Have a nearly mint 95 f150xlt stand cab short box 4x4 with 351 and I want to slowly upgrade it to get some more torque. I have basically done a complete tune up and am now ready to add some performance parts. What would be a better choice for increasing low end torque?: E-fan or FIPK intake kit. Is there a cold air intake kit available for a 95? Thanks and any other performance upgrade advice is much obliged.

 

Neither...don't waste your money on small bolt ons. Open up the exhaust first...then look into actual engine modifications like heads/cam/intakes...and a MAF conversion kit. All of the info can easily be found in the 351 engine forum, a search for MAF conversion or MAF conv. will pull up pleanty of into on why you should do it and how.

 

Although I agree that exhaust should be the first thing tackled...I believe that the Electric fan would be a decent move - and something he will end up doing eventually. Eliminating drag is good for everything. Just like bypassing your power steering or air conditioning for better power - same with removing the mechanical clutch. Gives you BACK power, returns mileage, better response, etc. I'd run a dual fan setup though, and check them often to ensure that they are still operating.

The FIPK will give you very little performance increase. Do a forum search for "Air Intake" and you will also find lots of information (including my own findings). Don't waste your money on a FIPK, at the very least. Also, K&N filters filter less dirt - bad for your motor. They have to be dirty - cutting flow - to actually filter better then a paper filter. You can do other modifications (do the search) to help your air intake out.

 

Oh..as he said, small bolt ons are just that - small. You can't radically increase an engines performance without changing its internals or actual components. The "bolt" on's will not net you a lot of increase at all. That is very good advice. You could spend all the money you want on small bolt on peices, and you'll just be dissapointed in the end with the performance you get.

 

I would say go ahead with the elec fans. You will notice a little mpg gain, and passing power. not a bad idea since it is a good upgrade no matter how you look at it. However an exhaust might give you a little better performance. Either wont be a bad idea for starters.

 

Putting an better flowing exhaust on is almost pointless if you're not going to open up the intake tract.

Heads, cam and a mass air conversion is fine, but not everyone can afford to do all or even part of these mods. With that said, an exhaust/headers, open element filter, and underdrive pulleys will give you noticeable gains on stock motor.
If you're looking to go as fast as possible for cheap then nitrous is the way to go.

 

I agree that electric fans are a good motification....but probably shouldn't be your first.

The money you spend on an electric fan would be better put to another part. The first modification I would make to an engine that I felt was going to get some modifications in the future...would be a MAF conversion. I already put one on my truck and it's great...and will add a good amount of power in of itself.

People spend $200 on an FIPK, $400 on exhausts...power pullies..etc etc...that don't give much power for the dollar. You can easily pickup another 100hp off heads and a MAF conversion. Heads are about 500-600 for some GT-40 iron heads...

It also depends on how serious you are...if you only want 20-30 more horsepower..then you can spend $1000 on bolt ons and get that (realistically, don't follow their hp gain advertisements)...but I'd do actual modifications first.


An FIPK will net you about 3 hp....definitely not worth the $150-$200 they go for.

 

Well I wiil say this , don't start mods on the engine like heads and major stuf on an older engine , just causes trouble . I build mustangs for racing and have learned over the years ..And Nitrous Oxicde is a SURE WAY TO BLOW IT if not built for it , you have to have a certain compression and a built for NOS motor for that , also a mistake i have made .It is a proven fact ..NOS is a bad thing...Go with exhaust and air intake first , a good high performance ignition system will help , and the mass air air sensor along with a BIGGER TB...

 

It's perfectly fine to make engine modifications if the engine is healthy (good oil pressure and compression). We're not talking racing engines....the stresses are not that high. However, I do not wish to argue about it...so heres my final thought and whoever can do whatever with what they take from it.


Check oil pressure/compression and make sure you have a healty engine first.

Hopefully you'll get 20psi or higher when the engine is warm/idling but the higher the better (between 40-60 is great, but usually on new motors). Also, hopefully you'll have 150psi+ across the board on the compression.

