Stock 5.0 upper vs HO upper intake

[jfl1960]

Other than the 63mm in the HO intake vs 52ish mm opening in the stocker are there any other differences in the upper intakes, I know the lowers are the same, I have two of the stock intakes (UPPER AND LOWER) and one HO TB at 63mm with correct egr spacer for HO setup, would it be possible to just port one of the stock intakes to the 63mm size I need and get any decent results, I have read many articles on porting the upper and reducing the restriction through the bolt boss locations, but this was only on the HO intake in the article I found, bear in mind this is a 86 5.0L from a crown vic, really limited in what I can do cam and heads wise, got an HO cam and the E7 heads but cannot afford the pistons just yet to use these items. I figured make it breathe a bit better and use a mild cam for now, any comments are appreciated.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

If it was mine I would run an Explorer intake, it is basically a cast aluminum version of the GT-40 intake. I have actually mulled around snagging one while they are still readily available in case I happen to sneak up on a car or get a hankering to convert my truck to EFI.

Do check your piston to valve clearances when you go back together (if you haven't yet) If the block or heads have been machined in the past things can get tight.

 

[jfl1960]

An Explorer intake would be a nice unit to run, but I am basically broke as far as purchasing anything new right now, was hoping to just make what I already have work a bit better until I can afford the good stuff. I have a second block from a 1993 F150 that has the correct piston, CAST NOT FORGED :-(, but needs a rebuild from the ground up, that motor will get the goodies when it's time but for now this 5.0 from the crown vic is a solid motor, runs great and just want to squeeze all I can out of her for this summer. Thanks for the reply but I am still thinking of porting the stocker to 63 mm and running an 86 HO cam for now, got both of these parts in the garage, other than a new gasket set there will be no money out of pocket just my time and right now time is all I can afford.

 

[v8nick]

You will be fine with the 86 H.O. cam, the 86 H.O. motors had the same pistons as the non H.O.'s did.

 

[jfl1960]

Yeah I knew that, but forgot about the change in firing order, does the 86 cam also use the 351 firing order, if so I will need an HO computer too, hmm no matter how I figure this it's gonna cost me beer money :-(

 

[dangerranger83]

Ive been on the same thinking path too. I want to do a cheap EFI to mine one day if I have to but all I can find are the non HO EFIs all day long. I have been told yes and no to being able to. The HO cam does change the firing order but the computer doesnt know this, all it does is want signal from the dizzy as when fire the injectors. And IIRC, the non HO setups are batch fire meaning they all go at once, a 2.9 computer can run a non HO setup. Now as for not enough fuel, maybe bigger injectors and what you have said, bigger TB. The HO cam does hold the valves open longer from what Ive read.

I put an HO came into my 5.0 that came out of a 91 Grand Marquie, bumped it up what I have been told is 200hp or so from the 155hp but for simplicity, went carbed. Other then that, everything about the engine is stock.

I put a 3.8 TBI setup on my old 2.8 I had in the truck and the only thing it wanted was signal from the dizzy to fire the injectors and power to the computer. Problem was regulating the fuel it got so I abandoned it and durasparked it. But if the 5.0 non Ho setup is like the 3.8 setup, then all is needs is those couple of things. And from what I have read the other day, it only takes 5 wires to get it all running.

Only thing I can say is give it a try with the non Ho setup and go from there.

 

[Mac]

The stock Mustang TB's were 55mm and 60mm for the HO's, that's the nominal dims. Not sure that I'd bother porting the manifold at all. The '86' should be SEFI, not batch but still a SD system. Batch fire fired two sets of four injectors at a time. HO cam will run fine with the non HO comuter, just change the spark plug wiring. Bigger injectors if going to a HO cam, 19#. Chnge in TB doesn't require an increase.
Dave

 

[jfl1960]

Found a great article on converting an 86 to a 225 hp HO on a site called coolcats.net, it's for 1986-88 Cougar 5.0L which have the same engine as the Crown Vic had in 86 with the flat top pistons and E6 heads, here are the listed requirements for the HO conversion:

Requirements for HO Conversion in EFI cars:

SEFI Fuel Injection
E7TE-Casting Cylinder Heads
Stock 19 lb/hr Fuel Injectors
HO-Specific Camshaft
HO Upper Intake Manifold (optional)
HO Throttle Body (optional)
EEC-IV 5.0 HO Computer
MAP Sensor (optional)
Higher Volume Fuel Pump

the entire article can be read here:

xxxx://www.coolcats.net/modifying/ho_conversion.html

just replace the xxxx with http

this answered my upper intake question and a lot more.

