Hi guys, I have a 1995 F-150 5.0L V8
I was wondering what I could do to make my 302 faster, and what effects would I see if I upgraded my gears from stock 3.55 to 4.56
Note: I put a 3" body lift on, and 33X12.5 and soon I plan to put a suspenstion lift on so I can fit 35's. Please Let me know guys, thanks in advance,
-Nash

 

I don't know about faster but it would definitely give it more low end. You would definitely need to do something if you were putting on 35's.

 

4.56 gears will take away therotical top speed, but you'll get to your available top speed quicker. A motor is a big airpump with explosions where the compression should be. Get more air and fuel at 14.7:1 or lower, use a fuel with more heat and get the burnt air out. 302's have a world of parts available. Ported and polished heads, good low end cams, big throttle body, headers, high compression or a supercharger, stroker kits, computers, ect.

 

Hi Nash,

First, on the gears - no, it is NOT true that 4.56 gears will lower your top speed with those taller tires - in fact, your top speed will actually go up once the truck is properly tuned, as it will not be able to get the engine back up into it's power band - so it is a myth that with 33-35" tires that those gears will reduce your top speed capability - again, provided the truck is properly tuned and the top speed limiter is removed.

With 35" tires, 4.56 gears would be the way to go, with 33" tires you;d want to stay in the 4.10 - 4.30 or so range - since you are going to 35's, the 4.56 gears would make the most sense, so that you restore the lost torque multiplication from the 35" tires.

The main thing is to stick with doing your mods in the order of best bang for the buck - and to add power to the engine, the order of best bang for the buck is first, to do our Troyer Performance custom tuning, as no other tuning will get you as much performance gain, then nest comes a good intake kit - from there it would be a good cat-back exhaust system - now some will argue that underdrive pulleys would be better bang for the buck compared to a nice exhaust, however, what happens when you combine with best tuning with the best intake & exhaust is that those 3 mods work together as a system to provide more power gain than if you just took the individual gains from each of those 3 mods separately - so we advise doing them in the following order of bang for the buck: tuning, intake kit, cat-back exhaust, underdrive pulleys, electric fans, and then it's on to things like getting the ignition system upgraded, larger throttle body & ported elbow, headers, and then if you want even more, either a blower or a set of ported heads with good springs and a nice cam - and so on.

As you can quickly see, there actually is no limit to how far you can take that truck, other than the fact that the stock 5.0 block can live at not more than about 420-450 horsepower for a normal long-term service life. Notice I never mentioned nitrous oxide, and there's a good reason for that - because it costs more than people think (and more than most actually spend) to really do it right and safely, and it's only a temporary boost at that - most truck owner want power that is always available, not power they can only use 10-15 seconds at a time.

One last thing - your stock cam & valve springs are really only going to make power to about 4800 to *maybe* 5000 at best - now the 5.0 itself is capable of making power well beyond that point with the proper mods, but keep in mind that your power band ends at about that point with the stock cam, springs, manifold, etc. Additionally, the rule of thumb is that once yo have taken those stock valve springs to 5600 rpm or beyond twice, they need to be replaced, otherwise you run the risk of a broken valve spring or cocking the retainer & then dropping a valve - now most people won't do that, but just in case you've ever held it manually in gear and kept your foot to the floor, you need to know that. This is just some additional general FYI so you'll know.

I know this can quickly get confusing, but please feel free to give us a call to go over this in proper detail, we'll be happy to help you with this so that you get the best results for the least cost, and you'll know what you can expect for what cost, etc in realistic terms, and then can plan from there.

Thanks for your post, & best of luck with your truck!