Next, learn how and do a MAF conversion (search for MAF conversion in this forum and the 302/351 engine forum). Don't make a post asking how to put a MAF conversion on your 351...there are lots of threads already out on how to do it. If you run into specific questions then sure make a thread...but...there are already tons of "how do I MAF my 351" threads.

Then I would do some headers (picks up a good amount of power for the money), good y-pipe, and any exhaust you choose (doesn't have to be the $1000 supremo kit). The key points here are clogged/older cats that rob power. The next modification can go either way....could do electric fans or a high power ignition...but those IMO should be done after things like heads/cam/intakes.

The rest all depends on your budget and will for power. The MAF, headers/exhaust will net you about 30-40hp at the flywheel. The big ones here are the MAF/headers. The exhaust will help more with sound then power. I would next look into heads (don't have to go with full on racing heads that are $1300) and look into some GT-40 iron heads or the equivilant, with a good cam and a good valvetrain (maybe even roller rockers). If you did all that...you'd definitely enjoy driving that truck


Pickup a Ford Racing catalog (fordracing.com) and poke through it for ideas.

 

Thanks for the insight. I am installling a edelbrock rpm series muffler today. I got a good deal on it. Still have to decide on how far away from stock I want to take my truck. I am a novice gear head at best and sort of mechanically declined. I do like the idea of the maf conversion though. Thanks again.

 

Okay. Here is what I have done to my truck, it is a 1993 F-150 standard cab short box with a 5.0L and 4:10 gears from the factory, 3" Flow-Pro Cat back exhaust, MSD Ignition with Coil and regapped spark plugs, 1996 351W Throttle body of a MAF Truck (1.5mm bigger than older TB's) and also bypassed the coolant lines going to throttle body, Ford Motorsport 9mm Wires, Catco High flow cat, Royal Purple in the Engine, Front and rear ends and the transfer case, K&N FIPK. And maybe because I have done it the most recently but the K&N FIPK made the most difference of all the mods. The Ignition didn't do damn thing and everything else was very minimal. I did pick up about 2 1/2 MPG with all the mods in town. Went from 12 to 14.5 consistantly. The

Like I said the K&N was the most noticable. I was the last thing I did so maybe that played a difference and I did run a K&N filter in my stock airbox. It made 9mph difference on a hill wide open that I could only go 80MPH up and it went 89 mph with just an intake change. My friend and I use this very steep 2 mile long hill to use as a baseline that no one ever drives on to see if the mod's we do make any difference. It is also a hill we pull our snowmobiles up and I can't wait to see how it does this year!!

One more thing, the MAF conversion from Ford only works on trucks with manual tranny's or AOD. If you have an E40D it won't work and most later model F-150s have this tranny. It is identified by the Overdrive OFF button on the end of the shifter.

Just something to think about.

 

I believe Pro-M has E4OD kits but I'm not 100% sure, there was a thread a little while ago talking about the E4OD type of conversion.

I wouldn't have removed the coolant lines from the TB, they do that so the throttle linkage doesn't ice up and stick on you in the winter. They don't have enough of an affect on engine power due to heating the incoming air to worry about removing it.

 

Well as far as the Throttle body goes, I will just have to give it a shot. I am thinking about putting a valve into the coolant line to run it in the winter if I have any problems. I do know that it lowered the throttle body temp from 173 degrees to 112 degrees. I am also working on a egr plate to reduce exhaust temp's in the intake. That is more to eliminate the lean low rpm miss I have when hot.

 

Pro-M does make a mass air kit, and it's for the GEN 1 Lightnings, It utilizes the stock PCM to run the trans and an A9L to run the engine. One of the benefits of running the the Pro-M kit is because of the A9L...anyone can tune it. I'm pulling the FMS Lightning MA kit this week to install the Pro-M kit, Univer Blow-Thru and 50lb injectors. Should be fun with the added boost.

 

What about trucks with the C6? I'm looking into doing the MAF conversion, would I be better using the AOD kit?

Thanks,
Brian