Hey guys, I'm looking to add some power to my 302 in an 88 F-150, and I know this topic sounds familiar but after looking at all the related ones, most suggest stroking or rebuilding with new cams or total enging swapping... This simply will not work for me, because I have nowhere to swap or rebuild my engine, and this is my only driver... so it has to run on Monday if you get what I mean. Basically I'm looking for things to do to it in a parking lot with a few tools over the weekend, and keeping in mind that I have never done anything to an engine so much as change the oil and filter... But I can read and follow instructions and am willing to learn.

I'm thinking about adding headers and getting a system from flowmaster with a high-flow cat and mufflers, but I couldn't convert to true duals unless I wanted to pay the exhaust shop a ton of cash. Also I thought of going for heads and in the long run, a supercharger. Powerdyne offers a kit for a stock 302 that sounds pretty nice, but I have heard roots style is the only way to go for a truck... like kennybell. The truck is a daily driver so it has to last too. As far as budget goes, I plan to buy a few parts as I can afford them and then put em on, sort of as part of a long-term project. Suggestions?

 

Welcome to FTE!

Well, with the speed density, making changes to the airflow either by cam/intake/head swap you need to stay on the conservative side.

You can do whatever you want on the exhaust and see some good results. The easy (and most popular) upgrade is to install some shorty headers. If you buy the headers that are made as a direct replacement (instead of Mustang headers), they will bolt right up to your existing exhaust system. The Mustang headers may bolt to the exhaust as well, but have heard it both ways. If you have a friend to help and a day to work on it, long tube headers are the best choice. But there are some mods that need to be done, the shorties are best for you (quick and easy).

Play with your timing. Try advancing it in 2 degree steps until you experience pinging, then back it off 2. I have heard of some people running as much as 14 deg btdc timing. This will help the low end response.

If you get to the point that you want to tackle a cam swap, again, stay conservative. The cam in my sig works great with the speed density. If you want more, heads are the biggest restriction. But this would require a conversion to MAF, about $700 for the parts (new).

Converting to MAF by itself, without any other mods, is worth it. You will experience better gas mileage and slightly better performance. Plus any future mods, like heads or cam, will be no problem.

 

if you want power then you are going to need the dual exhaust not just a y pipe.

 

A good exhaust sytem on a 302 makes a world of difference. I'm running Ford shorty headers , 2nd cat removed , and a 3" si/do Magnaflow muffler, very nice increase there.

Good cheap and easy power making mods are - K&N drop in filter with modified airbox - underdrive pullies (nice gain for money) - advance timing - 180* thermostat - exhaust - Diablo chip.

These mods will all help a bit and they all add up , you can do all this for under a grand. Should be worth a least 35 hp.




Keep on truckin' ...Mike

 

I haven't done much with my exhaust - but needed a new cat and got the slightly higher flow dynomax/walker replacement single cat for the double - that might have helped power a hair. The new Y-pipe at least looks cleaner than the stock y-pipe which looks like it... well if you look at the stock junction you'll get my drift. It doesn't look like a Y.


What did help though was timing- I put on a new dist. cap (jegs brand) and checked my timing - it was running at like 5.5 deg BTDC. So I tried advancing it way up there. Worked great. I was running 12.5 or so - man the truck had noticeably more power. I could easily peel wheels if I stomped the gas and the truck jumped better when you touched the gas. I did back it back off to 9 or ten where it is now because I had a slight ping - but the ping is still there. It might be carbon or something, I'm not sure. But timing was the way to go for me. I haven't done exhaust yet, but over Christmas I am getting my welder back from my brother's place and putting on a 3" cat back (single exhaust). Maybe shorties after that.

I also dropped in an air filter (kool blue, like K & N) but didn't notice much of a difference. I think air filters help most when the truck is pulling a large amount of air - up in the 4 grand plus RPM range. I rarely take my truck that high, esp. with 3.08 gears. When I do, I'm usually trying to merge in traffic or something and am not paying attention to subtle power differences.

 

i used to have a 89 mustang gt.it had the 302. i modded it with new upper an lower intake,80mm throttle body,bbk cold air intake,underdrive pulley kit(like someone said very nice mod for so little money), SVO headers, ported an polished. jet chip. quite a few other things on the engine itself.the exhuast is what i loved the most.i had 2 force 2 series 2 chamber flowmaster mufflers with 3in piping from headers to muffs an dumped under carriage.the car was dynoed at 365hp.i ended up sellin it due to too many tickets within one month(damn cops were jealous). now im stuck with a heavy **** explorer hopefully soon to have a engine swap.so your engine is pretty much what mine started out to be.new intake till run you around 150 bucks an a good exhaust setup around 250-300(mine was 380).

