Hey guys I am new to the Ford scene and have a few questions. I have 92 F-150 Flareside with a bone stock 302. I am in the early stages of this project and after talking to my local machine shop am already frustrated. He informed me that this motor is to much trouble to put performance parts in and maintain the fuel injection. I WILL NOT run a carb on this truck. The mustang guys have been doing it for years so I know there has to be a way to keep my F.I. and get some extra pony's out of this truck. I am thinking cam, heads, intake, throttle body, and injectors. I just dont know about the computer stuff. I have a ton of experience with GM LS1's but as I said I am a ford newby. My late Grandad left me this truck that he bought brand new in 91 so it is important to me to do this right. Any info is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Steve

 

Check out sbftech.com lots of good info there you have to be willing to learn and listen to their advice

 

I have a 95 with 302 that i did... You can keep your FI.. I just used all the truck performance intake & throtle body...When we were done we did have to do a chip...I am OBD 1...Mass air...I dont now much about the older trucks.. Are you mass air or speed den..Lew

 

Your machineist is right in a way it does require some work to get BIG power with EFI, but it's strange he doesn't want to take your money. There are limits to what you can do with the stock EFI system, but it doesn't take much work to make it capable of supporting any upgrade you could want. It's most likely your truck has speed density efi.. the system found in most of these trucks before '95. Depending upon the tranny it has you can swap in a later mass air truck computer or use a mustang computer(the E4OD or 4R70W trannys are computer controlled), both are compatable with aftermarket tuners and that's what you need to recalibrate the system for a heavily modified motor.

However.. you can get quite a bit more power out of the motor before you have to change the computer, upgrade the cam and put a complete exhaust system on it could produce upwards of 280hp or so, no other changes necessary. The stock intake is really too big for the motor and would probably support upwards of 400hp, so a smaller intake would actually produce a broader powerband on a motor that produces less than that. The injectors and fuel pump will support around 300hp and that's where things get expensive since upgrading these parts means the computer also has to change to one that will accept a tuner. Technically all the computers could accept a tuner but the Stang guys use the mass air versions almost exclusively so that's the version tuners have been developed for.

 

It is the speed den.

 

Thanks for all the info. I actually read a post today about only doing cam and exaust upgrades and I am considering it. What do you think about high flow aluminum heads, cam and exaust? Also do you know what kind of money the mass air flow conversion is? The truck is an AOD transmisson (the last year for the AOD I believe) you said something about that making a difference for swapping the computer. Thanks again.

 

With the AOD you can use a mustang computer.. which is good because it's more performance tuned to begin with. If you can find a Ford mass air conversion kit around somewhere.. either used or overstock you'll be lucky as they are now out of production. They were $1000 when I bought mine but I have seen them for much less. The cheap but more labor intensive way to get there is buy a mustang computer and MAF truck wiring harness wherever you can find it.. online or a junkyard, and then strip the wiring you need from the donor harness and add it to yours.
On a 302 in a truck high flow heads will move the powerpand up the tachometer much more so than it does in a car.. simply because the truck weighs more. if you're OK with that just regear to take advantage of the new powerband, if not consider a stroker kit or a 5.8 swap, there's no replacement for displacement.

 

Yeah I was looking at a 331 stroker motor on E-Bay that is 380 HP 380 FPT. Very sweet motor. The guy says it will run with FI but your talking $3,500 for the long block and a ton of modification and money in extra parts. The more research I do I am thinking stock rebuild, cam and exaust will do fine for now. As much as I would love to have a high output motor I can get a slightly modified motor, paint wheels and tires for the same cost. Thanks for all of your insight.

 

Thats a good looking truck Flareside,I can see why you would want to improve it. To take full advantage of any future mods you`ll need to change to MAF.FRPP has what you need for about $700.I think Edelbrock makes some excelent products as far as the intake/heads.Then you have to choose an exhaust system and efi cam,upgrade the ignition and then you`ll be thinking of that shift kit. But it takes time unless your rich. It took me a year drooling over the PAW,Jegs, and Summit catalogs to choose what I thought would work .Then when it was all together it broke the input shaft on the trans and I upgraded to a TCI Super Street Fighter.Then while I had the trans out I went and stroked the motor.Got it running and it would`nt turn the driveshaft because they gave me the wrong torque converter,then the MSD billit dizzy was bad out of the box.But now after all that trial and tribulation I need to upgrade the differential to handle all that power.But to tell you the truth ,I dont think I would have wanted it any other way because now I know.

 

Wow that sounds nice! Did you keep the FI? If so you might be able to give me an idea of what I might be getting myself into. I am no stranger to the time it takes to complete these things my last project took 3 1/2 years to complete, but it was well worth it. It was a 66 (CHEVY sorry) with a 06 5.3 FI drivetrain. I havent gotten my hands dirty on a project in almost a year and cant wait to tear into this ford!

 

Yes, still efi.Went w/ 30lb injectors and MAF meter from summit and BBK throttle body and 255lph pumps for a Mustang modified to fit in tank. Still need to work on bigger fuel lines and injectors /meter because I think its running lean. Got a meter for the air fuel ratio but havent instaled it yet.I`m sort of making it into a hot rod not for towing or every day. It ran a traction limited 14.0962 its first time w/1 +sec reaction time.I`m shooting for 12`s this summer

 

One thing i will add ...is make sure you get a good mass air that is calabrated to the injectors...I would suggest Pro M ...There meters are calabrated to your motor & injectors...They will come with a flow sheet so you can get a good tune ...I would also get the injecters from them... They can get you a matched set of injectors that have been bench tested to make sure they flow the same amount... It only takes one injector that doesnt flow the same to screw it up ...I was really suprised when i got mine... There not the plastic ones ..the injectors are billet aluminum.. very nice stuff..Lew

 

This isn't meant to be personal so please don't take it that way, but this misinformation won't go away. There is no such thing as a "calibrated" MAF meter.
The EEC computer holds the meter transfer function(calibration file) which is the relationship between airflow and voltage output, so the only way you can truely calibrate a meter and/or injectors that are larger than stock is with a tuner to edit these entries.
These matching meter/injector sets you can buy are scaled to trick the computer into thinking it is still running stock components, but the further the engine is away from stock the worse the results.

 

Hey Paul O.. Nothing personal hear...If you know something i dont i want to hear about it...Thats how we learn Thats the first i heard of that.. I thought the mass air had to match the size injectors that you run... On the flow sheet it says... Calabration 5.0 ford truck 30# injectors computer chip recommended...So when the truck went on the dyno to be tuned we gave scott the tuner the flow sheet... He started with a blank chip... Ran the truck on the dyno to find out what it liked... Set the air fuel...Set trans shifts up & down..Adjusted tourq converter...Got rid of rev limmiter... Set idle& cruise for cam...so on...Then burned the chip...So my Question is if i took the 30# injectors out...And put 24# injectors in.it would run the same ...??? What do you think about the matched injectors that are bench tested.. Is that worth it....Its a never ending battle I learn something new everday The carbrator & points days are gone...With all this EFI *** Thanks !! Lew

 

This is a good read about calibration & Mass air meters Pro M Racing - Mass Air Induction Systems