What small improvement did you do on your stock 5.0 L ???

[ntrudelle]

I have a stock 5.0 L roller with a holley 570 carb mounted on a Weiand intake,mech. gas pump and I will have to replace the roller lifters because the engine is ticking so If I have to pull the stock heads, I might as well throw a couple of performance parts in there like a cam maybe,roller rockers maybe, springs or remachine the heads or put GT40 heads. I do this for a hobby so I have to stick with easy stuff, I don't want to boost it too much and spend too much money because I'm happy with the performance but if I had a little more goodies to make it run rough without loosing torque for not too much money it would be great also would give me something to play with next summer. Can you tell me what you guys that had the same idea did to your engines, like what kind of cam, duration and lift, what kind of heads etc. Hearing from you guys will help me decide what to do.
If I talk to a machine shop which I did, they will tell me to spend more money because I will have to do it again later but I don't expect to do it later, I'm not too greedy with the power, I want to keep my 302 because I rebuilt it stock and I don't want to pull it out, my crank was machined and balanced, thanks in advance.

[MPTech]

I bought my engine, which had been rebuilt and mildly upgraded. I have it running now, but haven't go-karted it yet (can't wait).
It's and EFI, but some of the other upgrades may be applicable:

‘93 Mustang Roller 302
• GT-40P ported heads
• FMS F-cam
• Explorer intake (Explorer 65mm)
• 24lb injectors + Pro-m meter calibrated for 24s
• Flywheel + new RAM clutch
• New Mallory coil


I can't speak for performance yet, but it really sound good

[Dustin B.]

Rebuilt 302(306): 8.7:1 compression ratio
Forged pistons and rods
Fully balanced assembly
X306 heads
B303 cam
Cobra intake
24lb injectors and matching MAF
1.6 roller rockers
Upgraded clutch kit
70mm throttle body
March UD pulleys
...soon to get blown...ha!

[TAnderson]

I will have to replace the roller lifters because the engine is ticking so If I have to pull the stock heads

...just as an FYI, you do not need to remove the heads to change out the lifters.

[Jack Wojack]

A good set of cylinder heads is the #1 way to improve performance. It is important to select the correct heads for the application and ALL aftermarket heads will benefit from a new performance valve job.

Jack

[sdonnel]

As stated before, a good set of heads and a nice cam will really wake up your combo. Look at the flow numbers to make your comparison (even before a good porting job). I bolted on a set of AFR165's with a nice lumpy cam shaft and the difference in sound and performance is amazing. Too bad today is the last really warm day in NW Ohio.

Scott

[trevor]

I remember when I put some gt40p iron heads on, it really was a big change for about $500 bucks.

[306rangerfordguy]

It all depends on what you want to spend. For what you can buy a good set of aluminum heads for these days it isnt worth messing with stock type iron heads. I would look at either AFR or Edelbrock for a set of heads. You are probably looking at $900 for the Edelbrock e street heads and up to $1400 for the AFR 165 heads. If you want a simple cam upgrade, look at the E303 Ford Cam. Comp cams also offers a selection of cams for the roller 5.0 engine. If I remember correctly you can go to Comp Cams website and can build your engine by selecting your cam, heads, and intake system and it will show you horsepower ang torque curves. Good Luck

[Tatika]

Maybe talk to Gordon Levy. He can set you up with a cam that fits exactly what you want for performance/sound and plan on adding/changing. When he did mine the cost was close to one of the Ford letter cams. He would also have some pretty good advice on an upgrade route for other aspects of the engine.

As a side note I see you have a 3.08 rear. The single thing that added the most snap to performance with the stock engine i had was changing to 3.55 - it was like the car found 100 hp.

Greg

[Butch B]

Maybe do what I did yrs. ago. Bought used Eldbrockheads(here on forum) & New Trick flow #1 cam. My old 5.0 ran low 12s@25/26mpg on reg gas and very street friendly!
hth
Butch

PS
Again, IMHO, better cams than "alpa cams" from Ford.

[NiceGuyEddie]

it's not related to the upper internals to your engine, but when i had a mild 5.0, a set of underdrive pulleys really did make a difference. they say +14hp and i really think they mean it. should easily be less than $100 with pulley.

[JoeE]

I have upgraded E-7's, B cam the rest stock aside of my Explorer intake setup. I know you are carbed.

Here is a good combo for FI but it laysout a good Cam head combo for you to use as a Guide

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/tf...rd?prefilter=1

Edelbrock also has top end packages

[Big Blocker]

Basically stock '89 302 with the GT-40 (tubular) upper and lower intake with a FORD E303 cam, underdrive pulleys . . . if I'm pulling 300hp out of this engine, I'd be amazed (more like 275), but it pulls real hard to 5K with stock EFI, drives from sea level to 9000ft, and gets 23 MPG at a sustained 75-80 mph on the open road w/3.73's in the rear.

Just my 2¢

Doc

[ntrudelle]

You're right "T", I wasn't thinking, I wouldn't pull the heads to replace the lifters.
I will take some suggestion in consideration for sure. I will put some
20W-50 oil first instead of 10W30 to see if the noise goes away, if not it's a head job or GT40 heads depends on the budget,new lifters and/or another mild cam kit ,seems to be a common thing that people do, Thanks guys for pitching in with your suggestions, Greatly appreciated, cheers to all, now it's time to put my baby to sleep for a while, the temperature is going down fast here in the Toronto area.

MichelQUOTE=TAnderson;2730049]

I will have to replace the roller lifters because the engine is ticking so If I have to pull the stock heads

...just as an FYI, you do not need to remove the heads to change out the lifters.[/QUOTE]

[Rich A]

ntrudelle,
How long has the engine been sitting or did this noise just start?
How many miles are on the engine?