 

I have heard another nice mod is to get the 5.8 snorkel and use that for better flow - $13 from your dealer.

 

Nice replies! I am close to purchasing a set of shorty headers on ebay, says they fit the f150... but they are cheap and that's what counts right now. About the timing... my truck will ping anyway if I don't put at least 89 octane in her, my dad (the previous owner) said he had messed around with the timing a lot to try and remedy the pinging... so he may have it backed down a lot. So I might not even be able to advance it that much because of the engine knock. I should go see what it's at now. Keep the suggestions coming!
Oh, flowmaster says they include a high-flow cat with their kit for the F150, I was wondering if that means it replaces both cats or just one of them? Or should I just go to a shop and tell them to run true dual on it with a pair of aftermarket mufflers, and forgo the converter? (this is BC, I might be able to do that...)

 

An easy driveway modification is roller rockers, or better yet 1.7 ratio roller rockers. Many of the other simple bolt on modifications mentioned are also useful, however the best power per dollar is always spent on parts closest to the combustion chamber. A cam is one of the best bangs for the bucks, and heads will make a big difference on a windsor type Ford. These are not easy one day driveway modifications with a guarantee of getting the truck running on monday, especially if you have never done them before.

Good luck.

-Matthew

 

as with most I agree w/ the exaust. there is alot there that can be done, but personally i wouldn't look at mods like cam,heads and blower untill you have a new engine. but I would second the 1.7 roller rockers though, you can easily swap them in little time, also if you modify the exaust you should let the intake system breath better, many have mentioned k&n filters, which would be good, and also mentioned was modifing the intake ducting, what me an my dad did on his work vans was removing the silencer- but i am told that those also help in keeping water out of the engine, so maybe rig some thing else up to help keep the water out, and actually the 351 had worse ducting, but it was also a few years older(91). as for the underdrive pulleys i have nothing to say(never ran a set before), but something else that might help and is very easy would be a chip- very easy but can easily get pricey, and chose a chip wisely, or it could bakfire on you entirely.

 

As a different perspective I disagree with the use of 1.7 rockers. They won't provide much in the way of hp or tq improvement and for the money you might as well get a cam. Most cams are figured with a 1.6 ratio so if you add a cam later you may actually hurt the potential performace of the engine by having the higher lift rockers and I will bet you won't want to take them off because you spent a good deal of money on them. Going with a higher lift rocker is usually done in a case where the installer knows why he is adding them and what for to maximize a current grind or modification on a high hp motor. A cam will change the characteristics of the engine so that would be my suggestion short of headers, Just my opinion good luck with your choice

 

get a msd 6a ignition box. it will give better mileage save plugs and give more hp. it is easy to install and costs about 150 in jegs or on ebay you could get a good deal.

 

Is it possible to do a cam swap without removing the engine?

Would new ignition really make any difference in HP? What about a chip? Just want some second opinions.

What's the best intake setup for this truck? Anyone experimented with cold air induction or ram air? I'm thinking I might go with the dual in K&N conical inside the stock airbox w/ the 5.8 snorkle, I'm just worried about hot engine bay air being sucked in if I just use the filter all by itself.

I thought about using underdrive pulleys but I have an amplifier running my sound system, so I didn't want the alternator to be running under capacity.

What about running 4.11 gears in back? I hear it really helps acceleration, and I don't do any highway driving.

Keep em coming!

 

buy an electric fan an lose the belt driven fan.this will lossen up free hp ranges from 15-45hp depending on what you drive.plus an electric fan runs constant so its cooling your engine an pushin all the hot engine bay air out.sine your in a truck you sit high enough for a ram air.i dont believe in "cold air intake"why???because the intake tube an filter still sit in a hot bay.with ram air your tube wil be hot as enigne bay but the air from under the truck front fascia is whatever the temp is outside.heres two mods so far.that are relatively easy an inexpensive.ooh yeah grab a set of underdrive pulley kit.this frees up a niceee bit of hp for around like 50 bucks

 

is the underdrive pullykit relativly easy to install for someone whos never done it before? ive been looking at doing some stuff to my truck as well. trucks different but same concept. how much milage would the msd ignition give as well? and what type of performance increase are we talking about? i dont' want to spend $150 on the msd ignition and $50 on the underdrive pully kit and not get my moneys worth in performance.