Alright, I have a few questions. I have a '88 F-150 with a 302. It's a manual, and I like to race. But, it has no redline on the tach. I've had it to 5500 rpm's, it was screamin' (past a 99 Silverado mind you)but I would like to know redline. It was a mechanics truck and is slightly modified. But nothing real major. Also, I have looked and looked and have not found the torque and Horse Power ratings for the 302 in '88. Anybody know the answer to these questions.

 

I don't know for certian, but I believe the horsepower is around 180. Torque is probably around 210. As far as the redline goes, you could take it to 6000, but the peak power point is right around 5200/5300. After that you are just floating valves.

Take care,
~Chris

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'95 Eddie Bauer F-150 SC & '64 Falcon/Ranchero
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The 1990 5.0 had a horsepower peak of 185 at 3800 rpm and made 270 lbs ft of torque at 2400 rpm. I believe the 88 had the same rating. If stock, your probably wasting time revving past 4 grand.

 

I have a 89, and I havent ever had it above about 4500 .

 

Now that we're talking racing... and now that I have a truck that'll actually take lots of modifications... what can I do to my '91 F-150 with the 302 to make it quicker? Has an AOD, so it'll never be as fast as a manual, but...

Also, how about fuel mileage? I think I was getting about 10 mpg before my plug change today.. and the #8 plug wasn't threaded into the block all the way... Awaiting a set of Accel 8.8mm wires. What kind of fuel economy is reasonable on these older 302s?

What kind of 0-60 times are reasonable? Before plug change, got about 13 seconds. After, got about 12. Trying a second run tonight. I'm at 4500 ft abover sea level.

Two more questions...

1. Has anyone superchipped their older 302? How much did gas mileage and acceleration improve?

2. Has anyone added a FIPK to their older 302? How much did gas mileage and acceleration improve?

Thanks for any help!

Mike

 

Mike
If you're planning on towing (and from your other posts I assume you are) you have a limited number of things you can do to make the truck quicker without screwing up it's towing ability. For instance, underdrive pulleys are good for 0.2-0.3 in the quarter but marginalize cooling when towing, not a good thing. Ditto for a high-stall converter, although a heavy-duty one is a good choice.

Your best bet is probably 4.11 gears. They improve towing and performance at the expense of fuel economy. If you don't have a TractionLok diff, this is a good time to install one, you'll tow better and launch harder. Also put a shift kit in the trans. Baumann, Art Carr and Trans-go among others can help you out there. Less slippage, less heat buildup, quicker ETs, longer tranny life but slightly harder shifts. There are a lot of more expensive internal trans upgrades available at rebuild time all of which will make your trans stronger and better, again see http://www.baumannengineering.com/ or http://www.artcarr.com/ for info.

A K&N or other free flow intake and a cat-back exhaust also can add performance, but be careful with the cat-back. Some are designed to boost HP at the expense of mid range toqque, others boost neither but just sound loud. Gibson specifically recommends their "Swept Side" as a torque-friendly cat-back, I'm sure there are others. Headers add peak power, but don't do much one way or the other for mid-range torque, except for the "Tri-Y" design which are torque specific. I can't find a source of Tri-Ys for this generation of F-150 though.

If you're feeling a bit more adventurous, you might want to install a set of Crane/SVO 1.7 roller rockers. They will increase your valve lift by about .06 and add 7-10 HP and 7-10 ft-lbs of torque without changing the effective RPM range of the cam. Warning: they are NOT certified smog-legal, so if you have to e-check your vehicle, it may well pass with them in place, but there is no guarantee.

As for chips, some engines really wake up when chipped, others hardly respond at all. Ask yourself if it's worth having to run high test gas to find out.

Hope some of this helps, good luck

[This message has been edited by StrangeRanger (edited 01-02-2000).]

 

Mike, strangeriders hit the nail on the head, my 93 gets avg 19.56mpg@75mph, and she acts like she's running on caffeine with the hypertech chip

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Toydestroyer1@yahoo.com

1993 F-150 302/e4od/355 Limited slip. dual exhuast w/o mufflers,2 1/4" pipes with Echo Tips, headers, accel plugs/wires(8.6mm)/rotor/cap, hypertech powermodule,5% dark tint. Alpine cd player and Pioneer speakers.

1989 F-150 XLT 4x4 302/aod true duals with turbo mufflers, 30X9.50" wild country tires, 3:55 gears w/LS Looking for Manual locking hubs

New Name:"Future-Duty"

 

Thanks for your reply. I will check out the sites you listed. Gears sound good--need to work on improving mpgs first, though!! Once that's done, then I might change out the gearing. Baumann's site was very informative.

Thanks again... will continue to research the options you mentioned.

Mike