 

[dangerranger83]

Basically what has been listed is taking the FI setup and a few other things off a mustang and putting it on your current engine.

I was thinking more along the lines of using the non HO FI setup on a HO engine and making it work with a few tweeks such as larger injectors and bigger TB...keep it as cheap a simple.

Sent from my rooted SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[jfl1960]

lol Danger ranger looks like we are working toward the same goal just from different directions, you have the 5.0L HO but converted to carb, from the article I read it says that the non-ho SEFI is adequate for use on the HO, just need to get a good fuel pump that will deliver over 88lph (the author of the article recommends 155lph electric pump), the HO upper intake and TB are optional and would most likely only give a 7 or so hp gain over the stocker. Looks like the cam and heads are the big contributors here and you already have them so I would say use the non-ho stuff with the HO 19 lb orange top injectors for now to get her over to EFI, it's easy to change out an upper intake, tb and egr spacer later down the road if you want.

I'm now leaning toward doing the heads to E7's and getting a 87-93 ho cam and porting my upper to match my HO tb and spacer, and a HO computer (THINK i MIGHT ALREADY HAVE ONE WILL HAVE TO CHECK SOME PART NUMBERS), would be nice to get over 200 hp for the summer without rebuilding an entire motor. Will run truck as SD this summer and next year get switched to mass.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The '86 HO had E6 heads (with the HO intake) and was rated 200hp. With E7's you should be over that.

Personally on my 4x4 I liked the low end punch the non HO cam and E6 heads. The torque really came on hard at a low RPM. The HO cam and E7's are nice, but the punch is higher in the powerband now... more "car" oriented.

 

[jfl1960]

My truck is going to be street and strip only, lowered suspension, tilt front end and narrower ford 9" running 411's, think that might help on bottom and takeoff. For anyone interested I found this article by a guy named TMOSS on porting the HO upper, all I am going to add is opening up the intake to match the HO egr and tb I have. This is a mild porting he also has one where he splits the upper intake and goes nuts on the runners and internals to get it to flow close to the GT40 intake, wish I had those skills.

 

[Mac]

Those of with 5.0l are usually well aware of Tom Moss. Be very careful following his work, he does caution you it's really easy to ruin an intake. It's still a waste of time without doing a cam at least. Better off going with an Explorer intake. You going to spend the money on a tilt front end and a 9" but don't want to spend good money on an intake? 200 hp is not squat in todays world, the latest V-6 Mustangs or others will run circles around you - sorry but that's more reality.
Dave

 

[shane96ranger]

Those of with 5.0l are usually well aware of Tom Moss. Be very careful following his work, he does caution you it's really easy to ruin an intake. It's still a waste of time without doing a cam at least. Better off going with an Explorer intake. You going to spend the money on a tilt front end and a 9" but don't want to spend good money on an intake? 200 hp is not squat in todays world, the latest V-6 Mustangs or others will run circles around you - sorry but that's more reality.
Dave

As usual, I concur with Dave. I saw a test years ago in one of the Mustang rags with an Explorer intake vs. an extrude honed stock and the Explorer still flowed better.



Sent from a Commodore 64 using a 300 baud modem

 

[Mac]

Shane, what Tom does is actually go in and recontour the runners for better flow. Extrude honing just smooths out the passages. Even then he says the stock Explorer flows the same as his ported HO lower manifolds. I think on the Explorer uppers he actual welds in some of the corners before he can form them, making them a sharper bend than straightening them out. http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/IntakePorting.pdf
Dave