i have an 85 f-150 short bed now with the lighter '94 flareside short bed..
im installing a '89 5.0 HO engine with Aod trans .. now i have a few questions guys .. ive got a choice to remove the injection and install an edelbrock performer rpm intake with 600 Carb or keep the fuel injection where i will simply run the wire harness and computer andwill install 30lb injectors ..
my question here is would i loose anything performance wise removing the injection and going carburator? 2nd im curious about ford racing cams im going to install the E-303 cam can it be installed with the stock valve springs? 3rd question the x-303 was my 1st choice which i know that the valve springs would have to be changed ... but will the valves clear the pistons has anyone installed an X-303 cam in a 5.0 and did u have a problem with piston to valve clearance ? all answers apprecited ...i do plan to also run a 2000 stall converter and 3.73 or 3.90 Gears with the aod

 

What makes you think a HO motor needs 30lb injectors?

Any of the Ford Alphabet cams are very poor choices for a 5.0 truck motor.. unless drag strip times are your only goal.

Forget any 3.x gears you need to get deep into the 4.x range unless you are running stock tires, and even then 4.10 would be the starting point.

Doesn't matter what cam you use a 5.0 with stock heads won't break 300hp, so 280+ duration cams and 0.550"+ lift are generally wasted. This is also why the motor doesn't need anything but stock 19lb injectors.

 

I agree with ski regarding cam selection. For a truck where you want torque you need to stay below about 212 or 215 degrees of intake duration at .050, especially in smaller displacement engines such as this.

Also, I just can't imagine why you would want to toss an injection system in favor of a carb. Carburetors are now antique devices. Rig up the injection and the truck will be much more reliable and fuel efficient.

 

thanks guys . my next question is how large of a cam can i go with the ford motorsports cam i know it mentions wit the Z-303 cam u need to check valve to piston clearance and some mentioned that u have to cut the pistons in some applications wit this cam .. i know the E-303 would be no problem with clearance but what about the X-303 and
F-303? can those be installed on a stock 5.0 HO engine without valve clearance problems has anyone installed one of these cams?

 

P-V clearance is affected by both valve lift and duration and every motor is different, so anything bigger than the F cam and you may need to notch the pistons.

 

I have the E303 in my Mustang with no clearence problems. I wish I would have got the F303, but I didn't have the money to upgrade the springs and stuff right now. Mine have 163K on them and it still pulls to 6000rpm with no problems (for now) I'll redo all of that when I get the funds to build a 331.

 

running an f-cam in that 89 stang motor will work. i've personally saw a 90 stang with a bone stock bottem end 302 with tfs twisted wedge heads, an f-cam and 1.7 rockers and still clear the the stock forsd pistons. but for what its worth i'd look into a cam that has more lift seems how its a truck. unless you have a 3K plus stall converter the higher the duration is basically worthless.

 

I would look into a CompCams cam that fits the application better for the truck build.

 

Excuse me while I hi-jack this thread. I've had my question about a carburated 95 5.0 in a 4200 lb vehicle on fordforum.org for 5 months and nobody has answered. I got a 95 5.0 with chopped wire harness and no computer for $140 and I put it in my 4200 lb 59 ford car in front of a C4, 3.56 rear end, 205-14 tires. I got 6 mpg city, 8 mpg highway. that's horrible, the 292 V8 with 3 burned valves got 15 highway. I had a weind hi rise manifold, 450 cfm holley with 51 jets, 80 granada electronic ignition because the car wouldn't start in the winter with 64 mustang distributor and coil. My plugs were white, the vacuum was 20 idle, 10 or less pulling. I could never get the engine to start on HO firing order, it would only run on 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8. The cam chain was new, I installed it. The compression was above 120 on all cylinders, some were 150. The bearing clearance was .002, I thought it looked like a middle milage engine from the cam chain wear. So my question is, is the 95 mustang cam totally wrong for a heavy vehicle? What cam should I use? do I have to change pushrods and rockers? I can't figure out how to put a rotary pump in a 59 car tank, even if I sprung $600 for the wiring harness and the computer for FI. I'm driving a 50 year old car because I've had such bad luck with eletronically controlled vehicles, poor reliablility and nobody can repair them when they get a flaky problem. I've put an 80 255V8 in now and am getting 13-15 mpg with same setup, but the power is poor up hills- 45mph up I65 out of nashville.

 

The e303 is a nice cam.... I have one in my truck...You wont need 30# injector...unless your going to do a serious build... Gears 373- 410... unless your racing the truck long tube heders & intake will help a lot.. When your buiding a truck do everthing for low to mid range ..tourq..Thats what it needs because of weight..

 

OK.. if you have a 5.0 that runs on the old firing order it's not a '95, and the stock cams that came before this just strangled the motors. There's lot of better cams you could use in it but you want to stay away from all the high performance grinds that the Stang guys would run.. way too much duration for fuel milage and power right off idle. First figure out if the motor has a roller cam or not and then get something like the Comp 35-235-3, that will put the whole powerband below 4500rpm.

 

I used an E303 in a 351 and retarded the cam 4 degrees and it had plenty of torque.The Ford guy sugested 6 degrees though.

 

Retarding the cam would move the power band up not down would it not????
My E-303 starts making good power around 2500rpm.

Advancing the cam would increase torque.

 

I have an E303 with 1.72 roller rockers..Have a kinds of low end tourq...

 

OK.. but what are you comparing it to?