frederic,

My wife is the worrier! So the truth comes out! You wouldn't believe some of the stuff we have had happen on vacations and other trips. I could fill a book with the stories! Tools, I never leave home with out them.

On this truck I want everything new as much as possible. I normally rebuild my own engines, but my wife wanted me to buy a new engine (crate engine).

But hey, I appreciate your opinion. It was just one more avenue I could consider.

Thanks,
Delos

 

A rebuilt 302 bored 30 over, supercharger, taller gears, and a good tune should make for a very fun ride.

 

Hi guys.
My 2 cents. I have done all of this kind of stuff as well. Restored several classic Mustangs. Restored a 63 F-100 and put a rebuilt Y block in it etc. I just had a great local shop put a 302 Jasper engine in my 94 F-150. They did it in 3 days and did a wonderful job. They even gave me a ride home. I purchased the truck used and the stock engine self destructed. What a noise engine bearing can make. It is below freezing here right now and I am not changing engines in this weather. I want the truck to be rock steady reliable and use it as a truck to tow and haul etc. You said you have something like 300,000 miles on your current 302. That is what I want to get out of the new one in my truck. I have done all the performance stuff and it is fun but I want the truck to be reliable and there is nothing wrong with a warranty.
Just my 2 cents. Glad everyone is here to help and offer advice.
Andy63...

 

This is a really great site. I am new to mechanics...but all you need is a book, right? Well, I have an 89' F-150 with a 302 and I just rebuilt it. I did it all on my own, which I'm really proud of. Now, I can fix pretty much anything on that truck! I had a long block built from a local machinist- with a 7 year warranty. I've got 4.11 gears in the rear, so he helped me out with a really good Isky cam- I'm not sure what the specs are, but it's a really high rise cam. That cam also forced me to convert to mass air...(630 bucks from Summitt~!!!) It gives it a really rough idle, which I'm still not sure if it's from the cam or what, so I'm gonna pull some codes on it. I kept the same heads...I just had the machinist do some work on them to make them a little more breathable, and I added some shorty headers from summit because my exhaust manifold was cracked and the headers bolt on to the stock exhaust. It seems to run really well- it's got amazing throttle response and more power than I'll ever use...but the darn thing is idling really rough- it has a kind of "jerk" to it- almost like the timing is off or it is missing on a cylinder at lower rpm's (about 750). The machinist seems to think that it's my injectors- because I had them professionally cleaned. He said that the needle in the injectors becomes worn over the years, and when you add that new cap it causes it to malfunction! What the hell? I think I've put about $3500 bucks into this Christmas break project...it drives me nuts that it isn't working properly. Has anybody seen this before with mass air/ high rise cam? What could my problem be?

 

302 is a good engine, but i rather have a 351

 

Sorry the reply took so long.

I am using the stock fuel system. The stock fuel system is good for up to 295-300HP. I estimated the total ""real"" horsepower I would have when I was done would be 260-280 somewhere at the flywheel. I bought a set of 19lb injectors out of the junkyard and took them to a shop for cleaning and flow testing so they would be ready when I did the engine swap. I am going to buy an adjustable fuel pressure regulator and tune it when I pay to put it on a dyno. The cost of the 24lb injectors, bigger throttle body, bigger mass air meter, larger fuel pump on my setup would have been another 800-1000 dollars easy and not a big gain in HP on my setup. If you were running a blower or really went nuts with my cam, heads, stroked it or went with a 351 the horse power gain might have been worth the money and the engine could have really used the extra juice. Anything you are going to do with your truck if it is going to be your daily driver and you want it to run good the 19lb system is fine.

I had my Y-pipe modified to fit the new headers, removed the second cat and went 3" all the way back out the back like stock through a V-force muffler.

Superchargers are great if you live in a place where the weather is consistantly the same. If it is 20 below in the winter and 116 in the summer adjustments will have to be made to your system to keep it running well unless you don't go with very much boost. If you go with less boost though you just spent 3500 bucks on a supercharger system when you could have spent 1000 bucks on some heads 500 bucks on some exhaust and got the same horsepower gain. Super chargers are so cool though! The thing is you just need to be rich enough to do the entire engine and then buy the supercharger to install with boost that is easy on the engine!

SMURRAY:
The place where you had your injectors cleaned should have provided you with a sheet with the flow testing results. I think your cam is the problem. I know the Ford E303 cam runs like crap at idle, you could check the specs on the E303 and compare them to yours. The E303 sucks all low end from your power but, around 3200 RPM's the thing feels like another engine was added and you take off like a rocket! The stock HO cam and Explorer cam Ford has are said by all to be the best all around cam for the 5.0. The E303 and similar cams are great for drag racing and work awesome in light cars with balanced\blue printed engines that are built to rev.

 

^ The computer should be able to compensate for various temperatures and boost pressures. The map sensor signal and air temperature signal should tell the computer enough to throw in the extra fuel required under boost. Most $3500 superchargers will give much more power than heads and exhaust will ever do. I would still make sure that the exhaust was good quality in order to maximize gains from the supercharger - the engine will inhale very well with the supercharger, but it still needs to exhale.

 

Mine too. This is why I have jumper cables, tools, gaskets, hoses, fluids in the bedbox "just in case". Last year, while driving to the shore, I had to change a headgasket on the side of the road. Stuff happens.

If your wife supports the purchase ofa crate engine, by all means. My wife, while a good sport, considers my truck a "hobby" so any expenditures other than gas and oil/filter is deemed "unnecessary".

Then again, I really don't *have* to drive an unloaded crewcab to and from work every day

 

Right on.

