... I'm sure the o2 sensors are detecting a slightly richer exhuast. I left the battery unhooked over night. Will fiddle with it more today. The trip to town was for a belt to bypass the airpump. I always noticed my tailpipe was shiny clean as in very lean. Might have to unhook that check light!

Chris

 

Congrats on the gumption to install the plate!

I really can't say if it did much for my WOT acceleration (mainly beacuase I'm just so happy to have the truck that I don't beat it up by racing it), but boy howdy it sure made my truck a nice driving machine for around town. Contrary to that last statement, I don't really drive around town much - I walk and bicycle it more - but for those times I do have to go to the laundromat or Wal Mart it sure is more pleasant to drive that manual tranny than it was.

My Check Engine light would light up very rarely, and with seemingly no rhyme nor reason, before the restrictor plate install, and it's been off up until this morning when it came back on for awhile.

I guess the EGR 'fix' didn't hurt or help the 'Check Engine' situation any. It could be just a O2 sensor that is starting to go bad I guess.

The engine idles nicely after the restrictor plate, too.

Here's a wuestion for ya... if you took off the cats, what was the inside of the one closest to the engine like? I hear the purpose of this one is a "pre-cat" to heat up the exhaust for the second one... and I was wondering if it was as restrictive as the one closest to the muffler, or if it was of a different internal (i.e. more open-flowing) design?:+

 

I have a 94 f150 with the 302 v8. I am interested in the restrictor plate. Where did you install it? The v8 is a cluttered mess and I cannot even see where the egr pipe goes because the intake manifold is in the way. My engine pings right off idle but doesn't ping or knock under heavy acceleration. I have read that the egr may be the culprit. Everything else is OK, the ignition stuff is new and the timing is right at 10 degrees btdc.

 

Sorry jethro, now don't get jealous... but I'm going to suggest you don't go mixing advice for two totally different engines (ok, other than them both being internal combustion engines).:-X23

The posts on the EGR's and V-8's I've read lead more toward cleaning out the EGR passages, etc. than restricting them. Please spend a good amount of time with the search function on this site and find out. But, again, I advise against mixing I-6 (which run lean in the first place) and V-8 mods.


I can't help you on the location of your EGR, but I've read plenty of posts about the V-8 EGR's (and plenty of improperly placed suggestions (in reply-posts) from people who mixed up the characteristics of Ford V-8's and I-6's) here on this site.

Best,

 

GammaDriver: Front cat has basically the same honeycomb material as the back. I was hesitant to remove the front one because the o2 sensor was aft of the cat. I took it to a muffler guy to have a turbo muffler welded in after running no muffler and no rear cat. When I told him my search for power, he recommended dropping the front cat. He assured me no problem with the check light. The muffler guy welded the air tube and o2 sensor right back into the pipe with no problem. Check engine light still functioned normally.

I bypassed my airpump today. Runs even better. Though not as dramatic a change as the awsome restrictor plate. (why don't you sell them like an engine chip, $200 real power gains!) No backfire or pop or anything. AutoZone 930K6 is a 93 inch belt. Will go over power steering/AC. Airpump is still in place. Just remove the lower bolt on the alt. Pop out the steel sleeve and grind or cut it in half. Pop it back in. Grind the bolt head down 1/2 original thikness to gain belt clearance and put back in. Pop on the new belt and your ready. I reset my computer since yesterday. Drove 20 miles today, no check light. I am sure my speedo is calibrated to my 32 tires. 70 MPH in third gear@4000. I banged the pin on the speedo. 90MPH @3000 in 5th. I never hotrod but I can tell that mazda tranny just ain't gonna last. On the way back to the house the shifter started making this funny squeal. The real test will be when I drag the ol boat to the lake.

Chris

 

I made a full restrictor plate for my 302 this time last year and have had no problems whatsoever. I made it from a piece of stainless shim stock so it won't burn out. It goes between the Egr nad the manifoldi I traced the gasket to the piece of shim stock and then cut it out. I didn't have a way to make a reasonable hole for the bolts so I just cut a notch out and slid the plat in between the Egr and manifold and tightened the bolts up/ This way if I ever need to remove it, like for a smog test, all I have to do is loosen the bolts and slip it out. If I were doing it again, I would make a tab on the top to lift it out by making it even easier to remove if needed. My light has not come on since this mod. It came on before I did this but the codes were showing that the Egr was not working properly but it ewas the EVR solinoid that was the problem. Took it apart and cleaned it and that was the end of the light lighting. I read my codes the other day just for the heck of it and I get a system lean code so maybe I should remove the air pump from the loop. What belt number did you use to eliminate the pump?

 

Dang! I shoulda read a little closer. A 93 inch belt,right? Also, eliminating the air pump is removing a little drag therefore giving a bit more power.

 

If you have a computerized vehicle keep in mind that it was programmed to run good when everything is hooked up and normal. It will compensate over time for normal wear but cannot adjust to drastic changes.
Ever since the early seventies I have hated the thought that exhaust gas was getting dumped back into the mix, however after much experience I realize that i can be a good thing.
Besides reducing NOX it cools down the combustion chamber and allows room for more advanced timing. A cooler charge ignites more slowly and provides smoother combustion.
On my 302 I had suspected EGR problems after getting a code 31 that was eliminated by replacing the evp sensor but it didn't solve a problem with rough idle and acceleration.
Restricting the egr port or blocking it off (tried both) made it worse because now it pinged badly even with high octane gas and stock timing.
Other posts on this site refer to this same subject and the general concensus is to clean out the egr passages on older vehicles and let that exhaust gas flow!

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 02-Mar-02 AT 11:27 AM (EST)]I will still maintain that the I-6 and the V-8 fords are two totally different engines, with different engine systems - some of which have very different limitations.
Computerized or not, people who own the I-6 and it's EGR issues are not serviced well by 302 owners experiences. Like xekimx says, there are a lot of "clean out the EGR" posts out there, but they're for the 302. Search for I-6 and you'll find just as many "restrict the EGR" posts. When I did mine I didn't see any blockage.

In the end it may adjust itself in some unwanted way, but that remains to be seen. Until then I'll say I could be wrong about the 'fix', but I'll still counter any post that tries to treat the inline engines like V-8's. Even if we had some computerized electrical systems named the same, and attempting to meausre the same thing, those parts are set to measure different specs, and are manufactured with their own different limitations and abilities. The EGR system in the I-6's, in my experience, lets too much exhaust gas in, and the older engines do not compensate for it. In the many owners' experiences reported on these pages, the cool running I-6's don't seem to ping nor need more octane. Heck, without looking it up I'd even bet our compression ratios are different than the 302's, too.

Now I don't mean to discourage valuable information, especially tried and true info like xekimx has had with his engine, so please don't take this post the wrong way. But mixing apples and oranges has been against the rules since the beginning of time (or whenever that expression came into use...).