Performance upgrades on 79 F100
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Performance upgrades on 79 F100
Hey guys. Im a newby but I have a 79 F100/Ranger Custom with a 302. I havent done anything to it except keep it in excellent stock condition. Its never been restored, just kept up well. Im buying a chrome dress up kit with valve covers, and high flow intake and Im looking into replacing the exhaust manifolds with new headers and replacing the exhaust system. Any other ways to improve performance that arent tons of money? (The headers and exhaust will hurt my wallet). Thanks! 
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Depending on what you have for money, a carb and intake can't hurt, but for a budget, a good tune up, and i was also reading that using royal purple lubricants can help a little to, but there is a tips and tricks post on here, there is a good post about stuff you can do!!
Brad
Brad
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Joined: Mar 2005
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From: Louisiana
A good cam and lifters while your in there putting in the new intake.
Since your going through the trouble of replacing the intake while your there take out the old lifters, pull the old cam, put in a new one, then add new lifters and for a little extra work an money all that money spent on intake and carb will show a difference.
Since your going through the trouble of replacing the intake while your there take out the old lifters, pull the old cam, put in a new one, then add new lifters and for a little extra work an money all that money spent on intake and carb will show a difference.
Post Fiend
Joined: Mar 2005
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From: Louisiana
You can get a good low end cam for pretty cheap, and it will increas torque and some HP, along with a slight bump up in mpg.
As far as royal purple, with my personal experiance with it, it always seemed to brake down sooner than it should requiring frequent oil changes and it leaves a hard to remove haise on most everything. For a synthetic I've seen it's advantages they are overcome buy the disadvantages. I've also seen them put in a new mustang Engine, tranny, and diff, and it gave a extra 4HP. Not worth it for all that money and hassle.
As far as royal purple, with my personal experiance with it, it always seemed to brake down sooner than it should requiring frequent oil changes and it leaves a hard to remove haise on most everything. For a synthetic I've seen it's advantages they are overcome buy the disadvantages. I've also seen them put in a new mustang Engine, tranny, and diff, and it gave a extra 4HP. Not worth it for all that money and hassle.
Lead Driver
Joined: Apr 2001
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From: Midwest
best mod I ever did to my 78 f100 with a 302 was swap in a 351w!!! almost a night and day difference power wise. I know that is probably out of your price range,but might be an option for the future 
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thanks for the tips guys, in response to the cams, is it worth putting in performance cams or just replacing the original ones with new standard cams. Also how long does replacing the cams take? in other words, is it fairly easy to get them out or is it a pain
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New User
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From: Fort Worth
i know for my 460 a stock one from Autozone is abut $115 and the Edelbrock Performer is about $140 so just check the prices
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Senior User
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is that true about royal purple, i have heard nothing but good things a bout it but have never used it, i have also heard that synthetics in older vehicles could cause leaks, but i knew that if it was that big of a deal, one of the many great people here would save him
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Joined: Dec 2001
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From: Louisville,Ky.
Go with an RV type cam. they are a little bigger than stock, but have a smooth idle and make more power. Install new lifters too. The chrome air cleaner may cause problems in the winter because they do not have a hot air system like the stocker and the carb will ice up when cold causing it to run really rich until the underhood temp warms up. Then in the summer, they pull in hot air from under the hood instead of cool air from the front of the truck like the stock one does.
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Joined: Mar 2005
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From: Louisiana
ford racer 02, I used the stuff in heavy duty stationary machinery and basically hated it, but it wasn't my decision on what to run in them, and it is to expensive for the problems it gave us, but I don't have personal experiance with it in a atuomobile, b/c I sware I wouldn't run it in mine.
For a 302 with stock compression I would suggest 255-260 duration and around .450-.480 lift intake and exhaust(depends on what you want low end grunt or power spread through the rpm band), you don't want to over cam, but a stock cam is under doing it to much.
For a 302 with stock compression I would suggest 255-260 duration and around .450-.480 lift intake and exhaust(depends on what you want low end grunt or power spread through the rpm band), you don't want to over cam, but a stock cam is under doing it to much.
Posting Guru
Joined: Nov 2005
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From: Madison, SD
You might want to take a look at the Edelbrock Performer matched system of cam, lifters, intake, and carb. Mismatched components will often times do little for the overall performance of the engine.
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