Hey all,

Just got myself a 94 F350 XL with the 5.8 in it. It’s going to be used primarily for landscaping, but will also be my daily driver. I’m looking for upgrade ideas to bring a little more life into the motor. I want more torque over anything, and am already thinking about adding 4.10 gears, a Edelbrock truck intake, Hedman headers, and a y pipe that goes to a single 3” exhaust (no cats, already junk). It has speed density so my camshaft options are limited but I was thinking of the crane 444232 with new lifters and valve springs. Is there anything else I should do I.e. heads, rocker arms, air intake kit, anything to bring some oomph when I put my foot down. The thing is a damn dog right now.

 

I'd suggest GT40 heads and 1.7 rockers on the stock roller cam which isn't terrible for what you want to do, and then port the lower intake or swap on something better. For big torque gains a stroker kit is the answer.

 

is it worth it to swap a new cam in there or no with the stupid computer? I’ve only been able to find 2 options and there both flat tappet, and it being a roller block I would’ve preferred a roller cam. And will GT40P heads fit or are those different than just GT40 ones? I’m also thinking of putting a whole new intake both upper and lower. The edelbrock truck one on summit is about 875$. Is that worth it? It has pretty good reviews but it says up to 8600 GVW and my truck is a little more than that I think

 

I'd agree. Gt40 heads, long tube headers, 1.7 ratio roller rockers (Crane, no nonsense bolt on pedestal mounts), and a ported intake. I have the hybrid 5.8L lower manifold (heavily ported) mated to 5.0L upper plenum. Stock cam, stock injectors, stock tune. Good ignition parts. Should be a solid improvement. Not much room left in stock fueling to get more out of it. A cam swap would likely push you into very lean territory without tuning & bigger injectors, same for a much better intake.

Then gear to match your desired tire size, but go lower than you might think. I have 33" tires with the above engine (well, gt40p heads, more work to fit), and 4.10 gears, run at 7000'+ feet above sea level, great combo empty, little lacking when loaded down. If I towed more I'd go 4.30 or 4.56. With lighter and narrower 32" tires, 4.10 works pretty good, especially at sea level.

 

What configuration is this truck? Single cab, crew cab? 4x4? Tire size? Pulling a trailer?

 

Being a 94, you likely have a roller cam and F4TE roller block. This can be confirmed by removing a valve cover and looking down a push rod hole to verify the presence of a "dog bone" style lifter retainer. The roller cam is already good, I would not mess with it.

Add 1.7 ratio roller rockers. Shorty headers (many long tubes have fit issues on 4 wheel drive trucks, if yours is 2 wheel drive, go for long tubes). 3" single exhaust with a free flowing muffler like a Magnaflow or Gibson. If you want to go a little deeper, jump up to a set of GT40 style heads. An aluminum copy made by ProComp can be had for fairly cheap, typically found on eBay. At this point, you will be out of room on the factory 19# fuel injectors.

If you have 3.55 gears, moving up to 4.10s will make a bigger difference in the "seat of the pants" feel than all of the above motor work. If you have larger than stock tires, consider moving to a deeper gear, like a 4.56.

 

The equivalent roller cam is the Comp cams 35-349-8. GT40p heads are harder to use because of the spark plug angle, you pretty much have to use either the stock Explorer manifolds or longtubes and even then some tubes have to be clearanced and the wire boots wrapped to prevent them from melting.
If you put a cam, heads and intake on the motor it will need bigger injectors and tuning but the stock PCM in your truck isn't natively programmable and isn't supported by the legacy tuners developed for the Mustang. But there is now a plug and play option from Pimpx.

 

I spent a liitle over 3K, doing most of the work myself using GT40 heads & hybrid intake on top of standard mods & a 512 Comp cam (max SD grind for a 5.0)

Made 193hp or so & 267ft lbs at the rear wheels with no tune or fuel upgrades falling flat at 4500-4800.

3.08 gears, E4, & 2 piece driveshaft eats up a lot.

 

Its a crew cab, 2wd 8ft bed with 32” tires and during the spring and summer months will be towing a landscaping trailer, as well as hauling materials in the bed.

