I have a 97 F250 HD with a 5.8 in it and I was wondering if I could replace my ecm with a 95 lightning ecm? I have done a lot of mods to my motor and it still doesnt go as fast as Id like it to. It makes torque but not hp, a friend of mine told me to change the gears, but would I be able to change the ecm, Thanks for your help--Dinty01

 

Well you're truck is already MAF, so that's not going to get you anything.

 

Actually my truck is the speed density setup, not the MAF setup. I dont know which is better, each person I ask about it gives me a different answer of which is better, some say mass air and some say speed density. Im jus looking for ways to get more out of it since I know there is a lot of power locked up in there somewhere without having to get it rebuilt or adding a supercharger.

 

Speed Density makes more power in stock form, Mass Air is easier to add modifications with. I could go into a very detailed explanation why, but thats how it is in a nut shell.

If you are referring to using a 1st gen Lightning computer, I wouldnt suggest it. Your air/fuel ratio will be different, along with the timing curve. I understand you have lots of mods, but the Lightning has GT-40 heads and intake, along with a different cam grind than a regular 351w.

Hope this helps

 

Thanks BigGreen'77, I do have mods to my motor-K&N Filter-no more box, throttle body spacer-i dont think it does much though so its coming out, taylor pro wires with bosch platinum 2 spark plugs, msd coil, underdrive pulleys, larger alternator-150amps at idle, flowmaster exhaust minus the cat , Im looking at putting on headers, a larger throttle body, an electric fan setup, maybe a new intake, a hotter cam, but if I go that far I might as well pull it all out and start from the bottom up and rebuild it and then have some serious power. I also have a diablo chip in my ecm but since I put the chip in my truck runs differently each time I start it, sometimes it shifts firm and has lotsa power, sometimes I think I have a v6 under my hood, do you know how to change that to make the ecm more consistant? Thanks Again--Dinty01

P.S. Im ordering a Cervini's Ram Air hood too with the whole Ram Air setup for my truck so that should give me more power.

 

You might also try the Hypertech Power programer to help you get more out of your 97.

 

SD does not give more power then MAF in stock forum. I don't know who told ya that but...no.

MAF runs in sequential injector firing, this means that the injector fires with the spark plugs. The SD system is called multi-port. It fires each bank of 4 injectors together, instead of each injector on their own. So it actually fires 4 injectors at once, even though not all 4 cylinders are ready to be fired. The fuel sits behind the intake valve before it opens and then is sucked into the engine. The MAF SEFI shoots the fuel right into the combustion champer when the intake valve is opened (way more efficient). I did a MAF conversion to my truck and it makes a noticeable power increase as well as a gas mileage increase from that power. The SEFI can better atomize the fuel being used which always equals more power.

Do a search on this site for "maf conversion" and you'll find a lot of information.

I just assumed that your 97 truck had MAF...as they started in 94-95ish on our trucks.

I have the ram air hood, it mostly helps with sound. To be honest, the mods you have done havn't really helped you that much. If you want to get into swapping intakes and changing the cam, do a MAF conversion. I have read a lot of books on Ford's EEC-IV EFI and MAF is definitely the way to go.

SD is pre-programed from the factory with specific engine parameters. It gives X amount of fuel for Y amount of throttle based on readings from the 02 sensor and a few others. It doesn't know how much air is actually going into the engine. MAF measures the amount of air coming in the engine and meters the correct fuel accordingly. Therefore, it's adaptive to engine mods (increasing the air flow through the engine can be recognized by the computer) and the air/fuel ratio can be more accurately perfected. Then you add on the fact that it's sequentially firing instead of bank firing, and it makes the engine more efficient with that power. You have to do a MAF conversion if you're looking into real engine mods. With the "mods" you have done (I don't consider an alternator an engine mod), you pretty much don't have any gains. The filter and TB spacer probably got you all of 2-3 hp, the underdrive pulleys probably 3-4, and the exhaust maybe 10. The coil doesn't help much on it's own w/o a high power ignition system. Wires/spark plugs, eh...not really an engine mod either. Your hi-amp alternator probably wiped out any gains you did have. If you want power, do a MAF conversion, swap the heads/intake/cam and away you go. Of coarse, an oil pressure and compression test should be done first.

