Hey guys. I have a quick question. Sometime in the near future I'm going to be rebuilding my engine and have been considering adding a higher performance intake manifold. The only one I found that close is made by Edelbrock. It's their model #3841 "Performer" Ford 5.0 EFI Truck intake. There is only one problem. They say that it is made for an F-150 between the years of 1987-1986. My truck is a 1986 with the same engine. I know it's a different body style, but isn't the engine exactly the same?? I've seen pictures of the engine in a 1987 302 EFI and it looks from the outside to be the same as mine. Does anyone know if they are truly different? Maybe a different bolt pattern or something??

Anyway, I'm rebuilding it just for the fun of it and to build up my skill set, so no big deal if I don't get any real performance gains. However, if there was something I could do to squeeze a little more performance out of it (without breaking the bank), I'd be open to suggestions. Thanks guys.

 

85 and 86 fuel injected 302's were the first, and they are a little oddball compared to the later models. So I don't know why, but there is a very good chance something is not going to fit.

I would leave the intake alone, I don't see much gain from changing it for the price. I believe a free flow exhaust would help you more than anything. I believe shorty headers fit your model correct?

 

That sounds like good advice. There are shorty headers available for this truck. I have a potential problem though. I just replaced the entire exhaust system from where it connects to the manifolds all the way back to the tips. It made a huge difference in performance and it was fairly expensive, so I don't want to scrap what I just bought. I don't know much about headers. Can I use the same system with shorties? Do the connections match up to where the exhaust manifolds would usually be?

 

Your current exhaust system can maybe be adapted to work with headers but you'll
need to find an exhaust guy willing to do the work (assuming your exhaust system is
in decent shape and not real hard to work on).

No, they won't connect in the same places.

I think shorty headers for your engine look something like this:

 

exhaust and a highflow intake filter will help. Also look at putting on a new, high output coil and fresh wires. They do a wonderful job of adding good power and improving mileage. go with a premium plug, and open the gap up as needed.

the early FI motors were slightly different. they were trying to work the bugs out