[ProF100]

He has a 1994 F150 with 200,000 miles and is time to freshen it up. It has new paint and is excellent shape, but several months ago, it lost oil pressure. He put a new rear main seal in it a while back, but now we want to just rebuild it. He was thinking about a stroker kit and an E303 cam. Anyone care to suggest a good cam for pulling and normal truck driving? What is the best stroker setup? He was thinking 331 because someone said the 347 deals have issues. I am in unfamilar territory with stock 302 power stuff, so I need ideas.

Thanks,

 

[Alcatraz95]

Unless the truck is mass air, or you want to convert to mass air, your options are limited. If you have mass air, build the 347. For a truck, I'd use the E cam with some 1.7 rockers. Smooth idle, good torque. However, for what the stroker kit would cost you might find a 351. I was faced with the same issue in my 93 Bronco. I bought a 351 (one of the late ones with a factory roller cam) with 60k miles (complete from pan to intake, water pump to flexplate) plus the E4OD for $1500 from a local salvage yard. I got the engine wiring harness, computer, engine mounts intake ducting and lots of misc parts. All I had to do was change a few wires to match up. If you don't know already the factory exhaust manifolds are prone to cracking. Ford Racing makes a very nice set of headers.

 

[jbozzelle]

David,

I've comtemplated the same thing for years......... I've got a 94 Supercab/5.0.

Easiest thing to do would convert to a 351W/mass air setup. It's easy and will out torque the 5.0. Then you could make it a 393(stroker crank, 351W rods, 302 pistons) with a mild cam. That should be sufficient.

I'm selling mine and getting a PSD just because of the room a crewcab will give me.

 

[ProF100]

Thanks.....

He is a little short on funds, so we'll look at all the options. I myself have an '01 PSD crewcab and love it. But, I paid $24,000 for this thing 4 years old!! They are expensive. I'm facing buying new tires for this thing now and it's a 4x4. There just went some dragtruck money!!

 

[jbozzelle]

Re: Thanks.....

I paid $24,000 for this thing 4 years old!!

I'm looking at an '01 with 225K on it for 13,000. It's dirty, needs a little cleaning up but I think it's worth it.

 

[Filucky]

I just bought a '99 4x4 crewcab with a 4" lift and 35's with 97k miles it has the PSD with auto trans and fully loaded ( very clean) for $16,900. Then i had to do a 4" exaust, cold air intake and a 6-way chip to get it to run as good as my bone stock '97 with a 460, but i get about 6 mpg better with the PSD. :?

 

[rmcomprandy]

a "94 I think is speed/density and not mass/air until "95, (I could be wrong on this so check), so you are limited on the modifications you can make with speed/density. (other than the normal overbore to .030" oversize).
1.) The cam can be changed but no larger than a Mustang H.O. cam installed 4* advanced. (an"E" cam changes the vaccuum signal too much for the system to compensate for it).
2.) 1.7/1 "Cobra" rocker arms can be installed.
3.) The heads can have larger, (1.840"), GT-40P intake valves installed.
4.) The compression ratio can be raised half a point by milling the heads.
5.) The fuel pressure should be raised to 42 lbs. (checked without any vaccuum to the regulator), by using an adjustable fuel pressure regulator.
6.) Use a 1/2" thick phenolic heat insulating spacer between the upper and lower halves of the intake manifold.
7.) Shorty headers can be installed along with a lower restriction muffler.
This will all net about a gain to 225 horsepower; (I've been there).

With nass/air you can change any hard parts you wish but, you still must stay below about 230 maximum horsepower or you'll need to change injectors and mass/air meter.

 

[ByronRACE]

Find a tuner.

The fear regarding the 347 has to do with the old design where the pin intersected the lands....that's no longer the case. Modern 347's are as reliable as 331's.

If it's speed density, find a local Ford EFI tuner in your area, stay away from lumpy cams that create idle vacuum fluctuation, then mod the thing all you want...the tuner can tune it.

At the very least, I'd put a set of heads on it. I have a set of GT-40 irons that came off my '93 Lightning if you're interested. They're in as-pulled condition with 70K on them, assembled with valves, springs, etc. I went to a set of ported aluminum heads.

The other thing you should do is get rid of the truck efi intake and convert over to a Cobra or Explorer upper/lower intake. The tuner can turn off the need for the EGR and other stuff...this makes the conversion easier.

If you do want to go mass-air, take a look at a 1995 Ford 5.0L California Truck processor. BIO0 family. It's similar in pinout, controls the E4OD, and is commonly used in these kinds of swaps. I've converted several trucks over to this box with great success...but if wiring scares you, forget it...look at Fords Mass-Air conversion kits instead. As I said, as long as you don't go lumpy with the cam you can get a tuner to tune a speed density EFI setup and it will run perfectly.

Byron

 

[chilly]

When I had my '93 Lightning I came across a pretty sweet deal from Ford.

It seems you can get a factory Lightning longblock, not sold through SVO/SVE/FRPP or whatever you call it...just a replacement longblock. This one had new heads, rebuilt bottom end, and new pistons...hard to recall but I remember it was very cheap considering it was complete minus tins...I want to say it was only $1500-2000 and came with a three year warranty. I knew the parts guy pretty well and he showed me the listing, I was getting the low dealer price on it....but it was available. It came with the Lightning cam which is a pretty nice stick for all around truck use, the GT40s work well, and I know the hypereutectic pistons they run in those motors are pretty tough. My truck had 150k on it, with at least 50k of that mileage coming with a blower installed...still ran fine when I sold it but it was using some oil.