302P performance mods. Need input!

[EarlyBronco]

Hello People. This is my first posting on this great web site. I do not own an Explorer, however I do have the heart from a 1998. I just made the following modifications to a 98 302P and was wondering just how much HP and torque I can expect to get. I'd appreciate any feedback that you guys might have.

1998 302P
Stock 65mm TB
75MM Pro-M MAF with K&N Conical Filter
EGR Eliminator Kit-RMP
1993 EEC-IV Cobra Computer (ditched EEC-V)
TFI Mustang Ignition (ditched coil packs)
24# FMS Injectors
E-303 FMS Cam
L&L Long tube headers with a single 3" flow through exhaust systen with Terminator muffler.

Thanks for any input. Ciao!

 

[Sandy]

???

Not sure how much you will have but I do know that although you may fell a differance you will not get advertised gains.

Is the engine installed in another vehicle?

What make, model ?

 

[EarlyBronco]

Reply

Hello, and thanks for the input. Yah, I am assuming that I won't get the advertised gains. However, the GT-40P heads are a great performance head that are way under utilized giving the Explorer's terrible "headers," (if that's what you want to call them), as well as a weak cam. I know people are putting larger exhaust valves in these heads, but in doing so, torque and HP is lost.

The exhaust valves are a little smaller than in the GT-40 heads, but the P heads have a differently designed exhaust flow channel causing more flow velocity, which in turn equals more HP and torque. How much is what I don't know. The Explorer 5.0 obviously has the Cobra lower and awesome Explorer upper intakes that out flow the Stang Cobra upper as well as other popular after market setups including trick Flow and Edelbrock. Why they plugged this great setup with all of the crap in the Explorer is beyond me.

I figure scraping the BS headers and small cam for Long tubes and an FMS-E303 would really wake up this motor. Also scraping the EEC-V computer and all of it's bogging smog crap, I would get excellent gains as well. The 24# injectors, Cobra EEC-IV, and TFI ignition is where I am unclear as to what gains to expect. FMS tech and local Mustang shop said I should expect around 285-300 BHP (rear wheel). Another Cobra shop said to expect 325. I doubt the 325 number. That's an awful lot of HP without any real lower end work. The reason I asked is that I just saw that there were a lot of very cool and knowledgeable people on this web site that might have some real world estimates for me.

And now to your question. The motor is going into a 1973 Ford Bronco rock crawler. It had all of the goodies including low gears, low t-case gears, Detroit lockers f&r, NP435 four speed granny, 5.5 inch crawler lift, 3.5 body lift. 4 wheel power disk brakes, custom steering, longer radius arms mounted with rod ends, yada yada yada.... and the list goes on as fast as the cash goes out! It was just lagging with the carb set up. EFI seemed to be the only way to go. I as so damned excited. I can't wait to get it going. I am running the custom Ron Morris Performance harnesses now, and will be bolting the power plant up in a few weeks.

Anyway, thanks for your input and sorry for being long winded. I have a strange passion for this crap. Thanks again, Carl.

 

[Alec]

Wow, that's going to be a truly great rig! Good luck to you! One other mod I'd suggest is a larger throttle body. You can eventually add a supercharger, also. As for hp numbers, it's really hard to say. 300 to 325 at the wheels actually sounds a little high with bolt-ons and a cam. You have to figure about a 25% drivetrain loss in a big rig like the EB. I'd say about 240-250 hp and 325 tq at the wheels conservatively. Thats about 325 hp and 400+ tq at the flywheel. Let us know how the dyno numbers turn out. Thought about putting the motor on an engine dyno before it goes into the truck? Again, good luck!

 

[EarlyBronco]

Alec, thanks for input.

Hey Alec. Thanks for the input and kind words. This will definitely be an improvement over it's predecessor. I had a fresh 302 with a mild cam, Edelbrock performer and 1406 carb, with Mallory elec. ignition.

It was very powerful. I could completely burn the 35" BFG MTs and pitch the rig sideways during take off. The Centerforce Dual friction and 4.88 gears obviously helped it out big time but needless to say, it was a rush is such a large rig.. However, the carb was extremely annoying in the rocks at even a little tilt. I hate the mud, so the revving power of this motor was useless.

So when I came across this 302P for 800 bucks including all of the accessories, I figured it was a good time to hit it. And besides, with this change over, I get the 130 amp alternator, fords awesome new style power steering pump, aluminum water pump, the P heads, roller cam, Cobra Intake, serpentine belt, etc. I couldn't dream up a comparable engine for that money. And thanks to EBAY and it's awesome members, I picked up the 24# injectors, computer, and distributor for 250 bucks all in great condition.

Thanks again for you input. I will definitely hit the dyno after it is all dialed in. I don't want the mess of taking all the sensors and wiring to the dyno shop with the engine alone. Too much of a P.I.T.A.

 

[blk mk8]

you are talking about a vary similar setup to what we put on Trolls truck.

 

[EarlyBronco]

What kind of performance is Troll getting? Is he happy with it?

 

[blk mk8]

you mite want to check out the site with all the information on it www.speedfreak.cc oh he is never happy and is still looking for more power. he has done thing a couple of time trying the best combonations so he has done alot of difrent stuff. how it apears on the site is how it was last week but it now has even more stuff on it.