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I am just getting started on my truck project. I have a 92 F 150 with 240K. Transmission rebuild at 150k, shifts good but sluggish. Motor swap with a used van engine at 217k. (van engine with truck oil pan = NO DIPSTICK) Pretty bad pinion bearing whine in the rear end. and locked up A/C compressor. Needless to say I have a lot of work to do. My plans are to replace the engine, add shift kit and cooler to transmission, replace rear end bearings and replace A/C compressor. I have around $600 in it so I can put a couple Gs in it and have a pretty nice truck. Now to the questions. I want to use this truck as a weekend dirt, mulch, go to the lumberyard and landfill truck as well as occasionally pull my 2200 lb pop up camper to the mountains for the weekend. I am looking for torque, reliability, and reasonable gas mileage on pump gas. I will be building it myself so will I be happy to go back stock? Push the rebuild as far as I can with the speed density setup? or go nuts and do a mass air swap? There is a Ford graveyard about 2 hours away that has a 96 5.8 roller cam engine that runs but knocks and I can get the engine to rebuild, computer and wiring harness. Or I could just buy a crate motor. Or I work with a guy that has a 5.8 roller engine bottom end that still has the factory hone marks in the cylinder walls I could add some used GT heads to. All opinions welcome.


Attachment 350142 Sludgefest! another reason I am rebuilding.

I would go with the 96 5.8 and rebuild it. I have a 96 with a factory 5.8 and e4od 4x4 ext cab and 180,000 miles. I tow with it regularly, get 15 mpg on the highway at 70 to 80 mph empty, and know with 3.55 gears it would pull a 2200 lbs trailer with absolutely no problems. I pull 5,000 to 6,000 in fairly hilly terrain at 70 mph pretty easily as long as it isn't something with a ton of air drag, like just a car on a trailer vs a pontoon boat or old style camper with absolutely no wind cutting capabilities. Now build it up, and you'd have a pretty fun truck. The maf is so much easier to mod then sd.

Attachment 350275

Here is a picture of it that I posted on another thread, you can see why I think that it is worth putting some money into. I know there is only so much you can do with a SD setup, Thanks for the useful data on a stock setup.

yes, clean truck. how is the interior, and where is the truck from? Like you said, put a few thousand in it and you have a nice clean good running truck. And no payments!!

Interior is very clean. I know the original and second owner personally so It is a local truck, and I have every receipt for eveything that was ever done to it since new.

Kinda the same thing with me. bought the truck from a friend of a friend, and. Im the third owner, and the first owner was the brother of the guy I bought it from. I have every service record, and repair receipt for the truck in a folder. Then my own from repacing parts with lifetime warrant parts hen needed.

Nice looking truck. Personally, for what you say you want to do with it, I'd build it stock. Stock is pretty good, no headaches and very dependable if you put some fresh parts on it.

Finally got it out this weekend. The Cylinder walls and pistons look really good and I found a small plug where I think I can put a dipstick in this block. It looks like I am just going for a hone and rings and bearings in this engine and refurbish the heads and put it back in. Once I get it apart and to the machine shop I will know for sure. After what I found in the top end I was worried about the bottom but it looks like I might have gotten lucky.

yea, but you can do a few things to help power and still have it just as reliable, might as well since your rebuilding it in my opinion. But, as always a fresh engine period feels stronger anyway, because, well, its not worn lol.

well crap, forgot about you having sd. In that case, yea maybe a completely stock build would be best, especially for all the more you say your doing.