1988 5.0L HO Questions

Reply #15 – March 02, 2008, 11:58:03 AM

All HO 5.0s from '87-'92 were rated 225HP, in '93 the same engine was rated at 205HP... Change in numbers was said to reflect minor internal changes to the engines over the years... Basically I figure most of the difference is in the speed densety to mass air change over in '89... It's always been said the early cars ran quicker than the later ones...

I proved it by installing mass air on a '86 Stang 5.0 HO(engine had the SO 5.0 E6 heads)... With the original SD system and the car modded with later T Body, HO intake, 1.7, rockers & 2.5" catback system, went 14.51 best... Always had severe traction problems, with sticky tires I figure 14.2s would have been easy... After the the mass air change, it felt soggy on the street and went 14.74 best... Swapped it back to SD(at the track between rounds) was instantly it's old self again and went a 14.52...