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Topic: Familyso's beater truck issues... (Read 8297 times) previous topic - next topic

Familyso's beater truck issues...

So my father in law has a 95 F150 beater truck with a 302 in it. It's a standard cab long bed, 4 wheel drive automatic. 272K on the clock. Purchased off eBay some 5 years ago, it's run fine ever since. So, 2 years ago, it blew a trans line and leaked all the fluid out. Got it towed home, figured, with that many miles we'd rebuild it. So we pulled the trans. E4OD I believe it is. We rebuilt it over last fall, then we figured we'd pull the engine and freshen it up too. So we did over last winter. Just honed cylinders, gave it new rings and bearings, and valve springs and timing chain. Threw it back together, then rebuilt the rear end with new bearings, and seals. Got everything hooked back up and fired it up. Set timing and took on a test drive. No power at all. Checked many different things. Fuel pressure, good. 38-40 lbs at idle. Fuel filter, changed. Spark plugs, all new, no misfiring. Compression test, 120 lbs in all 8 cylinders. Thought it was a little low, but it is the same through all 8. Then we checked vacuum....5-8 inches at idle. Booo. Horrible right? I'm thinking between 17-21 inches? So we've been searching for leaks. Can't seem to find any leaks. Even pulled the heads off, and intake, checked all gaskets, through new ones on after making sure timing chain is aligned. Threw it all back together and it didn't change a think. Well, it did, now idle vacuum is at 8-9 inches. Sooo I'm lost. Super frustrated. Can't figure this out. Just absolutely no power at all. Has trouble taking minor hills on the road. Won't even spin tires in the wet grass! Why has it got no power or vacuum? Am I forgetting something major? Need help or suggestions or advice from anyone please. Positive or negative at this point. Just very frustrated. Thanks in advance.
1988 Mercury cougar XR7- 302 bored .030 over, gt40p heads, F303, AlexsParts spring and seal kit, explorer upper and lower intake, 70mm tb, maf conversion, 75mm maf, fenderwell cai, 24 lb injectors, T5 conversion, bbk h pipe, Slp lm, 3.73 rear, 4 wheel disc conversion, 5 lug conversion. :D :D

Familyso's beater truck issues...

Reply #1 –
This is a dumb suggestion, but is the intake tube to the MAF connected good and tight? I know after working on speed density 5.0s like ours, you forget that on a MAF engine it's required. I know when I bought my XR-7 I screwed around forever trying to get it to run before I noticed that the air tube was off at the bottom of the clamp.
CoogarXR : 1985 Cougar XR-7

Familyso's beater truck issues...

Reply #2 –
Yeah, it's connected. No stupid suggestion man, at this point I could have forgotten something obvious. So any question or tip is appreciated. Haha. Yeah i checked. Made sure today when I was tinkering on it. I hopped in, threw it in reverse and tromped the gas, and it take prolly 3 or 4 seconds to Rev up and then another 2 or 3 to start moving. It's like in park/neutral it's slow to rev, then in gear, it takes forever to get moving. It accelerates like a slug on the run. Sooo I'm still lost. Haha
1988 Mercury cougar XR7- 302 bored .030 over, gt40p heads, F303, AlexsParts spring and seal kit, explorer upper and lower intake, 70mm tb, maf conversion, 75mm maf, fenderwell cai, 24 lb injectors, T5 conversion, bbk h pipe, Slp lm, 3.73 rear, 4 wheel disc conversion, 5 lug conversion. :D :D

Familyso's beater truck issues...

Reply #3 –
Sounds like the timing is way off
Quote from: jcassity
I honestly dont think you could exceed the cost of a new car buy installing new *stock* parts everywhere in your coug our tbird. Its just plain impossible. You could revamp the entire drivetrain/engine/suspenstion and still come out ahead.
Hooligans! 
1988 Crown Vic wagon. 120K California car. Wifes grocery getter. (junked)
1987 Ford Thunderbird LX. 5.0. s.o., sn-95 t-5 and an f-150 clutch. Driven daily and going strong.
1986 cougar.
lilsammywasapunkrocker@yahoo.com

Familyso's beater truck issues...

Reply #4 –
But we lined up the timing marks on the crank and cam. Factory crank and cam still. Could it still be off?
1988 Mercury cougar XR7- 302 bored .030 over, gt40p heads, F303, AlexsParts spring and seal kit, explorer upper and lower intake, 70mm tb, maf conversion, 75mm maf, fenderwell cai, 24 lb injectors, T5 conversion, bbk h pipe, Slp lm, 3.73 rear, 4 wheel disc conversion, 5 lug conversion. :D :D

Familyso's beater truck issues...

Reply #5 –
I was always taught dot to dot was leaving power behind. I don't know how to  degree a cam but have seen the difference it can make.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]:ford:87 Turbo Coupe through the floor sub frame connectors, 5.8 swap Ford racing heads Harland sharp 1.6 rockers BBK shorty swap headers 2 1/2 BBk X pipe magnaflow ler's. Megasquirt 2 with 36lbs injectors on hurricane intake with 4150 throttle body.Tremec TKO 600 Quicktime blowsheild spec stage 3 clutch. 3.73 gears and still not done

Familyso's beater truck issues...

Reply #6 –
I thought of that, but then figured it ran just fine before tear down. That was with dot to dot. And now it's gutless. I just don't understand what could be causing the major vacuum drop. I didn't think degreeing was necessary until you throw in an aftermarket cam.
1988 Mercury cougar XR7- 302 bored .030 over, gt40p heads, F303, AlexsParts spring and seal kit, explorer upper and lower intake, 70mm tb, maf conversion, 75mm maf, fenderwell cai, 24 lb injectors, T5 conversion, bbk h pipe, Slp lm, 3.73 rear, 4 wheel disc conversion, 5 lug conversion. :D :D

Familyso's beater truck issues...

