Hello all,

I am a newbie and I just recently purchased my 1990 F150 4x4 5 speed and it does not have a lot of power. It seems like it should have a lot better throttle response than it does. I just put new plugs, wires, filter, and a msd street fire coil on it and it seems guttless and sputters and flubberish at low rpms. Any Ideas?

 

Nothing new. Do Error code scans. Check Fuel pressure at the rail. Check base timing. . Report results. If you don't do these things, you'll just be waisting money on uneducated guesses. Seafoam combustion chambers as directed.

 

^+1

But even when you get things running right, realize that vintage of engines were not horsepower demons or fuel economy misers, thanks in part to emission regulations and related technologies at the time.

Stock numbers -
4.9L (300CID 6-cylinder) - 150hp
5.0L (302CID 8-cylinder) - 185hp
5.8L (351CID 8-cylinder) - 210hp
All pretty pathetic when compared to today's offerings.

 

My 87' 302 w/ 89K gets 17/23mpg. True, I won't see that at 200K. But there are minor mods that will get you above average performance & MPG, regardless of mileage (although milage must be given it's due consideration, even that can be devaluated by switching to synthetic fluids)!