So I have a 1997 F-250 with the 5.8 and an E40D. 4:10 gears and 265/75/16 tires. Might be 265/85/16, I can't recall. The truck is a general ranch truck, it plows snow in the winter and hauls hay in the summer. I just got back from the first tow with it (just bought in in June '16, finished the flatbed a couple of weeks ago) and it pulled the 8,000 lb load fairly well. It doesn't have the power my PSD did but that's fine. I'm not trying to break any land speed records.

With that said, I plan on pulling the engine in a month or so to fix an exhaust leak, rear main and oil pan leak. I was thinking that while I have it out this would be a good time to do some mild upgrades to get a little more out of it. Trouble is, I have no idea what to do. I've always been a diesel guy so I'm not quite sure where to start. I've read about cam swaps, having the heads machined down, headers, etc. I don't know enough to know what size cam, type of headers, etc that I need. My #1 priority is reliability. I don't want to compromise that in order to squeeze more power out of it. I also want to be able to run 85/87 octane fuel. My budget is $1,000 or less for power upgrades including any intake or exhaust stuff. It's all stock right now, so where should I start? Does anyone make a turn key kit that I could buy with a cam, headers, injectors, etc that all work together?

 

I would just rebuild whats there. Redo all the gaskets, new water pump stuff like that, with a grand in hand unless your lucky I dont see headers and cams happening or head work.

and if you want reliable? Like I said man just fix up whats there.

 

If all you have is 1, 000...just get long tube and exhaust, then call it a day.

 

Longtube headers with a single 2.5" exhaust and 1.7 roller rockers.

 

I've found headers for about $200 and cams for about the same at Summit. If I were to do that I'd still have roughly $600 to play with. Is there anything in that $6-800 range that will make a noticeable difference along with the cam and headers, or is the "next step" buying new heads? Obviously it will get some type of intake and exhaust upgrades but I wasn't including those in my $1,000 budget. Should've been more clear on that, my mistake.

 

You don't need new heads to have an upgrade, you can find gt40/gt40p heads for 150 or less if you have any good you pull junkyards around.

Keep in mind, you'll need to build or pay someone to build a year pipe for your long tubes, so it doesn't end at the 200 price for headers. Also don't forget about the nickel and dime items associated with any modification; bolts, gaskets, sensors, etc that will ultimately be 1-300 on top of all of your other stuff, depending on how far you go.

 

The stock cam in this motor isn't half bad actually, with 1.7 rockers it's about as good as it gets for a truck cam so for the sake of keeping the EFI system happy you should consider leaving it alone. This motor should have come with GT40 heads IMO so that would be a good upgrade, but the intake will be a bottleneck with all this done so that would be the next obvious thing to change.

 

See, this is why I asked. I had no idea what I was getting into.

After seeing yall's input and thinking about it today, how does this sound? Long tube headers, complete exhaust, 1.7 roller rockers, new air filter system and later on look at the intake manifold. I'm also planning to do a 'sixliter' tune up with an MSD coil.

As for the exhaust, would it be better to do true duals or Y into a single? I'm looking for torque, don't care much about tone and would like to keep it reasonably quiet. Would I see any noticeable benefit from a larger throttle body?

 

Do a single exhaust with 2.5" tubing, everything has to run down the passenger side anyway so there is no point buying 2 mufflers and twice as much pipe. To keep it relatively quiet install an aftermarket cat and use the largest muffler you can find that isn't a stock replacement because those things are seriously restrictive. I like the Dynomax super turbo and Magnaflow mufflers because they actually contain some sound dampening material, everything Flowmaster makes amplifies noise.

 

The headers I'm looking at are PaceSetter 72C2223 and end up as a 3". Any reason other than cost not to run a full 3" exhaust?

 

I'm running long tubes with 3" collectors, reduced to 2.5". Dual 2.5 along each side of the trans, driver side cross over to passenger side just passed the trans cross member, into a Y pipe (dual 2.5" in /3" out), feeding into a Flowmaster series70 muffler (advertised for RV's) then a turn down in front of the rear axle, and it's very reasonable sound wise even with no cat. Add a tailpipe and cat it'd be near stock sound levels.

​​​​​I think 2.5" tube will flow plenty for a 5.8L at "normal" rpm, and probably help in keeping gas velocity up. I have no idea how much difference it'd make but I know the claim is better scavenging for torque.

 

Fwiw, headers with 2.5" collectors will better suit your goal of torque. Scavenging associated with headers, like so many other power parts, is a tradeoff. The larger the primary and collector diameter, the higher the rpm will be where the headers are really pulling on one another. For these old, non breathing, non revving truck engines....the smaller the better, that way you have more scavenge off idle. It's probably not a huge difference, but 2.5" collectors are also easier to deal with in terms of a y pipe.

Can't go wrong with either, but check out the flotechs as well, they come with 2.5" collectors. I used to recommend the pacesetter long tubes because of their fitment around the front driveshaft of 4x4s, but they have a less-than-optimal fit at the flange....the bends in the tubes off of the head flange are too sharp and are a wh0re to install and torque down because of this.

 

Clearance around the driveshaft will be important, it is a 4wd but I have no plans to ever lift it. It may get a solid axle swap and shackle reverse one day, but not for a while.

It has 184,000 on it, should I be planning for rings and bearings while it's out? Seems to run fine and doesn't smoke, not sure if that's a "since I have it out" thing or a "if it's not broken, don't mess with it" thing. If I do rings and bearings, what if any machine work should I expect to do for that?

Thanks again for all the advice, I feel like I'm learning a lot.

 

No, don't rebuild what isn't ready. If it doesn't burn oil, let it ride. If you have the engine out, it definitely doesn't hurt to pull the pan and remove sludge as well as clean the oil pickup screen.

Machine work is relatively cheap, and rebuilds are too if you can reuse crank and rods. If you really want to check the condition of the bearings, check oil pressure at idle. But again, if it runs good, rock it.

On the front shafts and header topic, bending the collector out of the way is as easy as it gets. Mount the header on the engine, heat the collector up with a torch and bend it a couple inches in if you need clearance. With a torch handy, it takes 5 minutes.

 

Before you pull the motor put a mechanical oil pressure gauge on it just to see what it generates at idle and under load. If it makes acceptable oil pressure leave the bearings alone but if it's marginal then it needs a full rebuild.. there is no good way to get new bearing in it without having everything inspected and brought back into spec.