Hello all, I have been fairly quiet on this forum-- mainly because I have been able to find answers to all my questions thus far. Recently, I blew a rod on my 75 Maverick during my daily commute to work (a round trip of 70 miles). Today I should be lifting out the old I6 250, and I have plans for installing a 302. From my research, I want to find a used 5.0L HO years 1985-1995 with low milage. (I am still looking for an engine, so I would also appreciate any suggestions on places to obtain one, excluding ebay and the local junkyard.) However, if I get an engine of the year I specified, I would want to convert the EFI to carbureted. Any advice on what all is involved in that conversion? Thanks in advance!
Thunderbirds, Cougars, Crown Vics and Grand Marquis all could have the HO in them You could probably pick the whole car up for the price of a Mustang 5.0 engine even though they are pretty much the same. Another source that will net you a roller cam 5.0 with similar horse power is the later F150, look for the HO firing order and mass air sensor on the air box and you will have a winner. Out of all the options the big cars are going to be the best, usually low mile well care for cars that haven't been hammered. Often times they come up after an elderly family member passes and the kids don't want it.
1996 Ford Explorer is your best bet for the motor. It is a 5.0 HO roller motor with GT40 heads. You can normally pick up the whole vehicle for around $600-800. You can then scrap/part out the rest of the car and make your money back. To convert to a carburetor motor you will need to get a new intake, carb, throttle cable, throttle cable bracket, Exhaust manifold, v8 wiring harness and water neck. You will also need a new timing chain cover, dip stick, new harmonic balancer (always good to replace the old one (50z)), fuel pump eccentric (unless going electric), fuel pump, and 50z flywheel. That’s should be most of it.
Nope, no sir, NO Crown Vic, Grand Marquis, Town Car, or Fox T-bird/Cougar ever had a HO 5.0. Those are Lo-Po 150ish HP with mostly sucky E6 heads and weak cam. The '86-'92 LSC Lincoln's & '91-'93 MN12 Bird /Coug did have HO 5.0. Beginning '94 that series got 4.6(uck!!!!) .
There was no engine option for average full size, std 5.0 was it. Engines were SEFI beginning '86, earlier '83-'85 used throttle body with '83 having EEC-III(terrible). Prior were carbed & some had short lived 255 v8. Canadian, Police & tow package versions could be optioned with a carbed 5.8, none of the "big" engines got EFI. HP was something like 15-20 over the SEFI 5.0. The '83-'88 Fox T-bird/Coug base engine was a 3.8 V6(yuck makes, 4.6 look like a crown jewel), Sport models('87-'88) came with 5.0 std, optional in LX & base models. Turbo Coupe only available with pressurized half motor. To be fair the 4cyl, 2.3 Turbo was a good engine, lots-O-fun with 5 speed(owned several). The 3.8 V6 was a POS reguardless, walked a wide path around those. MN-12 T-Bird/Coug had only V6 for '89 & '90, of course that included supercharged Super Coupe & XR-7. Due to demand, the HO 5.0 was added to option list in '91. In '84 & '85, there was 5.0 HO(throttle body) option in the intermediate LTD. Basically same engine used in automatic Mustang/Capri & MK-VII of same year. '83-'85 Mustang/Capri HO 5.0, 5-speed used 4-bbl carbs.
All fox 5.0 T-Bird '83-'88 were std variety. The '80-'82 "square" Fox birds had 2bbl carbed engines, some with the 255. The 255 was also used in Mustangs of '80-'82 but '82 GT had a marine 302 with large 2bbl carb. First glimmer of HP after the '70s dark ages... Most if not all of the car rags commented the main thing those Birds needed was HO. I'd agree, had four 5.0 Birds, none exactly a powerhouse. One donated the 5.0 wiring & hard parts for the swap into my '88 Turbo Coupe. I parted another that had a std 5.0 upgraded with World Products heads, HO cam, injectors computer etc. Was spirited but could not touch my ex-Turbo Coupe with MK-VII 5.0 & Trick Flow heads, cam, big injectors etc.
The little LTD, 5.0 ESS are sought after models(I believe only ones with 5.0), four eyed Stang crowd generally loves them. If you find one(kinda rare), don't part it, worth far more complete.
Yep, all passenger car '86-up SEFI engines used roller cam. Non-HO lasted through '91 full size models. Trucks used batch fire(4 inj at once) & flat tappet till '92. At that point switched to mass air & roller cams, also switched to HO firing order. Std 5.0 used orig(most all engines), 15426378 firing order, while the HO used 13726548. Of course firing order doesn't dictate amount of power, Ford orig switched with introduction of 351W to revise bearing loads. Notice cyl 5&4 swap places with 3&7 Chevy guys claim switching firing order improves power(maybe a small %). SBC only had one firing order but aftermarket has ground cams to swap order cylinders are fired. Chevy racers generally swap two cylinders vs four.
So an update: I found a 302 from a 1992 F150. I plan to do a carburetor swap on it after I rebuild the transmission. Any tips to get the most out of this particular engine on a budget? I am not familiar as I should be about the 302 specifics from year to year.
Best out of it on a budget? The stock heads on these engines are the limiting factor, so "budget" means working within those heads. I'd call a cam company or two, tell them what you have for (stock) heads, intake, and exhaust, and take the cam they recommend. Some people will tell you to pick up a set of GT40 heads. They're good for about 30hp, but you still need the cam. At the cost of a cam plus about half the cost of aftermarket heads to buy and rehab a set of GT40s you might not consider that "budget." If that's a stretch now you can always decide to do a swap to aftermarket heads later and really wake up that truck motor.
