another 5.0 swap info..not EFI

D.Hearne said:

YNew distributor? Not needed either, you can buy a fresh reman from your local parts house for $50, these work fine in builds thatspin up to 7000-7500 with the right valvetrain, just add an electronic conversion unit, a hot coil and good wires, it'll work just as well as a $400+ aftermarket system.

Click to expand...

That reminds me, no one mentioned that a steel distributor gear is needed with the 5.0's roller cam. '84 Mustang GTs had carbs and roller cams, but that was the only year so those distributors are harder to find at parts stores. For the trouble and frustration I went through trying to find one, I should have just put a steel gear on my old points distributor. At least now I have a hybrid Ford Duraspark/GM HEI iginition that works really well.

I bought my 5.0 new as an engine kit for an '89 GT I had. I put the old stock engine back in when I sold it and put the built-up one in my '68. I found out just how much of a bottleneck the stock EFI intake was when I put the 650 pumper and single plane on there.

By the way, part of the problem I have with that Car Craft article is that they measured gross horsepower. Carmakers haven't used that method since the mid '70s and it does give inflated numbers. They also baselined with a carb and intake that flows better than the stock EFI parts, not to mention longtube headers instead of the stock 1.5" shorties. If they had all that stuff on there and then put the AFRs on, you sure as hell wouldn't be seeing 100hp gains nor 405fwhp. They make it sound like AFRs are the magic power bullet when in fact their test engine already had everything BUT the heads.

65ShelbyClone said:

That reminds me, no one mentioned that a steel distributor gear is needed with the 5.0's roller cam. '84 Mustang GTs had carbs and roller cams, but that was the only year so those distributors are harder to find at parts stores. For the trouble and frustration I went through trying to find one, I should have just put a steel gear on my old points distributor. At least now I have a hybrid Ford Duraspark/GM HEI iginition that works really well.

Click to expand...

Uh, check that date. The carbed roller cam 5.0L distributor is from a 5 speed[/i] 1985 Mustang.

Although that Car Craft article may be hard to believe, if they balanced, blueprinted, machined and matched their parts well, gasket matched the intake/heads and heads/exhaust, were careful with their tolerances and in re-assembling the engine , power like that is definitely possible. And the stock cam is pretty good in such cases, especially given the 1.7RRs. In the old days this engine would be called a "ringer" and would be given to the press by the automobile manufactures to test. Many times the power potential is there in an engine, but the combo is poorly chosen and haphazardly assembled.
Daniel

tylerrocks said:

where did the power occur?

Click to expand...

http://www.westechperformance.com/

65ShelbyClone said:

By the way, part of the problem I have with that Car Craft article is that they measured gross horsepower.

Click to expand...

They do?

The guys from Cobra Automotive say a hipo 289 (271hp) actually dyno's at 225hp?

http://www.cobraautomotive.com/horsepower.htm

(about halfway down)

65ShelbyClone------ The 85 distributor isn't hard to find at all, I just bought one from the local Advance Auto Parts store. They don't stock it, but it's an overnight part. The only thing special about it is the steel gear, that's easily changed when they rebuild em.

BornInAFord said:

Uh, check that date. The carbed roller cam 5.0L distributor is from a 5 speed[/i] 1985 Mustang.

Click to expand...

I couldn't remember if it was '84 or '85 exactly. You're right; I sort of remember it was for the '85 GT with a carb and manual transmission.

It's been a while since I went looking for year-specific part numbers, but I just looked again right now and the Autozone and Kragen sites both return steel and iron-geared Duraspark distributors for the '84 and '85 carbureted HO engines. Maybe they're easier to find now than when I went looking.

spade33 said:

i dont mind swapping the stock cam out for something else because i will probably have to give the motor a hone or soemting to clean it up what type of cam would be best for a daily driver but i definatly wouldnt mind some lope, gotta love that sound

Click to expand...

The cam I have is a smog/ blower/turbo cam, but it still has a lumpy idle and decent low-end and midrange even with a single plane. It's a Crane Powermax 2031.

The 85 distributor is the one recommended due to it being a std Duraspark unit. An 89 would have a TFI distributor to work with the SEFI fuel injection system. It'll fire without the computer input but it won't advance the timing.

Yeah, and you'll need an ignition module for the Duraspark distributor. Luckily a $15-20 four-pin GM HEI module will work. You other option is to get a points distributor(or general aftermarket unit) and have a steel gear installed on it.

If you want to go aftermarket and don't mind spending a bit more money than you would on a rebuilt dizzy, you have several choices. Pertronix, Crane and MSD all sell them. I have a pertronix "plug-and-play" billet distributor on my carbed 5.0L in my 66. It has a little taller cap than stock (I got male plugs so I could use my 9mm wires) but at first glance looks stock. It also comes with a steel gear. Cost was just over $200, which considering it's a new billet dizzy that comes with the Ignitor II and has an extra bushing at the upper end of the shaft for better shaft support was a decent deal. The MSD one and others will work. The HEI ones also work, but I don't like the look as well.
Daniel