Hey hey guys, long time no chat, been pretty busy with school, and, my new (old truck). I've finally decieded to replace the tired old 302 ... However, I'm really excited about getting a new motor. I realize that it's speed density, and I won't be able to do much, but there has GOT TO BE some way around that. I thought about going carbeurated, (dropping in a crate 350 HP 302, , seriously), however, I don't know how well that would go over with all the electronic garbage on the truck. I know for certain that I want MUCH more power. You guys have any suggestions? I'm open to anything, I want to stay as reasonable as possible with the $$, but am open to ideas.

Oh, one more thing, how much power will the stock 5 speed tranny handle? Thanks a TON for all your suggestions, will helpl me greatly!!

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1988 F-150, 302, 5 speed 300,000+ miles

 

I've never tested one to the limit but i would guess that the 5 speed will handle about 500hp with a good high performance clutch. Carburation wont make as much power and won't be steet legal. You might want to look into a Ford Racing MAF conversion kit, i think the kit runs about 500 bucks which is the same price as a decent carb.

I noticed your truck has over 300K on it. With that many miles on it your going to start breaking axles and driveshafts if you drop a high performance crate engine in it.

-Jon

 

Already have a new axle, driveshaft I'm not to worried about. I was afraid of the MAF option. Reasonably, what are my best options if I choose to stick with speed density. I probably will not, but if something is possible, I will not rule it out.


(also, could I just go to the junkyard and grab a MAF sensor from a later F-150, or do I need the kit?)

 

Fisrt, what's your operating budget for it all?

SD isn't too bad if you keep the parts sensible and get a good custom chip.

I'd at the very least get a nice mild cam like a 208/214 .440" 114LSA. That will make solid power to 5000rpms.

Next, the biggest factor in your power production will be the cylinder heads. The stock iron E7 heads, for lack of a better work, suck. If you want an EASY 75-90hp increase, save up about $1100 for a set of AFR165s or TrickFlow TW heads. Both are sniffer legal and make a crap load of power over stock. If you can keep your foot off the pedal also you'll almost certainly gain 2-4mpg due to efficieny.

With that, I'd toss on some Hooker long tube headers too. Mine were under $200 and they make a lot more low end power than the shorty headers did that I ran for a while.

 

What do you mean a custom chip burn? Are you talking about something like a superchip? Also you say SD isn't that bad... realistically, what't the most power I could achieve from that (an SD) set-up? I was under the impression that it was pretty much almost worthless for modding.

Actually, if I could produce between 250 - 300 HP, I would be happy. I've been heavily searching the net for ways to do it.

 

Well, after doing some reading for awhile, I'm getting the impression that the conversion to Mass Air is expensive, and somewhat difficult to do. How much power do guys think I can get out of the SD set-up? Loks like that is the way I will have to go....

 

You can make way more power with speed density set ups than you are looking for. All it takes is a custom chip burn.

At NLOC there are first Generation Lightning owners running blowers, nitrous and other such high hp goodies with speed density systems.

 

You guys have me intrigued with this. However, the only way I could think of getting a custom burned chip for SD would be to actually have some equipment meaure the motor while it is running and make the custom adjustments. Sounds really expensive.... or are there "preset" chips available? (preset chips for certain common mods)

 

All you have to do is call a company like superchips and tell them what parts you are installing on your engine and give them the code off the sticker on the side of your computer and they will burn a chip for you. If they don't have a chip available for your specific truck you can take your computer out and mail it to them, they will make a chip for it, install it and mail it back to you within a couple days. They qouted me a price of just over $300 to do this when i checked into it for my truck.

-Jon

 

SD is not sounding as bad as I thought it was.... Now does anybody have any good ideas about what parts to consider for getting near that 250 - 300 HP range? I figure right away that I'll need new heads as stated before. (Got a offer for a set of GT40 heads) I'll do some looking around for performance parts... thanks....

I'm really excited about this, I think it will be fun and a strong runner!

 

Talk to Mike from Troyer Performance over in the "Chips" forum. He sells Superchips, and is very knowledgeble about the late model trucks. I'm sure he could still tell you a lot about yours...

 

I like Diablo chips over Superchips or Hypertech. They all do about the same thing, but it's more on the tuner than the chip itself. I had my Z71 tuned by Allen @ www.nelsonperformance.com and his custom tune blew away the POS Hypertech Programming I had on there initially. Many member of LS1tech.com have picked up gains from about 18rwhp-30rwhp with his tuning. His pricing is different than listed on his site, so it's best to call him.

250-300hp on SD is going to be a snap. With just normal boltons (full length headers, underdrive pulleys, FIPK, cam, and a chip) you should be able to get that easily...with stock cylinder heads.

You could just clean up the stock heads yourself (I would not pay anyone to port and polish them). Around here you can't get $20 for a set of stock heads. So get a set of junk ones to try and refine your porting skills. Just polish the chamber, polish the valve throats, short turns by the valves, remove the EGR bump in the exhuast port, widen the intake runner a bit, stuff like that. Remember stock heads are junk, the only way to get decent power from them is to keep the runners small for high velocity...that always equates to more power.

I have that FMS MAF kit on my truck, dropped about $670 for it. Was it worth it? Yeah, my time's more valuable than my money. I run a 94-95 5.0 MAF that's about 75mm (the kit comes with a 55mm from the 89-93 cars) and I have that paired to a K&N FIPK. The EEC-IV is the C3W1 MAF comp too.

You can get a mail order chip fairly close, it'll run a ton better but not be 100% dead on. That's going to need a Wideband O2 and a dyno to do that. For what you are looking for, a Mail Order chip will be fine.

What GT-40 heads did you put on offer on? If it's the "P" variety you will need specific headers for them. If they are the aluminum ones, I'd put that money toward those AFR or TFS heads. If it's true GT-40 irons, they aren't that much better than E7 stockers...mildly ported and cleaned up E7s will perform about the same for less money.

I am not the most knowlegeable person around, but I've been around the EFI SBF for about 6 years now and know what works with them. I've got 1000s of posts on other sites dfwstangs.net, ls1tech, ls1truck, various Ford truck sites, etc.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

I did a lot of research on heads for my 393 stroker and if you want some serious heads check these out:

http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerc...86&prmenbr=361

I have heard nothing bad about these heads, and it is basically the same design Jon Kaase just won the engine masters competition with on a 460. The price isn't too bad either.

-Jon

 

Oh, I definitly will!! Thanks for all the replies, I think this i going to be a very strong runner, and still be a fun and useful truck!