5.0 AWD Tuning

[Accarguy]

Hello all, I haven't been around in a while.

I recently rebuild the 5.0 for the second time. This time she got lighter weight pistons, bigger intake valves with ported heads/intake, mild - aggressive cam which were the biggest on the list that was done.
Heres what it looked like going back in:

Anywho I am looking to get my 5.0 tuned in hope of gaining some more power and mpg (obviously) and didn't come across any previous threads on it. Also I want to see if my sometimes dyeing out when shifting/ not wanting to start sometimes issue can be resolved unless it is just due to big cam issues. It is like there is no idle flare up when there should be while shifting and the not starting maybe the fuel trims are just enough out of wack.

I am in the Chicagoland area and haven't found anyone solid in the area to do a dyno tune. I guess the first hurdle is the AWD being that there is not an easy way to disable it. I have seen some posts about Livernois but that was all newer models.

Thank you for the input.

 

[Jeff213]

If you pull the front driveshaft it will disable it fairly easily, you won't get true numbers on the dyno, but you should still be able to tune it.

 

[Accarguy]

I was under the impression that pulling the front shaft would eat up the viscous clutch in the transfer case or something else on the inside.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

are you set solely on a dyno tune, or are you willing to also remote tune?

 

[Jeff213]

Maybe that is the case... i thought that the way the viscous coupling worked was if the rear lost traction it locked up and sent more power to the front, not the other way. I dont mess with the awd tcases, i like my 4406.

 

[Mbrooks420]

You can run without the front shaft without any issues. I ran all summer without it (>15k) and the AWD functioned just fine when it came time to plow. The AWD will still be turning in the case, and will still eat up some HP vs being true 2wd. It would work just fine for tuning if you don’t have access to an AWD Dyno.

 

[Accarguy]

are you set solely on a dyno tune, or are you willing to also remote tune?

Yes I would be up for that.

You can run without the front shaft without any issues. I ran all summer without it (>15k) and the AWD functioned just fine when it came time to plow. The AWD will still be turning in the case, and will still eat up some HP vs being true 2wd. It would work just fine for tuning if you don’t have access to an AWD Dyno.

You ran the summer with no issues? I cannot remember who or where I was told that its not a good thing.

 

[Mbrooks420]

I probably went a total of 30k over a few different times of removing the front driveshaft. It will be fine. It will NOT hurt anything. It will, however drift in Park as soon as the t case fluid cools. Whoever told you it would damage the viscous coupling was very incorrect.

 

[Accarguy]

I probably went a total of 30k over a few different times of removing the front driveshaft. It will be fine. It will NOT hurt anything. It will, however drift in Park as soon as the t case fluid cools. Whoever told you it would damage the viscous coupling was very incorrect.

Alright well thanks for clearing that up for me. And what do you mean by drift in park? Like will it start rolling along even though it is in park or will it allow me to do drifting/ burnouts in a parking lot?

 

[Turdle]

My son ran his mounty for well over a year with no front shaft, until it was replaced. No ill effects whatsoever. sold the truck and they drove it into the ground with working AWD

 

[Turdle]

Alright well thanks for clearing that up for me. And what do you mean by drift in park? Like will it start rolling along even though it is in park or will it allow me to do drifting/ burnouts in a parking lot?

Carry a wheel chock, or a brick, as the truck will roll in park if parked on an incline. Park brakes may not hold it if it wants to roll backward

 

[Accarguy]

Carry a wheel chock, or a brick, as the truck will roll in park if parked on an incline. Park brakes may not hold it if it wants to roll backward

Thank you for telling me this or that could turn out to be an real issue lol.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

if your ok for remote tuning, don lasota at LaSota Racing Ford Tuning & Training is very good at what he does. give him a call or email, and he will be able to work with you on what you will need.

 

[decipha]

as stated u can yank the shaft but i wouldnt advise it, too much work for no gain, uour setup sounds really basic shouldnt have any issues dialing it in

 

[Mbrooks420]

Pulling the front shaft is as easy and basic as any mechanical work gets. There’s surely gain if it’s run on a dyno for tuning.

 

[JOHNNYFARGO68]

You can run without the front shaft without any issues. I ran all summer without it (>15k) and the AWD functioned just fine when it came time to plow. The AWD will still be turning in the case, and will still eat up some HP vs being true 2wd. It would work just fine for tuning if you don’t have access

 

[Mbrooks420]

The problem with running no Drive shaft in the front. Is the truck will not stay in park and creep if it's on a Hill down

Gotta love when people don’t finish reading the thread before posting.

 

[410Fortune]

The awd is 70/30 split or somewhere in there The truck parks through the awd t case, with no front shaft they will creep Downhill slowly it’s fun to watch, good thing to know ahead of time for sure

Are you still running the 19# injectors?
Stock exhaust manifolds and exhaust?

Hydro boost is something I have always wanted to do on one of these trucks, can use mustang or Astro a unit and adapt rather easily. That helps with the vacuum side of things
I recently built a 5.0 sport trac w 5 speed manual. I am running ported airbox, intake spacer, mild cam, headers, dual exhaust. Stock injectors.
The pcm has the trans functions deleted and it runs perfectly with no real “tuning” however the truck was stalling almost every single time I would downshift and come to a stop. I simply turned the throttle body idle screw a few turns .. this brought the base idle up to about 1200 rpm… with the truck warm and running I slowly backed it off.. now I have 650-700 idle steady as a rock and it no longer stalls out. I was able to bump the idle up just enough so the throttle hangs instead of stalling out. That moment sucks when the engine dies and you lose steering and brakes!!! Glad to have it fixed

A small tune would likely do this truck justice, but I will wait until I upgrade the heads and at that time I will plan 21# injectors as well

Nice work! And welcome!

 

[CDW6212R]

This is a 2018 thread, but I'll take advantage to note that I also have 30lbs injectors I can sell with the heads. I got them as rebuilt, flowed, matched blah blah, about $100 from eBay. I'm going to use a Deka 60 set for my 347, I got a set reasonable back in Spring. The 24's might be marginal if you push the rpm's up to near 6k on a 302.