Reply #7 –
Maybe check EGR valve? or TPS sensor? Could also try spraying brake clean around the wherever the manifold meets the heads/TB and listen for increases in engine rpm

-Kyle
1986 Ford Thunderchicken, 5.0 AOD w/ Shift kit,  354,XXX miles. 1-Family owned. Original engine+trans.
8.8 Disc Rear w/ 3.73 Posi. CHE Control Arms. '04 Cobra brakes all around. 2000 Cobra R wheels. Tubular front LCA's. MM Steering Shaft. Unlocked Speedo, Lowering springs, Eibach sway bars front and rear. Ram air intake.

Familyso's beater truck issues...

Reply #8 –
Dot to dot is how its done at the factory. Low vacuum will make the car run bad and rich, but shouldn't give up any power. Vacuum is a measurement of restriction. The less restriction you have, the more power you will have, for the most part.

For us 5.0 people, pull your map hose off. It will run like shiznit and shoot black smoke and stain the ground, but, under wot, it will run exactly as its supposed to. At wot throttle, you should have next to no vacuum. Most any vacuum leak will not effect wot performance. It's just like having that much more airflow.

120lbs of compression for a re ringed engine is still way low. But since all 8 were the same, it should be okay. My first 86 had 290k miles on it and still had around 100psi. Worth of compression.

What did you set your distributor timing to, and what codes does it pull? I also believe that the newer efi trucks were maf weren't they?
Quote from: jcassity
I honestly dont think you could exceed the cost of a new car buy installing new *stock* parts everywhere in your coug our tbird. Its just plain impossible. You could revamp the entire drivetrain/engine/suspenstion and still come out ahead.
Hooligans! 
1988 Crown Vic wagon. 120K California car. Wifes grocery getter. (junked)
1987 Ford Thunderbird LX. 5.0. s.o., sn-95 t-5 and an f-150 clutch. Driven daily and going strong.
1986 cougar.
lilsammywasapunkrocker@yahoo.com

Familyso's beater truck issues...

Reply #9 –
Where did you set the timing? Maybe set the timing by vacuum or ear.

Familyso's beater truck issues...

Reply #10 –
Quote from: kylesburrell;450398
Maybe check EGR valve? or TPS sensor? Could also try spraying brake clean around the wherever the manifold meets the heads/TB and listen for increases in engine rpm

-Kyle

We ended up blocking off the egr to see if that fixed it. But it didn't change a thing. Didn't fuss with the tps yet. Could that be why vacuum is low? We did spray the heck out of it while idling with brake cleaner, but there was little to no change in rpms. No obvious difference.
1988 Mercury cougar XR7- 302 bored .030 over, gt40p heads, F303, AlexsParts spring and seal kit, explorer upper and lower intake, 70mm tb, maf conversion, 75mm maf, fenderwell cai, 24 lb injectors, T5 conversion, bbk h pipe, Slp lm, 3.73 rear, 4 wheel disc conversion, 5 lug conversion. :D :D

Familyso's beater truck issues...

Reply #11 –
Quote from: Haystack;450400
Dot to dot is how its done at the factory. Low vacuum will make the car run bad and rich, but shouldn't give up any power. Vacuum is a measurement of restriction. The less restriction you have, the more power you will have, for the most part.

For us 5.0 people, pull your map hose off. It will run like shiznit and shoot black smoke and stain the ground, but, under wot, it will run exactly as its supposed to. At wot throttle, you should have next to no vacuum. Most any vacuum leak will not effect wot performance. It's just like having that much more airflow.

120lbs of compression for a re ringed engine is still way low. But since all 8 were the same, it should be okay. My first 86 had 290k miles on it and still had around 100psi. Worth of compression.

What did you set your distributor timing to, and what codes does it pull? I also believe that the newer efi trucks were maf weren't they?

I'm not sure if it has a map sensor. It's a mass air, so would it have air bap? Not sure where it is. I'll have to check. I pulled the spout, and set to 10 degrees BTDC. Figured that was close. Lol
1988 Mercury cougar XR7- 302 bored .030 over, gt40p heads, F303, AlexsParts spring and seal kit, explorer upper and lower intake, 70mm tb, maf conversion, 75mm maf, fenderwell cai, 24 lb injectors, T5 conversion, bbk h pipe, Slp lm, 3.73 rear, 4 wheel disc conversion, 5 lug conversion. :D :D

Familyso's beater truck issues...

Reply #12 –
We're gonna pull the codes again soon. When I get back over there. Then I'll post findings
1988 Mercury cougar XR7- 302 bored .030 over, gt40p heads, F303, AlexsParts spring and seal kit, explorer upper and lower intake, 70mm tb, maf conversion, 75mm maf, fenderwell cai, 24 lb injectors, T5 conversion, bbk h pipe, Slp lm, 3.73 rear, 4 wheel disc conversion, 5 lug conversion. :D :D

Familyso's beater truck issues...

Reply #13 –
No MAP on mass air, the baro ain't gonna care...(be sure there is no vac connected to port)

Are you using the correct firing order??? Trucks went to the HO order with the switch to mass air...

Familyso's beater truck issues...

Reply #14 –
That could easily be the whole issue.
Quote from: jcassity
I honestly dont think you could exceed the cost of a new car buy installing new *stock* parts everywhere in your coug our tbird. Its just plain impossible. You could revamp the entire drivetrain/engine/suspenstion and still come out ahead.
Hooligans! 
1988 Crown Vic wagon. 120K California car. Wifes grocery getter. (junked)
1987 Ford Thunderbird LX. 5.0. s.o., sn-95 t-5 and an f-150 clutch. Driven daily and going strong.
1986 cougar.
lilsammywasapunkrocker@yahoo.com