Hi there I'm a Ford guy from England I've just managed to purchase a spotless 1994 F-150XLT 2WD crewcab with LPG converted 302 bolted to a 4R70W OD tranny and 3.55 non-LS gears.The truck has spent most of its life in a barn,the mileage is 48000.Looks mint but needs proper undersealing&recomissioning,all fluids belt&filter replacement.This is my first Ford truck and I've heard a lot about this website before&could use a bit of a helpIIs really the synthetic oil is the best choice for the engine&transmission?I'm planning to pull a 6000lbs car trailer over to the continent regularly with this Ford and rumour has it this tranny is not really the best for the job,tend to overheat etc. is that true?Stick to the manifolds for torque instead of headers?Is K&N cold air intake&oil filter makes such a difference?Thanks for any help&keepCheers Jules

 

Welcome to the site. Many people have varying opinions of synthetic versus conventional lubricants. My favorite synthetic engine oil is Red Line. I use conventional transmission fluid (Valvoline). The 4R70W is a good transmission, just make sure you have an external transmission fluid cooler before towing too much. This holds true for most automatic transmissions, heat is their enemy.

Do not waste money on the Hot Air Intake kit that K&N (and others) sell. It is a waste of time. Use a good quality paper filter. Make sure the air intake tube is still attached routing air from the fron of the vehicle to the airbox.

Headers by themselves do NOT lose low end torque if you purchase the correct size. Seeing that you have a 2WD you could definitely gain a little torque/HP with good quality headers, high flow converter(s) and a well designed exhaust. My personal opinion: If you are staying with a stock engine do not discount using shorty style headers. You can use them with an off the shelf aftermarket y-pipe. With long tubes you will need to fabricate one. I'm sure others will voice their opinions.

The 5.0L EFI intake is a good design, so not much to gain with trying a bigger throttle body or the lord strike us dead....a throttle body spacer. Leave it alone.

 

Very good advice on everything. If you do an exhaust I would lose the cat.

 

Protect that transmission!.........pulling that load with those gears, I cannot stress enough the importance of a good external trans. cooler. Stay out of OD on anything other than flat highway.

 

I think B&M offers a wide range of trans coolers.What's your advice on that?

 

Search Results for trans cooler - SummitRacing.com Have a look here.

 

The B&M trans cooler will work fine , doe's it have a factory trans cooler on it ?? , a trans temp gauge is important ...Lew

 

If you want a cold air intake you should keep the stock airbox and get a snorkel off a I6 or a 460 as they pull air from a different location and insulate the air intake tubes and airbox. Headers are fine as long as they are selected right. And as far as an oil filter i just use a good ole motorcraft FL-820S on my 351w with the oil cooler without the oil cooler i would use a FL-1A Motorcraft oil filter

 

The above advice is all good, you are looking for a reliable towing vehicle not a hot-rod, if you really feel the need, you can modify the exhaust system later and install longtube headers. I do not know what your slow lane(truck lane) speeds are over there, but your truck should be easily capable of towing that load and keeping up. Just protect that trans. with a good cooler!

 

Hey,first of all thanks for advices guys!!Thing is,I want to keep it as stock as possible,first thing this weekend is down to my local custom exhaust garage to put a decent system on,then look for a tranny cooler.Yes I'm looking for a towing vehicle,so no intake spacers tricksters&things like that just keep it simple with decent fluids&filters.Normally we do 55-60 in the slow lane so with that trailer I'll be fine(well I haven't tried with LPG yet)or maybe swap it for an F-350 with the 7.3 Inter diesel mill???

 

Found this B&M transcooler for my 4R70W it says rated 24000lbs I presume this 'll do the job pulling that 6000lbs trailer...
Transmission Oil Cooler 24,000 GVW - B and M 70264
anyone knows a link that helps with the installation??