I have 1994 4X4, short bed, gearing 3.73 (I think), 302 with a SD and high mileage - 170,000 miles. I am interested in picking up 30 or more HP so I can pull my 18' trailer with dirt bikes into the mountains - 5-6000ft, it has a wee bit of trouble on some of the hills. To make things even more interesting I live in California so I have to be really concerned with emissions - CARB is not your friend.
Currently I have a K&N airfilter installed and will be putting on flotech shorty headers. I have picked up an extra set of E7 heads which I have done a mild port on the exhaust with a clean up on the intake. I intend to replace the timing chain and gears - most likely Cloyes HD roller. I do not want to replace the valve springs if I do not have to. The lifters will be replaced with the new cam.
My concern / questions revolve around the cam selection. I understand I will need a LSA of 112 to 114 to keep the vacuum up for good idle since I have a SD. For my needs would I be better off going with 1.7 rockers? Any suggestions would be appreciated and if I am missing any thing please speak out.

Thanks

Wayne

 

stock gearing on the f150 was 3.55. 3.73 wasnt an option. I wouldnt bother with a cam swap and just install a 1.7 rocker and look into getting your diff gears changed to 4.10's.

is this a 4wd? what size tires are you running? are those Flotech CARB certified? i would look into that first. I am also assuming this is a 5.0L motor correct?

 

Yes get 4.10's if the tires are at all bigger than stock, add 1.7 rockers and do whatever exhaust work you can get past the referees, shorties will help if you gut the cats and install an aftermarket.. the stock cat is probably done now anyway.

 

if you go with a hi flow cat make sure it looks like one from the outside appearance. some guys over at FSB running the bassani y pipe with hi flow cat are running into trouble because it doesnt look anything like a cat converter at all. Im running a magnaflow hi flow cat with good results.

 

I just check and I do have 3.55 gears. I am running stock sized tire so I will try the 1.7 ratio rockers before I change the gears to 4.10. I take it that changing to a different cam is out due to the smog concerns.

The flowtech's are CARB certified, yes 4wd and it is a 5.0. The funny (sad) thing is CA is now requiring all cat's that are installed after Jan of this year to be OBD II compliant, of course my truck is originally from Norfolk VA with a OBD I system. So I have to take the truck to Neveda to get the exhaust welded. In fact you can't even get CAT's mailed to you here, unless you mail them to your brother in NJ and he forwards them here . If they do not have CA ODB II .... stamped on them they are illegal. Even the local autoparts stores do not carry CATs, they had to ship them all back. And people are wondering why so many cars are having the cats stolen - only in CA.....

Thanks for the help.

Wayne

 

Sad... what they are trying to do is force all the older vehicles off the road because apparently they can't meet emissions standards even with a new cat.. which is a crock. The real agenda is to force people to buy a new or newer vehicle and thereby help big business.

 

honestly i think you could upgrade the cam and still meet smog requirements. i think the comp cam 31-255-5 is a SD 5.0 cam but isnt a roller cam. the key to keeping SD happy is finding a cam with a 114*+ lobe seperation. check the compcam website as they have a few that are roller cams that meet this spec. conanski can probably point ya in the right direction also.

 

I called Compcams regarding cams specific to trucks and they said most if not all of their cams are for cars (no surprise) but could do a custom grind for about the same price as a regular cam - no kit discount pricing for lifters and timing chain/gears . They recommended a lift in the around .488ish, which is almost the same as the stock cam with 1.7 rockers. I have no problem tearing into the engine to replace the cam since I am replacing the timing set and changing heads but if it is not going to give you a real benefit why bother. Moving the peak rpm band up a little would have been nice.

Regarding CARB with a thought out plan or agenda .... you are giving them too much credit for the ability to think. My take is they are required to curb/fix the smog issues surounding the LA area were 1/3 of CA population lives - yes they have some real problems. Since they can not make a comprehensive plan regarding building restrictions/zoning with associated mass transit connections they have to put in bandaids to justify there jobs. Besides the new cat laws CARB also instituted a a new gas can law - this "New" can is supposed to reduce emissions thru stopping the cans from venting. Of course the morons never tried to fill the "new" cans with gas, there is more loss from spilling trying to get the gas in then any evaporation. Rant stopped...

So a question on the rockers with 1.7 ratio, so far the two best options I have found are an aluminum sets (5/16") from Comp cams 1054-16 and ford racing FMS-M-6564-A50. I assume I need the pedestal type.

Thanks

 

Yeah.. I agree a cam upgrade would provide better results, but as you have already figured out 1.7 rockers on the stock F4TE roller cam(which isn't too bad for a 5.0) will produce something that looks a lot like the the Comp flat tappet and possibly the custom grind you would get, so it may not be worth the trouble for you. You need pedistal rockers for your heads, Comp, Crane, and FMS would all be solid options.

 

Thanks for the info, I will give a heads up on how everything worked out once everything is back together.