5.0

[James K]

what is the better year(s) to look for?

what are the stock HP and torque #'s ?

is the ones in the mustang better? or are the ones in the crown vics and lincolns just as respectable?

 

[Milner]

check www.fordfuelinjection.com and the many mustang websites. More info than you could every want.

 

[SnwMnkys]

86-93 Mustangs are the most common, especially if you want to use the wiring harness that comes with the motor, most of the writeups are based off of those harnesses. The wiring changes a little bit between the Thunderbird and the Lincolns. They may also not be an HO. HP for the 5.0 HO in the Mustangs is around 225, and 300 ft/lbs Torque.

93 they changed to hyper pistons from Forged.

Find one with MAF if you want better fuel mileage or plan to mod the motor beyond simple bolt ons. They came in 89-up Mustangs, unless the cars from California then its 88-up.

 

[cheapzuk]

I think it was mid-94 when they changed to a roller cam. The H.O. has a different firing order than the regular 5.0

 

[morty]

I think it was mid-94 when they changed to a roller cam.

It was 1985 when they went to roller cam blocks in the mustangs

 

[yellowbronco]

I've got one out of an 87' Grand Marquis in my rig. Speed density, so anything more than headers I here messes them up, but I have all the power I need.

 

[Bart]

I've heard 89 to 93. The Mass Air is a must. Mine was a Speed density and I've spent a few hundred gathering parts to convert it to Mass air. Rule of thumb, if the intake faces the passenger side, it's a speed density. If it's the drivers side it's mass air.

You'll also want to locate an A9 computer. There's lots of stuff on ebay. I know where there's a core Mustang motor with harness in California for a decent price. I already bought his A9 computer. I wish I would have bought the rest of his stuff instead of having to convert mine.

Bart

 

[Andy]

You would be suprised at how much stuff you can take off of the speed density motor sensor wise with out pulling codes. And they actually run really strong with a little tweaking, the next 5.0 I put in will be speed density.

Andy

 

[Bart]

You would be suprised at how much stuff you can take off of the speed density motor sensor wise with out pulling codes. And they actually run really strong with a little tweaking, the next 5.0 I put in will be speed density.

Andy

So, if I changed heads and rockers and added headers, can I still get away with the speed density?
Bart

 

[Hickey]

So, if I changed heads and rockers and added headers, can I still get away with the speed density?
Bart

Yes. Speed density really only runs into trouble when you put a lumpy cam in them, or try to put bigger injectors/more fuel into them. Making it breath better will not affect the computer.

 

[SnwMnkys]

Yes. Speed density really only runs into trouble when you put a lumpy cam in them, or try to put bigger injectors/more fuel into them. Making it breath better will not affect the computer.

Isnt putting a cam in a motor making it breath better? Ive heard heads will mess with the computer.

It doesnt matter what way the intake faces, they faced it diferent ways to clear diferent items in the engine compartment, 87 Mustangs had the plenum facing towards the passenger side but it was Speed Density. The Plenum can be flipped either way depending on your needs.

 

[Hickey]

Isnt putting a cam in a motor making it breath better?

A mild cam, yes. If the cam provides much lope, it will fawk with speed density.

 

[bobdog]

Any time you make a speed density engine breath better on the intake side you will have problems. The computer can only see intake manifold pressure and fuel the engine acordingly. If you put better heads, bigger cam, ect on the motor the engine will be getting more air for a given vacume and the computer will not be fueling correctly. A supercharger will let map sensor see the extra air as increased pressure and should work fine .

 

[bobdog]

A mild cam, yes. If the cam provides much lope, it will fawk with speed density.

The same can be said for heads. A set of stock GT40 heads usually cause no problems but put a set of full on ported race heads on a SD engine and things don't work right.

 

[chevtech]

The same can be said for heads. A set of stock GT40 heads usually cause no problems but put a set of full on ported race heads on a SD engine and things don't work right.

While it makes it a little more complicated I'm sure someone can reprogram or burn a chip to compensate for mods with the speed density system. I don't have any experience with Ford motors comparatively but I'm sure those services are available just like with GM blocks. The trick is going to be doing mods that someone already has tuned a computer too on a dyno then you can just buy a chip/computer that will drop in for your given mods no problem. When you start piecing together your own mods it gets harder to get the computer programmed correctly.

 

[bobdog]

While it makes it a little more complicated I'm sure someone can reprogram or burn a chip to compensate for mods with the speed density system. I don't have any experience with Ford motors comparatively but I'm sure those services are available just like with GM blocks. The trick is going to be doing mods that someone already has tuned a computer too on a dyno then you can just buy a chip/computer that will drop in for your given mods no problem. When you start piecing together your own mods it gets harder to get the computer programmed correctly.

At least back when I owned my 87 5.0 mustang everything I ever read in the 5.0 mags was about converting SD to MAF. I can't ever remember reading about reprograming the Ford computer. I know that with Chevy TPI it was prefered to actually swap MAF over to SD. I don't know why and things may have changed since then but I suspect it may not be as easy as just buning a new chip with the Ford system.

 

[Bart]

This thread is exaclty why I decided to do a mass air conversion. The parts are readily available, it will accomodate the changes I've already made to the motor, i.e. heads, headers, ..., and if I add a cam later on, it will be able to accomodate it also.

 

[chevtech]

This thread is exaclty why I decided to do a mass air conversion. The parts are readily available, it will accomodate the changes I've already made to the motor, i.e. heads, headers, ..., and if I add a cam later on, it will be able to accomodate it also.

I guess if the MAF system swap is the same cost as re-programming it would be awfully nice to have a system that is able to adapt. Seems like even the MAF systems need some tweaking sometimes though....

 

[Bart]

So, with what I've done what lb injectors should I run in this motor?

 

[James K]

so mass air is the way to go.

what about pullies and accessories, what years are serpentine? what power sterring pumps come on them? are the hard to adapt a saginaw style power steering pump to?