bruegge

Hi all, first time posting, but I've spent a lot of time reading - great site!

Here's my deal: I have an 89 4X4 F150 with a 302 and a four speed (granny gear) with 170K on it. It is a single cab with a long box. I have had it since high school and it has been an outstanding truck. The truck still runs well, but burns some oil and has pretty poor power (I live in the mountains @ 9000 ft).

I plan on owning this forever (assuming they still make gas in the future) and it's time to give it a little lovin. There is a 302 from a 1994 F150 for sale locally that includes computer and fuel injection for $250. This seems like a great deal, and a great way to swap to MAF. I plan on rebuilding it, hoping for another 170K. I have also toyed with the idea of a 5 speed with granny gear - thinking the 4 speed may be old as well and I may get better gas milage.

My budget is around $1000 - $1500 and I am hoping to get a little more power out of this guy. The most important thing is reliablity (I have a kid on the way).

Any thoughts? I can push the budget if needed but don't want to get into superchargers etc.

Thanks guys - sorry for the long post. Again, great site.

tHeBeAsT89351

How many miles are on the '94 motor? I would say go either way on the tranny cause you aren't going to see a 10+ mpg difference, probably only 3-5 mpg, by going to a 5-speed. But if thats all your looking for i would say go for it.

bruegge

There are 130K on the 94 motor. Not looking for a ton of mpg on the 5 speed but would love to have another gear on the highway. I think that 4 speed is geared pretty well except 3rd to 4th is a stretch and I get caught shift between the two quite a bit.

dirtcrew51m

The only thing about the mass air is you would need the matching harness and computer. The 5spd w\ the overdrive should give a little more mileage, and also due to the gear ratios you might even feel a little more power. I would take a 5spd over an auto any day but unfortunately Ford never made a super cab long bed with one.

bruegge

He's throwing in the computer and wiring harness so should be ok there. Any other thoughts on problems I may have upgrading the motor/MAF? Does anyone know where to find the gear ratios on the 4 spd vs 5 spd trannys? Like I said, the 4 spd is geared well if 3rd and 4th were a little closer...

79 tin can

hi, this will be my first post here too, i got a 79 f150 302 that i put a 94 efi motor into, i tried to start it for the first time yesterday but no spark or fuel, im getting a code reader tomorrow and ill let you know how i make out.
as for the swap its self, the hardest part was probably tieing the two ignition systems together to one key and if you know enough about wiring and or have wiring diagrams for both trucks its a pain in the *** more than anything.

you best off to use your 89 exhaust system and weld in the o2 bung, im not sure if your truck has a cat., if it does its time for a new one, they get cloged.

i kept my accessory drive v-belt, had to switch water pump and timing case. i also had to change my oil pan and pick-up tube but you might not have to.

i had to buy a new rear gas tank (my trucks is a single tank) because the efi fuel pump will not fit the carb gas tank.

well i could go on all day, its A LOT of simple to meduim work and it can be done up to where im am at least lol, if u have any questions just ask

bruegge

Hey bud, thanks for the post, good to hear from someone who's done it! Good luck getting it started, let me know how it goes.

They guy sold his whole truck yesterday, so I didn't get the motor. Back to the search I guess. How did you find your setup?

79 tin can

well it pretty much fell into my lap. my dad has a 93 in typical shape for that year, he found a truck for sale on a farm for 500 with a great body and i needed a motor for mine anyways, so we split on it i got motor and wheels he got everything else he wanted.

i got my buddies code reader today, i got 10 codes, 8 of which were just emissions crap but will still look into, the other two were "trans temp sen. voltage to high" and " koeo (key on engine off) self test trans not in park", the pcm's version of a nutral safety switch.
ill mess around with it when i get back from vaca.

bruegge

Good luck.

So I'm back to square one on the motor swap. I've been looking around having trouble finding projects similar to mine. Anybody have any suggestions on a build? The truck has SD efi and I guess I need to switch to MAF before making any significant changes???

mitchalvin

The wide ratio 5 speeds tend to have the same gear ratio as a wide ratio 4 speed. Meaning that the gaps between 3rd and 4th are about the same. The wide ratio transmission are the ones with the granny gear first, for the most part you start out in 2nd and go from there. The 5 gives you an overdrive but 2, 3, and 4 are about the same between the 4 and 5 speeds.