5.0 Ranger Questions

Thanks guys I will check out Pulla Part tomorrow as there is always a plethora of explorers in yards around here. So the 303 cams will work with the GT40 setup? Or should I go another route with less lift to stay away from VPC issues? And I would love to just "jerk" the engine out but this is my dd and can't be down for more than 2 days. Yes I know swap are easy but when the wife and 3 kids are always like "daddy, daddy" I can never stay focused. So a 2 hour job turns into 2 days LOL. Also would it be ok to just leave the intake the way it's facing when I put the GT40 intake on and fab up a CAI to the passenger fender well with 3" tubing or would that be too long a section and mess up the MAF meter?
 
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There is a distinct difference in the way a cam for a truck behaves and a HO type cam. Which one you choose depends on how you use the truck.

If it is a hauler - tow your boat, jet skis, trailered ATV's, travel trailer and such, you want a cam that has lot of low RPM power and a broad, flat torque curve - not an HO cam. The truck and Explorer cams fall in this category.

If it is a hot rod truck that never hauls anything bigger than a lightweight load of Home Depot building materials for a Saturday project, the HO series cam will be OK. They turn more RPM, and have a somewhat peaky torque curve. They may require you to spin the engine at a higher RPM to get the HP and torque you want for snappy performance. Most aftermarket high performance cams fall in this category.

Make the right choice the first time and stick with it, because changing it to a different purpose is an expensive, time and labor intensive effort.
 
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So if I go with the GT 40 top end from an exploder I still need to go with a non HO type cam right? But if I had a Mustang GT HO computer I could use the HO cam right? And theoretically I could just swap the plugs on the dizzy and injectors to the corresponding cylinders to match with the HO pattern?
 
Thanks Rich i will keep that in mind. I am going to go mild performance either way on this as the ranger is pretty light and power to weight says it doesn't need 500hp to make you smile. I am going to be more reasonable and shoot for the 300hp range. I think I will have plenty fun there and still be able to tote the lawn mower around and the small boat I have. I am looking at the E cam as it has more lift and less duration. I want to stay below .500 on the lift I think because I do not want any problems with the non ho pistons, as I have researched they prob don't have valve reliefs. I am going to build an engine on the side one day. But not too soon.
 
Now the big question I have is this. I am going with he GT40 top end from an Explorer so in order to run an E cam or the like can I manually switch the injector harness where they fire at the HO patterns and also do the same with the dizzy? Will this be problematic with me setup?
 
Now the big question I have is this. I am going with he GT40 top end from an Explorer so in order to run an E cam or the like can I manually switch the injector harness where they fire at the HO patterns and also do the same with the dizzy? Will this be problematic with me setup?

From what my buddy told me he did, it works.. the non h.o./truck injection I'm told is NOT sequential port injection. It is what I'm told is batch fire, more primitive and simple. It utilizes 8 injectors, but fires four at a time somewhat like early tb injection, which uses two injectors (on gm trucks) and fire left or right. My buddy, who is way sharper than me..ha.. figured how to arrange the harness based on camshaft/valve timing to fire injectors closer to where they needed to be. How and where? Not sure, but it can be done.. maybe if he's generous enough to text me an explanation later I can copy and paste it for you..

Maybe the h.o. computer and harness is a better way to go? Don't know.

Sorry that this is all I have, man. Hope it helps.
 
Thx boosted that helps. My harness and cpu is out of a car (crown vic) so I am going to researched to see if it's sequential or batch. Seems to me if it is sequential you just have to arrange the injectors harness plugs to the correct cylinder per firing order. Sense I have the Non HO engine I could go through and label the injectors now in the non ho configuration then label each port with HO firing order and just swap the plugs where they need to be. The dizzy would be a no brainier. If a GT car puter would just plug into my harness I would go that route because I don't want to run any more harnesses or the like.

Does anyone know of a good roller cam that performs good and sounds good but will not require a higher stall? It seems I can run the E but it's going to pull on stop lights and try to push through from my research.
 
I would run a stock cam with 1.7 rockers. Any aftermarket cam will move your power band upwards, and you'll want a higher stall converter to take advantage of it. Running the stock cam will give you about the same lift as a bcam but with better driveability idle.

Not a fan of the ecam as it doesn't come on until 3k and has a 110 LSA.. If you want to look at aftermarket cams, I would look at the TFS1 or comp cams 258
 
Guys I appreciate all your help and will still be hanging hear to adjust my Gt40 setups and cams but I found a wealth of knowledge about my setup on Crownvic.net I wont need a new harness as there are several HO puters that will hook right up. Here is what they said.

