Why is the 5.0 so slow?

[1997XLTRollover]

Very weird, well I guess it's a good thing I have a Mustang for speed haha.

 

[MercuryMullet]

I've always looked at the 2 as completely different beasts. The dd I had I kinda wish I would have went v6 but at the time I didn't have a truck so I pulled trailers with it and wanted the v8. My offroad truck tips the scale close to 6k with 33s and heavy ass steel wheels. It still out ran my stock awd. I would like to see what that motor would do in a stock ex.

 

[96ex5.0]

See this is all interesting to me, my ex as far as I know short from the mods I have made is stock. I have out ran v6 mustangs and chargers the v6 explorers and even v8 ford and Chevy trucks and when I swapped in the 5speed manual it made an even bigger difference.

 

[jeremeyndesy]

Maybe I just got lucky but my 5.0 4r70w 3.73 geared 2wd ex is pretty quick for a 4700lb brick. I have a few mods and a shift kit. No its not as fast as my 3100lb mustang but thats apples and oranges. There are a few things that really wake these vehicles up, but you cant expect the trusty 5.0 to creme even a ss trailblazer or srt cherokee. But they are fun rides and they are Fords. Did a 01 sport instrument cluster swap in mine today. loving it.

 

[Dono]

We are still running old obsolete push rod motors. Let's not forget that.
What the v8s have is killer longevity, and our trucks are old so I'd say that's pretty important.
Since I choose not to have a car payment and spend on molding and learning....I'm pretty happy with my v8.

 

[1997XLTRollover]

We are still running old obsolete push rod motors. Let's not forget that.
What the v8s have is killer longevity, and our trucks are old so I'd say that's pretty important.
Since I choose not to have a car payment and spend on molding and learning....I'm pretty happy with my v8.

Well mine needs an engine at 142k haha.

 

[Joe in NY]

obsolete pushrod V8?

Gm and Chrysler still use push rod! Look at their 5.3L. 350+ hp and 380+ ft lbs torque. Don't see fords 5.4l doing that... I wish ford would go back to push rod really. The sohc hasn't shown great improvements really... My friends 2007 f150 with tuned 5.4l and dual exhaust is very gutless compared to his 2004 dodge hemi before it...

Anyone know how to make the ford 4.6l have something called torque? My 4.6l downshift for small mounds. Its ridiculous!

 

[96ex5.0]

obsolete pushrod V8?

Gm and Chrysler still use push rod! Look at their 5.3L. 350+ hp and 380+ ft lbs torque. Don't see fords 5.4l doing that... I wish ford would go back to push rod really. The sohc hasn't shown great improvements really... My friends 2007 f150 with tuned 5.4l and dual exhaust is very gutless compared to his 2004 dodge hemi before it...

Anyone know how to make the ford 4.6l have something called torque? My 4.6l downshift for small mounds. Its ridiculous!

I must agree the new engines are crap they may have decent hp numbers but low on tq, and honestly who cares what hp you have if you don't have the tq to back it up.

Hp= how fast you can go
Tq= how quickly you get there

You may have the hp to do 200 mph but if you don't have the tq to get there it's usless.

 

[1997XLTRollover]

obsolete pushrod V8?

Gm and Chrysler still use push rod! Look at their 5.3L. 350+ hp and 380+ ft lbs torque. Don't see fords 5.4l doing that... I wish ford would go back to push rod really. The sohc hasn't shown great improvements really... My friends 2007 f150 with tuned 5.4l and dual exhaust is very gutless compared to his 2004 dodge hemi before it...

Anyone know how to make the ford 4.6l have something called torque? My 4.6l downshift for small mounds. Its ridiculous!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was thinking he was crazy for saying obsolete haha. The 302 can make boatloads of power for far less than a mod motor can. While I do agree the 4.6 isn't the greatest engine power wise, it has it's place.

I run 5.4's in everything I own that has a mod motor now. That includes my 2000 Mustang GT and MY F-150. The 5.4's make tonssss of torque, and have far more potential than a 4.6. I blew apart 2 and almost 3 4.6's before I decided enough is enough and went with built 5.4's.

EDIT: Not to mention the new 2015 corvette engine is a pushrod motor.

 

[1997XLTRollover]

I must agree the new engines are crap they may have decent hp numbers but low on tq, and honestly who cares what hp you have if you don't have the tq to back it up.

Hp= how fast you can go
Tq= how quickly you get there

You may have the hp to do 200 mph but if you don't have the tq to get there it's usless.

The 5.4's make torque, and lots of it. Hell my NON PI F-150 made 330 ft lbs at 2k rpm out of the box back in 98.