 

I would start by puting stock motorcraft plugs back in the truck, unless it came with platinums they won't do any good. I used them for 500 miles before I ripped them out and went back to the stock motorcraft plugs. My 351 ATE them. It melted the electrodes off, they missed horribly from day one.. I did everything to try to get it smooth out with them, put the motorcraft plugs in and it cleared up.

 

I agree, the motorcraft plugs work very well with these engines.

 

MustangGt221- Thanks for responding first of all, and I knew I didn’t gain too much HP with the “mods” I did but I haven’t really been looking to radically change my HP output for fear something would break, not work correctly etc as this truck is my daily driver. But the other week a friend of mine got a new lightning and he let me drive it and wow that’s all I said for about 3 hours afterward, now I want my truck to perform something like that and I’ve been told with a 351 it isn’t hard to do. So, down the line, actually very soon I will probably pull the motor out and have it rebuilt to make some serious HP, have the trans rebuilt and new gears front and back and have an 8 inch lift thrown on for good measure. I also sent my chip back to Diablo today b/c they said it sounded like I had a defective chip either it lost its program or it went goofy as the tech guy called it. I’ve had the platinum plugs in now for about 15,000 miles and every oil change I pull them out and they look great, and I noticed a little bit more throttle response after the plugs, wires and coil but nothing huge. Thanks for your help guys and Ill try to get some pics up here soon—dinty01

 

Well, I'm building myself a 351 for my truck, I want it to have about 350hp.

If you want that kind of power, it'll take a MAF conversion, 24Lb injectors, 190lph fuel pumps, good bottom end, aftermarket cam, heads, intake, headers, 55 or 63ish mm throttle body from BBK, maybe a handful of other stuff. This is what I am doing on my truck. I already have the MAF kit, the injectors, and the TB.

I drove an 02 lightning for a week and it made me realise how much my truck needs more power

 

MustangGt221- With your build up, are you going to change your fuel rails to an aftermarket setup? Or use the stock ones? And what do you mean by good bottom end? Putting in new pistons, crank, bearings, porting, etc? I have another friend who bought a 94 lightning w/o mass air and he is now trying to convert it and he is having major problems, Im not sure exactly what they are but I know he is dropping serious money to jus get the truck to run, somewhere around 2K, so im alittle apprehensive about trying to do this conversion. Also if I were to do all of this Im looking for more than 350HP, I was looking for about 450 maybe even 500 HP, jus so those times when my truck is sunk in 4 feet of mud I know I have the power to get out, thanks—Dinty01

 

I'm using the stock fuel rails. By good bottom end I meant, making sure all the parts inside the engine are in good running condition. You can't take a stock 351 with 100k and put some high horsepower through it and expect it to live long.

Tell you're buddy he needs to drop the tools and step away, theres a ford racing conversion kit for about 600 bucks which takes care of all the conversion requirements.

Even a conversion kit from Pro-M is about 900 bucks.

If you want 450-500 hp, you'll need a blown 351 or a big block...

To do that you should get a Pro-M MAF conversion with a big MAF sensor, you'd need to run 255lph fuel pumps, bigger fuel lines/rails, injectors..everything would have to be upgraded.

 

Ok, I thought you meant rebuilding the bottom end which I want to do anyways for strength and durability. And my buddy does have the kit from ford with the meter, ECM, harness, sensors etc, I don’t know what is going on but hopefully I can chat with him soon. I was jus lookin at the kits from pro-m and the kit for my truck is $1718 that’s a lot, I saw the kits you were referring to, priced around 900 but that’s for trucks without an e40d Trans, and I have an e40d. I will probably have my motor built to include a vortec blower on top to provide the extra boost whenever I need it; I was also lookin at a turbo setup, im undecided though. But yea ill be upgrading everything when I build it. I was also lookin in my ford racing catalog on pg32 at the conversion kits but I don’t see a kit for the fseries with an e40d, they have one for the lightning, and one for trucks with AOD but no e40d, do you know if they any other kits? BTW do you have any pics of the maf kit? Thanks for all your help—Dinty01

 

I forgot to add this question to my last post, if i found a truck/bronco with the mass air on it in a junk yard, what would i need to take off the truck in order to install it on mine? is that even possible? i know i need the meter, all tubing, the harness, the ecm, im not exactly sure which sensors though, if its a junked lightning im probably going to take the whole truck-hahha