5.8 EFI swap - should I??

[TTTGOWYO]

Hey guys and gals.. Found a 351w 5.8 with EFi out of a late 80's truck. Low miles, complete for $300. I know the upper is WAY too tall to stuff in there, but should I try to do this swap and just get the BCB adapter for a car upper? Is it worth it as far as the EFI and hp/Torque gains?? I know I need to go through the motor to check it out, but I can hear it run.. etc.. Any other issues, oil pan, front serp etc.. to consider?

I need to stop fishing on CL.

 

[Ourobos]

Roller motors didn't come out until 1994, so might wanna recheck that. 302 parts make 302 power, they do make shorter 351w intakes, the lightning etc.

 

[KyleQ]

Roller motor or not, do it!

Pickup a 351W, BC adapter, car intake and toss on a Mustang harness and PCM and start burning tire.

The car intake will restrict power, but not too much torque. Torque wants port velocity - the truck cams in these stop making power about where the car intake will restrict you - there is no point in spinning a factory cam'd 351w past 4500.

 

[TTTGOWYO]

oops.. meant non roller.. thx

 

[fungus]

Well, I just dropped a '92 "non-roller" 5.8L into my '95 F-150 inplace of the knocking stock "roller" 5.0L (ran great up til the knocking part). Night and day difference in torque between the two. 5.8L can pull hills in gears the 5.0 only dreamed of & generally just operates at a much lower RPM because the engine isn't working nearly as hard. Low miles, good shape, complete... I'd do it.

 

[TTTGOWYO]

Thanks fungus.. I am going to take a look in a bit.

 

[75junebug]

95 351W truck motor(non roller). Have had it carbed, EFI'd and now back to carb. Night and day differences between the old 302 and this. No regrets. EFI setup was fine, but my setup made HP in the upper rpm range, and I lost mpg.(I overthought the efi stuff). Back to the performer intake, modified quadrajet 4bbl, and HEI dizzy. Simple, stupid, and reliable!

 

[Broncobowsher]

Roller motor or not, do it!

Pickup a 351W, BC adapter, car intake and toss on a Mustang harness and PCM and start burning tire.

The car intake will restrict power, but not too much torque. Torque wants port velocity - the truck cams in these stop making power about where the car intake will restrict you - there is no point in spinning a factory cam'd 351w past 4500.

X2

Torque is what makes it fun to drive. Displacment builds torque. Even if the HP is the same, the greater low end torque of the 351 will make it more drivable and more fun. Generally no or only minor hit to gas mileage, if you drive it the same. Sometimes even gets better.

 

[ilovemaui]

Just finishing mine up. The 351 is definitely wider so it takes a bit of massaging to get everything to fit. I'm running a GT40 intake which was a challenge to locate for the 351. The GT40 uppers are the same as the 302 but the lower is wider. I found there was a lot of little stuff that needed work to make it fit. Definitely wasn't as simple as the 302 HO conversion.

 

[KyleQ]

What is the little stuff - I'm dropping in a 351W this week and need to know what I'm up against...

 

[ilovemaui]

What is the little stuff - I'm dropping in a 351W this week and need to know what I'm up against...

Well going from a 301 HO to 351: Fuel rails, fuel pressure regulator on the drivers side with 351 fuel rails, header clearance on the passenger side (hits the inner fender well), exhaust system connections to headers is further apart, heater tubes and heater valve connection, serp belt length, engine height hood clearance, to name a few. I replaced the hoses between the fuel rails so I could use the 302 fuel rails with the regulator on the passenger side.

Finding valve covers to fit my rockers caused bunch of issues. I tried the stock mustang covers but the rocker studs wouldn't clear. I ended up using trick flow covers which I had to machine a hole in for the oil fill tube. Then the valve covers were so tall I had to use a 1" spacer for the upper intake to clear. No one locally sold the spacer so I had to order it which took a week. I had to plug two of the upper intake vacuum connections because they would not fit with the tall valve covers. I also had to modify the throttle cable connection to fit around the valve cover and I had to modify the brake booster bracket for the same reason. I had to remove the brake booster to install the valve covers. I couldn't find adaptors to connect the maf and air cleaner to the throttle body, locally, so I had to order that too, which cost me a another week. Once everything was installed I found my hood clearance wasn't going to work even with a 1" body lift, so I had to buy a new hood which I am still waiting for. I did not want to go any higher with the body lift because it's already tough for my wife to get up into the damn thing.

I felt like every two steps forward took me one step back. Now I'm dealing with the usual bugs associated with installing an EFI system. I think I might need to go to 42 lb infectors and maf which means I'll need to tune the ecu. I started it the first time last night but it's running pretty rough. tarts great but as the idle comes down it stumbles pretty bad. Two steps forward and one step back.

I'm pretty anal about stuff looking nice so a lot of my issues are just me not liking to use all stuff on a new engine.

 

[KyleQ]

Oh wow, sounds like fun. The fuel rail is easy with EFI line and EFI clamps, I'm running manifolds as they are cheap and work. I knew the serp belt length was going to change, so I've got to address that. I've got a feeling I'm going to be running without a hood for some time as I've got NO body lift - great.

I'm running factory Mustang valve covers and the clear off the motor, so there shouldn't be any surprises there. I run manual brakes - sounds like most of your pain came from headers, power brakes and valve covers. I think I'll be fine, I've still got my custom throttle cable setup from my 302HO I ran and I think my only issue will be the hood not closing. I may just hack up a factory hood to make a small cowl induction setup and run it.

Thanks for the insight - I don't think I'll run into the issues you had.