I just bought a 93 F150 4x4 with a 5.0. Its bone stock so I have to tinker with it. I want more power out of it and wanted some suggestions while still keeping it legal. I was going to start with the exhaust. I wanted to know if it was worth it to put true duals on or just go with headers and a cat back system that splits. Should I use long tube or shortie headers? What should be the next step after exhaust? Thanks for any suggestions.

 

There have been many many many threads on this topic...please try a search for "power upgrades" or "302 mods" etc etc....keywords like that. Pleanty of topics will come up to help you...

 

try bumping up your timming 2-3 deg that will help, cold air intake system. that the quick ones you could do and exhust.

 

I bought a '95 F250 4x4 with the 5.8L last November. It too was bone stock.

I just finished replacing the exhaust from the cat back with a FlowMaster 50 Series Big Block muffler, single in, single out.

I also installed the K&N FIPK Air Intake Kit.

These two mods alone transformed the truck. Aside from a much more aggressive sound to the engine and exhaust, it has much more low end torque, accelerates faster, climbs hills with ease, and shifts (and downshifts) a lot more smoothly.

What I don't get, though, is why this 5.8L engine still puts out much less HP than the 4.0L engine in my Lexus. I'm figuring it has to do with being setup up for carrying weight and towing.

 

i have done exhaust, cold air intake and put on msd ignition onto my 87 5.0, but if you want the biggest bang for your buck your gonna have to invest in a cam and some heads.

 

Actually, "power upgrades" only returns 7 threads, one of which is this one! The rest are ancient or inapplicable.

As a Ford truck newb, I would appreciate a basic list of power upgrades -- other than air intake and catback exhaust -- I could consider for the future.

Thanks!

 

i would recommend getting some heads and a cam. You'll see the biggest gains that way

 

Put a BIG block in!

 

See this thread...
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=506752

 

dude you beat me too it, i was just gonna throw a link up to my thread

 

t-body spacer. CAI, LT headers, try to get a hold of some gt40p heads and if you really want to get into it put a bigger cam in it, and you can always get a bigger T-body

 

It's a long explanation....but the main reason in brief explanation is that horsepower is not a measure of a physical force. It's a calculated value and is not a direct measurement. Torque on the otherhand is...it's a measured value of the twisting force produced by the engine. Horsepower is derived from torque and RPM....

While torque is just a measurement of twisting, horsepower is a calculated value of torque and RPM (time). So in other words, torque is how much work is done while horsepower is how quickly that work is done.

A truck engine like the 351 has a lot of torque, about 310ft-lbs. It also makes it at low RPM (engine doesn't really put out much power above 4500 RPM). So since there is a limited use of RPM the horsepower value is going to be low.

When you upgrade these engines, you increase the airflow and shift the tq further up in the RPM range. You open it up and gain significant horsepower increases. Your making it so that the engine can do roughly the same or slightly more work (torque) but increasing how quickly that work can be done.

Ancient or not - they're previous posts with good information.

The only reason I say to search - is because this topic comes up atleast once a month...and there are pleanty of previous threads with the information. A 5.0 or a 5.8 is applicable - as they're almost the same engine...and some of the tips for a 4.9 will work...it's all pretty basic stuff that applies to almost any engine.


"power upgrades" returns 7.....great...but there are pleanty of other keywords that can be used to pull up many other posts...

"302 performance mods" pulled up some good threads....

 

Thanks Justin.

[If I was wanting to do this in baby steps, is it possible to start with a new intake manifold? What would be the effect of doing this alone?

Oh wait, I just read what Conanski wrote in the "getting more power" thread.]

So here's another question: can you get more aggressive cams that are compatible with the stock heads? Is that worth doing, or does it make more sense to replace the both cam and head?

Do you have to go aftermarket? I have a 351W. Are there other versions of this engine from other vehicles that I could get used parts from?

 

also stay clear of the Tbody spacers, they make for expensive paper weight but that is it. if you go the cam route call compcam and tell them what you use your rig for. also note if you have speed density or mass air , this is important because cam selection will be different. the gt40p heads are nice but will require special manifolds so finding some worked over E7's, lightning gt40, or some aluminum heads would be better and give more options for exhaust headers later. also having a good flowing exhaust from the headers out is important. a catback will give you noticable sound but thats it. the bottleneck on our fords is the manifolds and stock Y pipe. either have a shop make a new Y or get the bassani Y. its offerd both with or with out cats and really wakes things up.

 

BINGO!! A full MAC longtube exhaust completely transformed my 89 5.0 truck. It had a flowmaster cat back on it when I got it, and sounded nice, but still had trouble just chirping 31x10.5s. With the MAC system I could light those suckers up!!
After the exhaust is done, the best bang for the buck is by far a cam. No contest. After that you are talking heads, but you'll need a MAF conversion if you don't have it already to do the heads.