 

Will doing just this require a tune? Do you have any suggestions for the lower intake in case I’d rather get a newer one than port the old original? Also any suggestions for rocker arms? Crane, Comp Cams, etc?

 

GT40 heads will 1.7 rockers work with the stock 5.8 computer.

The Edelbrock 3881 is the only aftermarket intake I know of that will work with what you have now. Other intakes that I know of use single bore throttle bodies and will require new parts and fabrication to work. I would put this as last on your list of purchases as budget allows.

Crane pedestal mount rockers were used by Ford in production engines, but you aren't likely to go wrong as long as you use a known brand.

You would be sensible to invest in exhaust before the intake manifold. Stainless steel lasts longer if you can afford it.

 

Don't forget torque converter options. Put in b&m traveler tc im happy pulling 3500# gotta use your lower gears though get it rolling C-6. When light turns green GO. People thinking oh im behind a camper say wish i had a Ford
i have heddman shorty headers on it now. Let me start from beginning
first set under 300.00 if you laid port side on a flat surface they rocked back n forth a weld had been run on port side after any decking i guess. Store returned sent new set.. Took to tuffy muffler said new set had to be decked. So 500 later totally new motor the spark plug wires start lighting on fire over n over. Even bought spark plug wires supposedly coated with material from the space shuttle re entry material hot i guess. Bought the sock tubes to protect wires from heat $$$ . used. Ac shorty plugs . of course wrapped headers with tape which voids warranty caused tubes to rot out. The heat from these headers was tremendous under the hood, melting heater vac lines. I can't wait to put stock exhaust mans back on so i don't have anymore fires underhood

 

No.

There are no other lower intakes that will work with the factory upper section, so the options are port the factory lower or substitute a complete aftermarket lower/upper combo.

Crane and Scorpion are good.

 

My current Speed Density (SD) 1994 F4TE 351w roller build for torque, built for a single cab 2wd short box:
Engine at 340,000 kms, regular oil changes, never been rebuilt, doesn't burn oil.
[by order of improvements]
- 300/460 air inlet tube
- QuarterHorse (QH) tuner & TunerProRT
- air pump delete, LMR idler bracket kit, air injection delete
- 3" Flowmaster muffler
- long tube pacesetter headers
- 2.5" collector to Flowmaster Y-pipe(2.5" in, 3" out)
- delete cat (exhaust stinks, ordered new high flow Flowmaster cat, putting cat back on)
- rebuilt trans, new torque converter, being a 1994 upgraded many parts in E4OD
- dual core rad, original single core
- Edelbrock 3881 intake kit, upper and lower, stock throttle body
- Compcam XE258HR-12
- decided to remove heads, new head gaskets
- decided to home port E7TE heads, removed thermactor bumps, opened up all ports

TONS of get up and go, being a 2dr 2wd.
Currently have one Edelbrock 60399 head sitting on shelf, waiting for second in the mail.
Also have high flow cat to go on.
AND, Scorpion 1.6 ratio roller rockers. My engine specs were designed around 1.6, not 1.7.

With SD, exhaust and intake swaps no problem, No need to upgrade throttle body.
With computer friendly cam, no problem.
With the wildest cam for SD, engine will run, idle won't be great, that is when you need a tune.

If I were to do it again, a crate engine would be quicker, probably similar in cash, but no where near as fun building it DIY.

 

I hate to hijack this thread, but I think it fits in fairly well... and I really want some help 🤷‍♂️

I'm building a factory roller 1994 351W to replace a 302 in a 1989 ford. My plan is have a stock bottom end, stock pistons on 20 over cylinders. I want to run the 35-320-8 cam shaft and 1.7 roller rockers with either the AFR 165 or 185 renegade heads. Im planning on running an aftermarket sequential fuel injection like pro flo 4 or holley. But the pimkin you mentioned is interesting.... I want this truck to be a little nasty but it's really just a cruiser around town. I've been reading your stuff for years but never posted. Do you have any advice???

Thanks