hey guys, i am looking to do some performance upgrades to my 87 f150 , its bone stock right now except for a cat back gibson exhaust. the truck has "ok" power from a stop, but i would like a lil more top end power. its and 87 5.0 f.i.....what have some of you guys done and what kind of results have you gotton...

 

I would try a new camshaft designed for use with your computer. A set of roller rockers would help to. Also chips are an easy horsepower adder. Another thing that will liven your truck up is a gear change. Your truck most likely has 3.55 gears. A set of 3.73 gears are a good all around gear but will give you a much better hole shot. This is just my opinion though. Hope it helps.

 

P.S. I just noticed your truck has 260,000 miles on it. Your bottom end might not stand up to performance upgrades to well. Be carefull!!!!!

 

Pulleys, open element filter and bump the intial timing up. This mods are simple, inexpensive and produce noticeable gains. Gears will also help on the low end as well.
Roller Rockers are great for the valvetrane...you might pick up a few HP...but that's it.

 

http://performanceunlimited.com/projectmpg/

 

Yeah be careful w/ a high mileage motor...MSD ignition would be good. I'd stick to basic bolt-ons...forget any internal engine mods like rockers or cam. Save your money and put it into a new engine when that one dies. Atleast with the MSD you can switch it to another motor if u get a new one later on.

 

well, I put on a borla exhaust, shorty headers, KN filter, modified the air box restrictor (aka cut it off), accell cap, rotor, super coil and wires syn oil. Based on my trap speed and race weight each time I ran it, I got the truck from 185hp stock to 225ish, no more would be avail unless I went to the SFI ECM kit.

on one of the engine stands is a 97 XXX block .030 over, 3.25 nodular crank, forged 5.4" rods, 9.6:1, E303, roller lifters and rockers, gtp40 heads, 24Lb injectors...Im projecting 275-285hp with the stock intake, closer to 320 if I run the edelbrock, all on an SFI ECM into my existing perf exhaust.

 

thanks for all the tips guys, i know that the engine has a lot of miles on it,and your probably right about added internal mods, SO i guess i will stick with this motor for a while till she dies,.....IF EVER !!! by the way i a up to 267,500 miles now....still chuggin baby !
F IRST
ON
R ACE
D AY

 

i changed my 5.0 to a 5.0 h.o. do i need to do any injector or computer changes to my truck?