Hey fellas, building a '64 F-100 4x4 for my wife. Truck had a 292 that is long gone, I have an '89 F-150 parts truck that I'm robbing the M5OD trans, hydraulic clutch ,and borg warner T-case out of.

The truck came with 3.90 gears AFAIK, need to verify that's actually what it has, and we will run 33" tall tires.

Knowing what I do from farting around with Mustangs and Lightnings, I want to swap in Ford's latest, best pushrod 5.0, the Explorer GT-40 engine. I call it a "baby lightning engine" LOL.

The truck will be a driver when finished, she will drive it to and from work almost daily, we will use it to haul small loads in the bed, possibly pull a small trailer occasionally. I want it to have nice driveability and street manners, run and shift like a much newer truck. In her words "not be a turd" , so reasonable amount of power for something that's not a hot rod.

There are three at my local junkyard, I have my eye on the one from a 2000 with 71K miles on it. It has the GTP heads of course, and is complete from intake to pan, accesories, coil packs, sensors and all for $650.

I plan to sell the cam sensor and coil packs, accesory brackets and other leftovers, and run a TFI distributor. I will problably run some mustang shorty headers, at least 1-5/8" primary, if not bigger. I think some 1.7 cobra roller rockers would be a good idea, as well as an HO mustang cam with some better valve springs.

My main questions are, how good is the stock cam and valvetrain in the explorer 5.0? Is the stock cam a roller? any specs?

Are the HO cam swap and/or 1.7 roller rockers worth the $$ and hassle? I know they are better, but worth it on something that will problably never see the high side of 5,000rpm?

How much HP/TQ do the explorer 5.0s make stock, and how much better do they do without the train wreck of a header that they came with?

I was pretty set on running a mustang A9L computer setup, but it is it really needed with this mild setup? I don't want to do any tuning other than fuel pressure and base timing. Should I run an SD mustang EFI? Truck EFI setup?

 

I think there is an issue with the gt40p's and headers, the plug angle doesnt work.

 

According to DesktopDyno the HO cam is a waste of time.. all it does is cost you some low rpm TQ. Here is the Explorer motor with both cams, 1.7 rockers, and a proper exhaust added.

[IMG]<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/motorstuff/4879567329/" title="Explorer by conanski, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/4879567329_982bf95411_b.jpg" width="1024" height="896" alt="Explorer" /></a>[/IMG]

 

The Ford Racing mustang headers will work, designed to clear, some others will fit with a little work also.

 

Awesome info Conanski! I won't waste my time then. I take it from the F4TE code the explorers use the same cam as the 5.0/5.8 truck motors?

Anyway could you do my Lightning with stock cam + 1.7's versus an HO cam w/ 1.7's?

I have 1.7 cobra rockers now, stock 1.5" primary shorty headers, Bassani 2.5" off-road X-pipe.

Here are the specs on the Lightning cam :

Factory stock LIGHTNING camshaft:
LOBE SEPARATION ANGLE= 114 degrees
VALVE OVERLAP at .050 = -24.4 crank degrees
INTAKE: Valve opening= -12.2 BTDC
LOBE CENTER = 111.1 ATDC so cam has 2.9 degrees advance built in
Valve Closure= 28.4ABDC
DURATION= 196.2 CRANK DEGREES
MAX. LIFT (LOBE)= .25846"
NET VALVE LIFT (1.6 rocker ratio)= .41354"
LOBE AREA= 18.5 IN DEGREES

EXHAUST: VALVE OPENING= 40.4 BBDC
LOBE CENTER 116.8 BTDC
VALVE CLOSURE= -12.2ATDC
DURATION= 208.2 DEGREES
MAX. LIFT (LOBE)= .27634"
NET VALVE LIFT= .44214"(1.6 ratio)
LOBE AREA= 20.67"

appreciate it!

 

Yes that's right.

It appears the HO cam is worth something in the 5.8.. but you can do better. I have added the Crane 444232 flat tappet(a popular Lightning upgrade at one time I am told), I have this cam in my 5.8 and it works really well and is also SD friendly. It's hard to find any cam that does significantly better actually, for example the Comp 25-242-3 flat tappet beats it by a little but it's not SD friendly.