Hi all, I have always wanted to have a fast old truck, well I have one piece of the puzzle, now I am planing for the second stage of the process. I have an 84 f150, right now it has a 302, but I doubt that it will remain that way. I was wondering what you guys would think that the perfect engine would be for my needs, I want the truck to run low 13's, and while I know that my Mpg with this truck are not going to be good by any standards, I would like to keep it around 10-13 if possible. What engine would you guys reccomend, and I would like to keep it under 5K if possible. I am thinking 351W, but I would like to shoot the breeze with you guys on this one.

 

Nothing beats cubic inches. 460. You could build mild, extremely reliable 460 and swap it in for that price.

You would need a fairly stout 351 to get you into the 13s with a truck. It absolutely can be done, but that $5K may not get you there reliably. Now take that 351 and stroke it to 392 with some good aftermarket heads and you have the start of something good.

 

If you going to the track the first thing is too regear the rear. That will give you the most bang for the buck cause trucks are heavy. Then headers, carb, intake and a shift kit for the tranny if it's an auto. Get it all tune right and you'll might just need a set slicks.

To bad it's winter cause you can get alot of info at the track.

 

Gears are a must, I am going to go 4:10's.

 

Just keep the 302 in put set heads,headers,intake maybe lil cam rearend gears and depending on tranny auto?? or manual?? if auto throw a stall in dat bitch lol. It can be done but if all else fails spray it

 

Get a 429, bore it .030 and put a decent cam in it, preferably from Comp Cams. Use a single plane intake and 2 Holley competition 4 barrels on it. I'd hook it up to a C6 and 3.90 gears with tires in the 335/50/15 range. Me and another idiot built a Bronco, an 1986 to be exact, with this setup. You can't imagine the power. It was way too much for the Bronco but a fun drive. No, there was no 4x4, just 2 wheel but as we used to say, who needs 4x4 when you're doing 100 mph in the first ten feet....well, that's what the speedometer said anyway. I always prefered the 429 to the 460. You can turn some rpms out of a well built 385 series.

 

I have given trying to work with the stock 302 some thought, but whenever I crunch the #s it comes up a little short. As far as the the tranny goes the one that is hooked up now is a four speed stick. Any of you guys think I could get away with useing the stock tranny?

 

I'm partial to the 351 Cleveland. They'll out perform any small block. 429's are a good way to go to.

 

351 Clev 4V if you can find it, next, 429 if you can find it, and if not either of those, 460.

I ran a 351 Clev in a 54 Ford pickup with a modified C4 for several years. My best time was a 12.96 on the bottle and 13.7 off the bottle. Traction was the biggest problem, with 4.88 gears.

 

Big block Ford engines are superior in the long run. Yes the 302 may get you out of the blocks quicker, but after the 8th, the 428-29 will blow your doors off. Especially the Boss 429.

 

I've got a 351c in my '65 F-250 and it's a runner

however if I was working on your truck to make it easier I'd take a 351w block and add the 427 stroker kit to it then add a procharger or turbo and then it'll be trans work and suspension issues

 

The 4 speed stick would have to go. It's a clunky old truck tranny that can't be shifted fast. I'd do a big block and a C6.

 

460 with the stroker kit making it a 545 Theres no replacment for Displacment

 

my dad has a cleve, i never seen it run but we have plans of rebuilding it. he use to run a 67 fairlane with a stock cleve in the 13's. all used parts lol

 

My little 351C in my 54 would run with the Chevy trucks with 454s. Would highly irritate them when they found out it was a small block running with the big blocks. Had a buddy with a 50 model Ford pick up with a strong 429 and I could hang with him.