Though I'd post some of the most common questions I'm asked and a couple tricks I've learned over the years.

HO Conversion, You need:
E7 Heads (Found on 87-93 Mustangs, 89-92 Lincoln Mark 7's and 87-96 E/F series w/302 (351w has larger head bolts)
HO ECM, engine computer (Mark 7 to keep cruise on the 88-91 boxes, 86-88 mustang for the 86-87 box)
19Lb injectors 86-up mustang, 89-92 mark 7, 87-96 E/F series trucks (302/351)... They have an orange top.
HO upper intake 87-93 Mustang, 89-92 Mark 7
HO Throttle body
HO cam 86-93 Mustang, 89-92 Mark 7


The 2 modifcations needed:
The linkage arms on the throttle bodies need to be swapped. It's easy and straightforward. Grind, swap reattach with screw, JB weld, or actually weld it. The EGR spacer will need to be enlarged to 63mm. A couple minutes on a lathe fixes it up. The 93-95 Ford lightning and some Aussie Fords use a similar EGR spacer if you can find it.

Common misconceptions:
1. Wiring. There are NO changes to the wiring for the HO conversion.
2. Wiring . There are NO changes to the wiring!

To help you get the most out of the HO conversion:
Dual Exhaust. 2.25" minimum.
Headers: Mustang shorties work with some modification, most people get the H-pipe too and get a cat back exhaust done.
Trans: Mustang/Mark 7 Governor. Raises the shift points to match the engines power band. Transmission cooler is recommended.
shift kit helps too.
Fuel pressure: sometimes you can get away with the stock pump. Check your fuel pressure and make sure it's good at WOT.


Other tips/Tricks
1. Timing is everything! Make sure your timing is correct. If it's off, it'll kill your power and milage. Bump it to 12-14* for a little extra HP, just pay attention to detonation, if it happens, back the timing off.

I will keep this thread open for the time being.
Others can post replies and ask questions regarding the HO conversion.
I will update this from time to time, so re-read it every once in a while.
 
Moving the injector wiring around doesn't work well. The computer needs to know what injector fires when so that it can correctly adjust the trim for Air/Fuel ratio. If the injector is not on the same side as the O2 sensor, the computer can't figure out the proper fuel trim, and it keeps trying to adjust it. The resulting confusion makes for an engine that does not run smoothly, has poor performance and fuel economy.
 
Right on thx Rich. I just ran the numbers on the intake and I keep coming up with a Thunderbird not a crown vic like I was told. I can just plug the new ECM from an HO engine in and only swap the spark plug wires that I am pretty sure of now. But if I have a Thunderbird 5.0 block along with the intake I may have the good pistons but sense I have the non HO firing order I am confused. Did the late 80's birds come with non HO engines?
 
Here yah are Fox, I just got it though and none of my touches are on it though. I do like black wheels but I will put more of a tuner type wheel on it, like a GT500 or the C6 wheels.
 

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Right on thx Rich. I just ran the numbers on the intake and I keep coming up with a Thunderbird not a crown vic like I was told. I can just plug the new ECM from an HO engine in and only swap the spark plug wires that I am pretty sure of now. But if I have a Thunderbird 5.0 block along with the intake I may have the good pistons but sense I have the non HO firing order I am confused. Did the late 80's birds come with non HO engines?
Pretty sure you need an HO cam as well ..


Sent from my iPhone using my fingers while my auto correct makes me seem illiterate
 
Right on thx Rich. I just ran the numbers on the intake and I keep coming up with a Thunderbird not a crown vic like I was told. I can just plug the new ECM from an HO engine in and only swap the spark plug wires that I am pretty sure of now. But if I have a Thunderbird 5.0 block along with the intake I may have the good pistons but sense I have the non HO firing order I am confused. Did the late 80's birds come with non HO engines?

So....the bad news. Thunderbirds didn't get the HO engine until the 1991 model year. That said, the intake was a lower profile design, with a curved inlet to clear the hood of the MN12 chassis

ford-302.jpg


You've probably got one out of an mid-80's model....which would explain the reverse position of the manifold

G.jpg


Not only was this a non-HO engine, but it did not utilize a roller camshaft either. They also utilized cast aluminum pistons and not the forged or hypereutectic pistons found in the later HO blocks. Not a bad engine per se, but they were only rated at about 150hp....so you're not gonna be blowing the tires off that Ranger anytime soon.

One other thing that slipped my mind was that the E6SE cylinder heads (as well as the GT40's) use a longer (.708") AWSF/AGSF series plug. The E7TE heads found on the HO engines require a shorter (.460") ASF plug.