Got a '96 F250 with a 351 and a ZF5. Wondering if anyone has tried the Edlebrock pro flo 4 out on one? Seems to be an easier way to upgrade and get more power than PimpX, at least tuning wise. If anyone has tried it out what cam and heads would be good for 350-375 hp or would that even be possible with a stock bottom end?

 

The PiMP is a computer and nothing else so how would you expect to get more power from it without any changes to the engine? It does allow you to tune/ adjust for whatever heads and camshaft you put on the engine.

There are a lot of 351W engine builds on here. What is your budget? You can easily spend $2K on heads and another $1K on a camshaft and lifters.

 

...not to mention the Proflo 4 cost. I have no experience with it, it may be a great unit but I know it is not some $500 kit.

That alone will not make a 350hp engine. Stock heads are crap, stock cam pretty small, and dealing with a 30 year old short block. Too much cam with puny static compression numbers make for a slug downlow...then you run into the intake manifold bottle neck at high RPM due to runner length. Just like L98 GM V8s

Decide a realistic budget and ALL the power lies in the heads.

 

I was thinking the pro flo 4, aluminum heads, and a cam. I understand it will cost around $5-6k for the parts. When I first posted about getting more power I didn't know about the stock ECU being the limiter. I looked into the Pimpx and it seems reasonable in price but I know I'd never take the time to properly tune it. I'm just not sure how much compression the stock bottom end makes or how much power it can support. If I bought the stuff above could I make decent amount of power then use the stuff to make more power once it's time for a rebuild?

I'm capable of doing all the work and the money isn't really an issue. I just want something I can fairly easily do my self and not have to study to much or take to a tuner. The pro flo seemed to first that. Thanks.

I think I ask about heads and cam in the original post?

 

So the Pro Flo is self learning? There is definitely a learning curve for the Stinger computer. You did but what aluminum heads and cam are you looking at? Stock compression is 8.8 but I might be wrong.

 

The build I saw they used used Trick flow heads but I don't remember what size. They were using a sniper system to replace a carburetor. I figure the pro flo 4 would be better than the sniper. I have no idea on a cam. It would be really be nice if a company like edlebock sold a build kit with the pro flo 4, performer heads, and a cam that made X amount of power.

I want something fairly reliable that I can enjoy driving and still tune and fix myself. I really don't want something that makes me want to pull my hair out swapping parts and tuning on. We looked into a 7.3 godzilla or 6.2 swap but there's so much work to be done it would take me a year to finish and hope it works.

 

I bought a Pro Flo kit used off of marketplace. I was going to put it on my wifes 73 f100 with a 390. The person I bought it from was having problems with it and I got it super cheap because of the issues they were having. There is very little support for the Pro Flo kit online. I ended up scrapping the Pro Flow ECM because it had internal issues. I cut the plug off of the harness and wired it into a spare Microsquirt that I had laying around. All the Fuel injection components are decent. Mostly GM stuff but it works well with the Microsquirt. Way more tuneable than the Edelbrock software.

 

Sorry I forgot to mention that I also have a 88 F-250 with a 5.8 and a ZF5. I put AFR heads on it with 35-351-8 Comp cam and the Edelbrock EFI truck intake. The microsquirt is a good option since you have a ZF5. They can be had for ~$150-200 used. If you're good with wiring and can learn to tune it's a solid little stand alone.

 

Thanks for the info. It's been so long since I've messed with engines all this stuff is new to me. One of the things I didn't realize is the pro flo 4 has been around for a good many years. Maybe they've got the glitches worked out. I'd be good with the mega-squirt if it's fairly easy to tune. I like the idea of getting away from the 30 yr old factory ECU. I know it's a fairly simple fix when the parts go bad but it's also one more thing to deal with. I'm going to keep an eye out for used parts and keep studying on this.

 

• AFR 185CC Alloy heads
• Summit SUM-8904 roller cam
• Edelbrock Performer intake
• Holley Sniper EFI
• Holley Hyper Spark distributor
• Holley Hyper Spark CD ignition box

The Sniper is self learning with tons of support. On a mild build like this you probably won't even have to touch the fuel table at all.

 

Enforcer?

Street? 58 or 72 cc chamber?

I have renegade (now called street?) 185 58cc heads on my 408

 

I run the pro Flo 4 on a stroked 428 (462) and love it!

 

Not to hijack, what are your hose clamps?

 

I think the proper term for any ECU would be self tuning and not self learning. The ECU doesn't have the ability to learn anything, but it is constantly being reprogrammed by those who use it. The self tuning of the VE tables is available on many of the aftermarket ECUs including the Megasquirt and PiMP ECUs. I'm sure all of them take a fair bit of learning on the part of the user to have a well tuned engine.

The advantage to the more popular systems is going to be finding someone that is going to be able to tune it for you, assuming that you are not wanting to tune it yourself. The advantages to the PiMPx, which is what I run, is that it is less expensive and will plug into your factory harness. There is support available for the Megasquirt based ECUs if you look for it, but as for any of the ECUs, you really should have the desire to learn, go carbureted, or just stay stock. Learning can be a rewarding experience, even if it is frustrating. I have spent many days of hours learning the Ideal Gas Law just to tune my engine. Where most people are running one table with the PiMPx based on the Ideal Gas Law, which doesn't really seem to work, I run six other tables based on it that do. I understand most people are not going to be willing to put that kind of time into making their engines run well, but if you want to be good at something, its what you do. It is a lot easier than the wrench turning work, too.

 

@rwfid I agree. “Self-learning” is mostly just a marketing term. The ECU isn’t actually learning anything on its own — it’s following programmed logic and making adjustments from sensor feedback.

Ford’s EEC adaptive logic was already doing this by storing fuel corrections in KAM. Modern aftermarket ECUs just take it further by automatically adjusting VE tables.

Either way, the ECU still needs a good base tune and someone who knows how to tune it properly.