Hi guys I'm new to forum and had a couple question I'm having trouble finding a answer for but I'm starting to do research to build my 1990 F150 XLT 4x4 with 5.8L 351W and I'm looking for info on what would be the largest Cam I could run with stock heads and help would be great or links to other post that may have the answers aswell.TIA

 

Do you plan on keeping the ECU and the rest of the engine management system stock?

 

after mods are made i will have the stock ecu tuned at a local shop that is well versed in these trucks they said they use a sct rewritable chip

 

No, you won't. These old EECs can't be reprogrammed (which is what "tuning" means). You'd have to find someone to desolder the original chipset, and then somehow read its programming out, write new programming specific to the mods you make (which would be unique, and therefore expen$ive), write it onto the new chipset, and then make sure that it runs right. All of that would be custom, and extremely labor-intensive (which is why $$$$$$). And would never perform as well as a newer truck with a more-modern stock engine at half the cost.

If you want the truck to run well, MAINTAIN it properly. No one knows more about how to get that engine to perform than Ford did when they built it. No one messes with them now because they're too old & inferior to modern engines, which CAN BE programmed easily. So if you need more power/torque than it was built with, sell it & buy a newer truck. If you want that truck to run well, just put it back as close to factory as you can get it. That's all I did to this truck (which hadn't run in several years before I bought it, and I didn't even rebuild the engine) which can tow triple its own weight on surface roads, and can tow its own weight above legal highway speeds for several hours non-stop.

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