I'm starting to gather parts for a 351W build to go into my 67 Country Squire 10 Passenger Station Wagon. My performance goals are more in line with a good truck engine as opposed to a muscle car.

-Reliable! Daily driver in light city traffic and cross country road trips at lease twice a year.
-Commonly available replacement parts available at any parts store in America.
-Decent fuel economy. Run 87 octane and break 20mpg on the open Hwy.
-Able to tow a light Pop-Up camper with a car-load of kids (10 passenger.)
-Most of the big parts are sourced from the junkyard.
-Very modest budget.

What I currently have in mind is a low mileage 351W roller short block (F4TE), GT40P heads, upper intake, serpentine front dress, and EDIS off an 2001 Explorer. I plan to run it all with Megasquirt. There is an adapter for the 5.0 upper to 351W lower intake available from BC Broncos along with well written tech articles covering the serpentine swap. The cam sensor can be modified to work using a 3.8 oil pump shaft.

Basically, it will be a Lightning motor. The GT40P heads have smaller combustion chambers than the non-P heads so CR should be up from the Lightnings puny 8.8:1. I'm not sure the piston dish cc's or how far down in the hole it is to compute the new CR.

I'd like to keep the 3.00 gears for now so I don't expect the performance the Lightning got with 4.10 rear. I think the T5 has a better 1st gear than the Lightnings E40D that should help with off the line acceleration. The 3.00 gears should keep the cruising RPM's down to allow for respectable MPG. I did the math the other night, figuring for 28" tires, 3.00 rear, .68 5th gear at 70 mph= 1750 RPM roughly (didn't write it down.) Is this too low? I know I need the proper cam to optimize this combo with a focus on low down torque to move the roughly 4400 lbs of car plus it's load.

 

The stock F4TE roller cam with 1.7 rockers is about as good as it gets for 0-4000rpm power from this motor. Is that Megasquirt a TBI type setup? If so wouldn't is just make more sense to put a standard dual plane intake on the motor instead of buying an adapter? Or are you going to use the stock injectors and fuel rail? I think 3.0 gears are a bit high for any kind of towing/hauling application, you got an OD trans so cruise rpms would still only be about 2000rpm with 3.55 gears, but then I suppose you can always select a lower gear when necessary, nothing wrong with trying out the existing combo and if it's not up to snuff then do an axle or gear swap.

 

It's my understanding that they only came "roller ready" from the factory except for the Cobra R.


MegaSquirt is a DIY kit to build your own EEC to control everything from fuel, spark, electric fans, and even electronic controlled automatic tranny.
There is a massive online community that has put MS on nearly every motor out there and openly shares the open source code. I plan on using the Explorer 5.0 upper intake which is Multi Port Fuel Injected, using Mass Air Flow instead of the stock 351W speed density. It is a better set up from a performance perspective and fits under the hood much easier.

My thoughts exactly! The original tranny was an FMX automatic. So the T5 offers a better 1st gear for take off and if the motor bogs too low when I encounter a hill while towing just down shift.


I am concerned if the T5 will hold up to the weight of the car and the 351W torque. Also Cam Selection.

 

The original Lightning used a roller ready block with a flat tappet cam in it, but all other '94+ truck motors got a factory roller cam.



The Explorer upper won't mate to the 351 truck lower you will need a GT40 lower or another complete 5.8 intake system.

Have you looked into just using a Mustang SEFI harness and computer with a tuner attached?


A valid concern although if you're not abusing it you probably won't have any issues. If you do then there are upgraded versions of the T5 available now.

 

Conanski, as stated earlier there is a company called BC Broncos that sell an adapter for the GT40 Explorer upper intake to fit the 351W lower. I'd like to get an original Lightning intake but everyone seems to think they are made of gold. $450-650 seems to be the going price on Ebay and CL. The Explorer upper has been proven to flow just as well as the tubular GT40 upper but only costs me $30 from the bone yard.

The 5.0 Mustang/ Lincolns/ Crown Vics/ ect are non-existent down here in the JY. Last time I checked Ebay, there was only one harness available. for like $150. The old Mustang computers are also getting pricier... plus they are old. I'll re-use the factory explorer harness along with the Explorer's EDIS Ignition but the Explorer EEC is useless due to the PATS anti-theft system. ARGH!!! Mega-Squirt is the lowest cost alternative and there is a huge online community for support. I am an Aircraft Electrician by trade so building my own circuit boards and wiring it all in shouldn't be much of an issue.

