I've got a '93 F150 4x4 that I recently received a transplanted freshened stock '86 HO roller motor (with E-7 heads) and rebuilt AODE. At that time, I also removed the smog pump and added a Bassani Y-pipe with 3" catalytic converter and Magnaflow muffler flowing out to the back of the truck using a 2.5 single exhaust. Other than an EGR code (EGR valve is not opening), I have no trouble codes. The motor just doesn't seem to run as strong as it should, and I'm wondering if converting to Mass Air wouldn't be the way to go. I know a 5.0 isn't the best choice for a truck, but I'd like to tow a 5000 lb. camper with this rig, and I don't think the truck could maintain 70 mph on the highway. The gears are stock (3.55) to my knowledge and I turn about 2500 in OD at 70 mph. Having run 4.10 gears before, I don't think that's a good option for rolling down the highway in Drive. Would a MAF conversion give me a noticeable power increase, or be worth the expense?

 

Stock manifolds or headers? Stock manifolds suck.


In what way? The 5.0 will never make any useful truck power at low rpms so it has to be spooled up.

That's would be correct for 70mph in drive not OD, and it is about where this engine starts to make some power.


You can tow in OD, the only condition where you would lock it out is if it is constantly hunting for gears. I have 4.10 gears in my van with the 4.6 which is an even bigger wimp of a motor than the 5.0 and it is by far the best towing vehicle I have owned. It's also got a slightly upgraded version of the trans you have(4R75w vs your 4R70w) and I never lock out OD when towing. The motor spools its guts out climbing hills.. 4500-5000rpm but that's what it does best so I just put it on ignore and let it eat.

No not really, the Mustang PCMs have a little more aggressive timing curves so it may appear to boost power a little but it's not really doing anything you can't do yourself with a timing adjustment. Where MAF does improve things is with idle quality, throttle response, and adaptability to mods.

 

If its a true 86 HO you have the one year only heads that really suck.

(unless they've been changed.)

(Yeah, E7s)

Don't know the actual casting #, but it 's fairly well documented issue.

(edit, seems there were other issues too)

 

The OP stated "with E7 heads" in his original post.

That would be E6SE and yeah that suck bad, I had a set that I ported as much as I dared and they still didn't work as well as completely untouched E7s.

 

Is there piston issues to with the funky head?

 

No. One of the problems with the E6 head is that the valves are sunk extra deep into the chambers, that is a problem because the valves are shrowded by the chanbers when open and that hurts airflow but it also means the valves barely protrude below deck height at full lift so P-V clearance is a non issue.

 

Just to set the record straight and to answer some questions, the shortblock is an '86 HO, with E-7 heads. The '86 shortblock uses forged pistons with no valve reliefs. Knowing I would never go much bigger than the factory roller cam, I put E-7 heads on the motor, since they are an improvement (not much, but still better) over the E-6 heads. I clayed the pistons during the engine build and have plenty of p/v clearance. Yes, I put stock exhaust manifolds on the truck. Years ago, I did the same thing to an '89 F150 2wd. It was also speed density, but did have shorty headers. Honestly, it didn't run any better than this go around, which is why I was wondering if a mass air conversion, with a quicker timing curve (Mustang A9x computer) would wake up my current version. I won't ever tow in O/D. I burned up 2 AOD transmissions in the '89 towing a tandem axle trailer with various project cars. Both times I got lazy and put it in O/D, because the highway was flat. Ford even had a warning in my owners manual about not towing in O/D. My current trans has a TCI valve body and a trans temp gauge, but I don't trust towing in O/D, based on past bad experiences. The question about converting from SD to MA was driven by expense vs. gain (better throttle response, mpg) on a very mild motor. When I first fired up the new motor, I set timing at 14 BTDC (spout disconnected) thinking the extra timing would help. The motor runs fine on 87 octane in O/D, so I'm going to check initial timing again to make sure it hasn't retarded, or wasn't set correctly. I did find this link on a mass air conversion: Ford F-150 Mass Air Conversion - FordMuscle
but my AOD has an electrical connector on the driver side case above the pan, making me think I have an AODE, and this mod wouldn't work. A long winded reply, but hopefully, I've answered all the questions that were asked.

 

The actual AODE was a very short lived transmission and was never used in trucks, you have the 4R70w which has significant upgrades over the AOD variants. But just be aware everywhere you look people and businesses will use the terms AODE and 4r70W interchangably.

So you rebuilt that '86 motor with the stock roller cam or was something else substituted?

 

I used the stock HO roller cam from the '86 block. The specs are:


LIFT
Int: .278
Exh: .278
Duration
Int: 266
Exh: 266
IO: 16
IC: 48
EO: 57
EC: 19
°: 35
Factor: 13.58
Int: 115
Exh: 115


Good to know the trans is a 4r70W, that was always a bit confusing for me. Thanks!

 

There is also a trans code on the decal on the drivers door pillar, U = 4R70w.

Do you have the truck intake on the motor or the original car intake?
So with that cam the motor should rev nicly to 5500rpm and make more and more power as it revs. It won't make any useful power below 2000rpm but the torque converter won't let it go there anyway unless it is locked in the higher gears, the meat of the powerband is between 2500 and 5000rpm.

 

it's got the truck intake. I took everything from the truck motor and put it on the longblock, including the stock exhaust manifolds.