Ok I am a new user on this board and have been trolling around for a bit and and finally decided to register. seems like a good, helpful bunch of guys without a bunch of drama. My name is Jim and I currently have an 86 F150 5.0 EFI with 48k original miles. My "stable" also includes the wife's 07 Explorer and my recently acquired 2010 Fusion Sport AWD. I recently traded by beloved 07 Mustang GT in on the Fusion... baby means no room in 'stang anyway my dilemma:

I have been looking for a unique project vehicle to work on that not every tom dick and harry has in this town. I wanted something that i could "hot rod" a little bit, but still keep it functional. So i have finally decided to make the f150 my target for now. Anyway I was curious if the 5.0 in the truck was the same as the mustang 5.0's? I am hoping that I can throw a bunch of 'stang parts at the engine and get some more power out of it without spending a bunck of money since the 'stang stuff is so cheap and readily available.

Also looking for suggections on lowering the truck a little, it is a 2wd so i dont necessarily want the 4x4 look.

thanks

Jim

 

You can most likely put your 'stang parts on the truck's 302 if you want, but I don't know if
you want to do that... These trucks are big & heavy and are good at hauling & towing lots
of weight. To do that, low-end torque is WAY more useful than high-rpm horsepower....

These trucks are not intended for hot-rodding around and racing the kids in their foreign
sports-car-wannabes; I have a friend who's a die-hard Chevy guy and he tried to drive my
F350 4x4 with a T-18 4-speed like he drives his Camaro... HA!!!!!! It was funny.

 

302 are known for making hp while revving high. You need to figure out if you want a fast top end truck or one better off the line (which is most likely what you would want with a truck). My Mustang had some of the go fast parts, but I never really experienced the full effect because it still had a 2.73 geared rear. My vote is to go for the torque, meaning do not build it like the Mustang.

As for lowering it, LMC Truck has shackles, flips, and front I beams.

 

thanks guys, i guess my mind knew wanted i wanted say but my "mustang" fingers were thinking something else. yes, the truck will be used to haul stuff, so i will be going after the torque rather than high rpm HP. i was thinking with parts for every conceivable application available for the 5.0 market that it would be easy to score some cheap bolt on to accomplish what i want to due.

 

There are still plenty of useful Mustang parts that will bolt on, headers, ignition and such, but intakes, cams, and such are for different goals.