Currently my biggest issue is finding a low mileage 351W. When they do show up they are really high mileage and need a total rebuild. Would I be better off getting a "brand new" rebuilt short block. Summit has one listed from ATK for $1600. The Machine Shop quoted me $750 to go over the block ($160 from JY) plus a master rebuild kit (Federal Mogul $389.97). I am almost to $1600 in parts and labor for the short block alone. Anyone have experience with the ATK engines from Summit?

 

Oh yes I forgot you mentioned the adapter, but note that the airflow the Explorer upper doesn't mean anything when it's mated to the truck lower which flows a lot less.
FYI.. I have a new unused 5.8 Typhoon upper and lower for sale for $500, that is a copy of the Edelbrock Performer which outflows the GT40 system.

I like your idea to use the EDIS system which is pretty cool, what PCM would you use with that?

It's hard to argue the price of a "crate" shortblock when acquiring a motor and doing it all yourself costs that much, and that price isn't too bad.. it's about what I paid for my 5.8 many years ago.

 

The Typhoon intake is what I was looking at but other aspects of the car more of a priority right now. Is there any work I could do with a drimmel to improve the lower manifold?

Going to run it with Mega Squirt. If you're not familiar with it, check it out at DIY AutoTune dot com. There are at least three different evolutions that have been adapted to pretty much every engine out there. EDIS is a popular way to go distributorless using the MS.

 

Oh yes there is lots of room for improving the lower, port match the exits to the heads you're using and straighten the short radius curves as much as you dare.

 

Tom and Matt Moss (tmoss porting) have some templates you can download to help with porting as well.

 

It's been a while since my last post! My station wagon is still sitting there without a heart. The 351W just doesn't seem to be coming up in our junkyard. They mainly get in newer models. Lots of mod-motor stuff. Just the other day, my little brother said he was thinning out his collection of ford truck junk. He's getting married soon, and the little misses doesn't care for all the clutter. He has a 390FE from a 70's truck that he wants gone, and said he'd make me a good deal. I took a ride in the truck years back and it seemed to run strong for a big jacked up 4x4 on super swamper mud tires. The only thing that's been done to it is a 600cfm Edelbrock is installed on a factory 4v intake.

- What is a good price for this engine?

- The wagon originally came with a 2V 390fe and FMX with 3.00 rear. The original motor is flood damaged and seized up with corrosion. Some parts are still salvageable though. Are the heads from '67 better than 70's? I'll have to check casting numbers or cc them to determine if it'd give a bump in compression. Is it even worth it to do a factory head swap? Are one year's exhaust manifolds better than the other?

- Are there any mods I should do with an eye towards reliability and fuel economy(relative for an FE)?


- I'd like OD for our cross country road trips, which account for over half the miles the wagon will see. Rebuilding the FMX would be easier and far cheaper but most of the interstate we drive is 75-85 mph speed limit. At 85mph, with 3.00 rear and stock 27.7" tall tires, that's calculate to about 3093 RPM. I see quite a few 390fe truck guys swapping NV4500 with a Bell to tranny adapter from Advanced Adapters. They are available in the junkyard for pretty cheap here. With the gearing, 1st wouldn't be used unless I was towing. It has a 0.73:1 OD which would bring the engine speed down to 2258 RPM. At 70mph, I'd be turning 1860 RPM. Assuming the engine has an RV cam (not sure if it does), would this be too low of engine speed, out of the power band, for that highway speed?

- I was also considering a GM TBI swap off of a 454. Would there be any advantage to this over the current 600 cfm Edelbrock?

 

Just some random thoughts here, the 390 would be ideal for a heavy wagon towing a trailer, especially considering some of the hills you'll encounter going cross country. Top it off with an Edelbrock Performer intake and the GM TBI you mentioned with the MegaSquirt. You'll be able to tune (lean out) the cruise air fuel ratio for mileage and I'm wondering if someone offers a distributor for the 390 that will allow you to tune the ignition advance curve through the Megasquirt? Not sure if the T5 would be the best bet in that scenario though, maybe an AODE or 4R70W if you could control that with the Megasquirt as well?