If the computer is only seeing a "little boost" like in the 5psi range generally it will compensate just fine, however outside that range you might luck out, or not. Upping the size of the injectors can compensate for constantly lean functions, and the ECM will learn that pretty quick by watching the 02 sensor's output.

One of the things I always recommend is if one is to spend $3500 on a supercharger of their choosing and add 30% more air to the engine, why not port the heads, intake and exhaust sides to allow that air in and out easier?

This comes from a guy who is swapping in a twin-turbo 460EFI into a 351 crewcab with GM EFI instead of Ford. Well, once it warms up and I can work outside.

 

tripndrag:
Yeah- I got the injectors cleaned at napa- they gave me a chart that gave me the spray patterns and it showed that they all pressure tested fine to something like 40 p.s.i.. I'm gonna pull codes either today or tomorrow and see what's really wrong. The check engine light comes on when I'm at low rpm's, and when I'm not torqing on the motor. The funny thing is that the check engine light doesn't come on when I'm at the higher rpm's (from 2,500 on). I forgot to mention that I also have an exhaust leak at the header collector just before the y-pipe. That could be confusing my computer- maybe it's flooding my engine with too much gas because it thinks it's way too lean from what the O2 sensor is telling it...

My Isky Cam
Lopey idle. RPM-Range: 3000-7000
Valve Lift - INT: .544 EXT: .573 Valve Lash Hot - INT: .000 EXT: .000 ADV Duration - INT: 284° EXT: 294° .050 Duration - INT: 238° EXT: 248° Lobe Center: 110°

E303 Cam
Advertised duration: 282 intake/282 exhaust
Duration at .050 in. cam lift: 220 intake/220 exhaust
Gross valve lift: .498 in. intake/.498 exhaust
Lobe separation: 110 degrees
Peak horsepower rpm: 5,500
Peak torque rpm: 2,500
Good idle

I may have put in a "beefier" cam than my engine can handle- with the stock heads, ...but I'm not complaining.

Why not just convert to mass air if you're already spending the $3000 on a turbo? It would definately be an added benefit. I can sure see the difference in my throttle response (although my idle is still all screwed up from something)... I just hope that I'm not messing up my truck by running it right now without knowing exactly what's wrong with it. Please dear God don't let me burn up my brand new pistons!!!

-----> Oh, and one more question to pester all of you "senior members" and "Posting Guru's" (just kidding): where is the best place for the O2 sesor- Inside the passenger side header, or on the Y-pipe? I'm getting new exhaust run on Friday and I have to make up my mind on this one...
Thanks
-=|Smurray|=-

 

A few inches past the "Y" joint so the sensor sees exhaust from both sides of the engine.

You want it close to the engine so it warms up correctly, but you do want exhaust from both sides.

Here's a tip - when you install your 02 sensor bung, put it on the side or top of the piece if there is clearance. A friend of mine put such a bung on the bottom of the "Y" for a wide-band sensor.

First bit of road debris he went over.... riiiiiiiiippppp! wideband sensor gone.

 

Ideally you want the O2 sensor as close to the exhaust valves as possible. Depending on which mass-air computer you have, it may have inputs for two O2 sensors, and if that is the case, you can put one in both headers.

 

Ok as it stands right now here's what I'm planning on doing. Remember I don't race the truck, I don't run it in the mud. I'll I'm doing is looking for a little extra power for towing. I know a 351 will do that, however I have two 5.0's one in the truck and the one out of the mustang I wrecked.

Rebuild the mustang motor, whatever it needs. If it needs boring I'm going to try and stay at .030. New cam and lifter (either stock 5.0 or explorer cam). ARP head studs instead of bolts. Using the truck heads instead of the 86 mustang heads. (Well if I can talk my wife into a little more money I get a set of GT 40 heads, have to wait and see on that!) Unless we find something bad wrong I'm staying with the stock crank, since the engine was running fine at the time I wrecked it I don't expect any problems of that nature but you never know untill you get in to one. Vortech supercharger ,at least thats the one I'm considering right now, and that will probably do what I want. Running new exhaust, haven't decided on what kind of mufflers yet. I guess I could buy another cat (if it will fit) and not run mufflers like I've got it set up right now with the cat back dual exhaust.

Now another question:

When you run the true dual exhaust, I know you have to go down the same area as the regular exhaust runs. Do you just put in an h-pipe and mount your O2 sensor in the h pipe? As close as the pipes will be to each other it's not going to be a very big area to mount it in, of course the sensor is not that big. Just seems like you would need something where it would get a reading from both sides of the exhaust like it does with the stock Y pipe.

If I don't buy the gt 40 heads, will porting the trucks help that much. I know every little bit helps. Is it cost effective? Boy now that was a stupid question, getting ready to lay down $3,000 for a supercharger. Just act like I never asked that one!

Delos

 

If you have a free weekend you can port the heads yourself. Opening the exhaust ports on any Ford iron head is a huge plus, especially for a supercharger! GT-40's would be a better platform to work from, though your stock heads (ported) should respond well to boost.
For the O2 sensor, an H-pipe will be fine. When I went with Long tubes...I mounted mine on the passenger side header just before the flange. I mounted another one in the same place on the drivers side for the Wideband O2 sensor so I could monitor my A/F ratios....so far it's worked out quite well.

 

Have you looked at Kenne Bell superchargers? I think they would give you more of what you are looking for in terms of towing performance than a centrifugal type (Vortech) supercharger would. The Kenne Bell makes full boost from 2000 rpm, the Vortech will be much higher in the rev band.