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It seems as though you are on the right track. That sight in your post seems pretty informative. Just curious, though, is your current motor fuel injected or carb? And, is your current motor on its last legs? Why not rebuld your current motor? I did it with mine.
I have a '90 with the 5.8L(351w) motor. Last year I had rebuilt my motor. Bored over 0.30 over, Edelbrock cam & lifters, Edelbrock intake manifold and Throttle body, K & N filter system. A lot of what was on the list on that sight you refered to is what is in my motor. And I paid about the same as what they are offering on their crate motors.
The reason I asked about Carb or Fuel Injected is: if your you are planning on going off-road in high altitudes, like in the mountains, the carb verson will bog down somewhat. I was recently up at the Winter Fun Fest in Grassvally, on trails of two to three feet of snow and about 7,000 feet, and another guy with an older bronco with a carburated motor saying that he wished he had fuel injection.
As far as fuel economy is concerned. With my build up of my motor, I get someware between 10 to 15 mph. Accasionally I get a whole lot less if I'm on the throttle hard. With my current setup, when I floor it, it seems as though my head ends up in the back seat.
My current set-up is a carb. I have considered possibly going with a throttle body injection, but no solid plans yet. I do not really want to venture into the computer controlled arena since it is far easier to work on a system like the Duraspark II.
As for my current engine, it has 157k on it now and leaks like a pig, but it will run for awhile yet. I just want to be prepared when the time comes. Since it is my only transportation right now, I need to make the swap as quickly and easily as possible. That was my thinking with a crate motor. That and I can finance the whole thing at once. If I need to go that route anyways.
I replaced the worn out, tired old 351 in my '85 with a "crate" engine from Ford Motorsport several years ago. It came out of the box rated at 320 HP with the stock-type intake manifold. Of course that had to go. I figured since I was changing the intake, I might as well change the cam too. I put in Ford Motorsport's version of the Edelbrock Performer cam, and an Edelbrock Performer intake. The shop that I had do the work figured about 350 - 360 HP when they were done. I figure they knew what they were talking about since they build Ford race engines. One of their cars took third in class at the 24 hours of Daytona one year.
I had 3.55's with 33" tires so it still wasn't what I'd call fast, but it was MUCH better than stock. Especially after the upgraded exhaust.
I had a 95 5.8L EFI in my 95 F-150. I agree that it had much more "felt" power than my current 86. I just could not do much to it since everything you did or needed to do you had to mess with another sensor or three.
The company I listed also has an EFI version with all sensors and wiring complete with the same HP/TQ specs, for about $200 less, but I am still not sure about the EFI swap.
Got any convincing arguments for either direction??