RWDForTheWin

Hello everyone. I'm a relatively new member here, and relatively new to performance building too. I have a 1995 f250 project truck that I'm hoping to turn into a real mean tow rig/mild trail rig. My goals here are probably unrealistic but I'm hoping for about 400ftlb torque right out of the gate and I would like to peak around 500-600ftlb around 2500-3000rpm, and maybe up to 400hp at 4500rpm. I don't plan on spending any time above 4500rpm, as its more focused around low end torque. So far my plan involves a 418 stroker kit from coast performance with the dished heads, a trickflow efi intake manifold (i got a while ago for pretty cheap with fuel rails and a 92mm throttle body), and a really low duration/high lift cam, like Comp's x4254h cam, or maybe the x4250h. I also plan on 1.5in long tube headers, as I have read that smaller diameters improve low end torque. I also plan to tune this with a quaterhorse piggyback controller.

My question is what heads would top off this build? I have heard that stock heads are good for torque but are there better options? Also, what size injector would I need to upgrade to if the 19lbhr injectors aren't enough (I suspect they aren't). My budget is about 5500$ Of which the above plus other parts such as replacement pumps and valvetrain upgrades and MSD ignition parts and the block work approximate to about 4500$ of that.

Apologies if i missed another thread like this, I tried using the search function but nothing turned up.

SaltEater

Everything i've read on the subject so far suggests that putting mustang parts like the tfs intake and tb will put you higher in the rpm range for power. If you do stroke it out though, i'm not sure how much you'd notice it since you should be making more power everywhere. Also depends on what kind of torque converter (if applicable), gearing, and tire size you settle on.

Here's what my 351w partslist/build looks like in compcams 'Camquest' software, (I went the other way and spent the big money on heads instead of a stroker kit)

I'd recommend getting that software (it's free) and playing around with it a bit, just taking the stroke in that build and upping it to 4" shoots that torque number up to 541 @ 2000 rpms.

Nothing i've ever seen in articles or dyno/engine shows suggests that small headers make that much more low end, that said it is possible to 'tune' an exhaust (intake too) to be most effective at a specific rpm, but thats really outside the realm of what you're going to find on this forum lol.

As for injector size, there are plenty of tables/calculators out there showing what size you should get relative to HP. I bought the fiveology kit with 30lbs injectors to avoid any hassles with the ecm. This should be plenty for my build without maxing out the duty cycle. If the weather (in Canada) ever smartens up I might even get it all put together soon lol.

All that and forgot to mention heads, this thread and also this thread were what i used to guide me when putting togther my parts list. $1000 usd for heads doesn't seem like much to me, but i've seen a lot of threads here and elsewhere discussing how much of an upgrade gt40 heads can be, the 5.0 thread is a good starting point for that, and it's always possible to find a good deal on used stuff. If you stay stock, I feel like the valve size on stock heads is a limiting factor with that much displacement. A quick search on rock auto shows the 460 using 2" intake valves, so it might be worth looking into to at least get larger valves installed, though by the time you pay for the machining you'd probably be better off just buying better heads anyways, i dunno.

RWDForTheWin

Thank you for the advice on this! I will definitely take some time fooling around with stuff in that software and I'll start looking around for new heads. This build is still about a year and a half into the future, so my budget might grow enough for them.