 

[Dono]

Ok guys, your all right.
The Ford 302 push rod v8 is is new technology. And according to another poster its unreliable. He's right also.

Forget I posted.

 

[MercuryMullet]

I must agree the new engines are crap they may have decent hp numbers but low on tq, and honestly who cares what hp you have if you don't have the tq to back it up.

Hp= how fast you can go
Tq= how quickly you get there

You may have the hp to do 200 mph but if you don't have the tq to get there it's usless.

HP is calculated from the torque and rpms, so hp means nothing to me. Glad to see someone agree.

 

[Joe in NY]

Me personally, I'm a 351W, FE series, and Chevy Big Block kinda guy. Our 2 boats have 351W, and all of our friends (2 exceptions, a Chrysler 440, and twin 454's) have 351W. Not the coolest motor, one of the most common, and bullet proof! Nothing actually goes wrong in the motor often. More of fuel, carb, and ignition go wrong. Even after a good overheat, thanks iron everything, they don't care!

The 390FE is in our 64 T-Bird. Its just a neat motor. Mid block, not small, not big, just mid. And how the intake manifold becomes part of the head, don't see that ever. And the 454 CBB, sound sweet, especially in twins, cheap to upgrade.

The 289/302 W are alright, just not near as gutsy as the 351W that I'm used to.

Oh and GM's LS "Vortec" line of motors. They are dime a dozen like the chevy 350 and very reliable. They get put in a lot of old resto mods. Especially Fords haha.

 

[1997XLTRollover]

Me personally, I'm a 351W, FE series, and Chevy Big Block kinda guy. Our 2 boats have 351W, and all of our friends (2 exceptions, a Chrysler 440, and twin 454's) have 351W. Not the coolest motor, one of the most common, and bullet proof! Nothing actually goes wrong in the motor often. More of fuel, carb, and ignition go wrong. Even after a good overheat, thanks iron everything, they don't care!

The 390FE is in our 64 T-Bird. Its just a neat motor. Mid block, not small, not big, just mid. And how the intake manifold becomes part of the head, don't see that ever. And the 454 CBB, sound sweet, especially in twins, cheap to upgrade.

The 289/302 W are alright, just not near as gutsy as the 351W that I'm used to.

Oh and GM's LS "Vortec" line of motors. They are dime a dozen like the chevy 350 and very reliable. They get put in a lot of old resto mods. Especially Fords haha.

I agree. I love pushrod iron headed engines. My 393W takes a beating. I've had it to 7k rpm (accident) and she kept on going. Long live American Muscle.

 

[Joe in NY]

^^ Yes

My uncle was ready to burn his 2007 Expedition EL Limited to the ground just 2 weeks ago hah! 130K and the VVT Actuator/Solenoid has been failing for the past several months. In turn the motor ran rough, started rough, and mpg's tanked. Finally it gave and it could barely stay running and not even budge the car. Towed it to his mechanic and $400 later, fixed. The really bad thing though is ford decided to run ALL the oil flow through the VVT Actuator first then to the rest of the motor. So thanks to it failing it would withhold any oil from flowing to anywhere else down the line for over a minute! He said he would start it and instantly you could tell that the motor had no oil. The gauge read fords "L", means 0 btw! , and he said after 60 seconds or so the noise would subside and the pressure gauge finally read normal. AH! So the motor has a nice tick to it now. Might be cam phaser might be worse... Smart on ford though!

Oh and side note: Any Ford with a "H" "L" oil gauge, its just on a switch. No matter how cold, how hot, and what oil you run, it will never budge. Curious as to what Ford's perfectly fine oil pressure value is??? 5 PSI! YEP! So cruising down the highway and oil pressure tanks to 5 psi, don't worry, you don't need to know. Because its NORMAL! hahahaha XD oh ford...

 

[1997XLTRollover]

Gauges and brakes are Ford's two downfalls. Which is why I always upgrade both.

 

[Limited02]

YES! There is nothing for the Modular motors (which are same as tritons). The windsors are dirt cheap to upgrade and near bullet proof. Each of our boats has a stock 351W love them

What do you you mean there is nothing for modular motors? There's plenty of parts out there you can make a +2000hp engine if you wanted.

obsolete pushrod V8?

Gm and Chrysler still use push rod! Look at their 5.3L. 350+ hp and 380+ ft lbs torque. Don't see fords 5.4l doing that... I wish ford would go back to push rod really. The sohc hasn't shown great improvements really... My friends 2007 f150 with tuned 5.4l and dual exhaust is very gutless compared to his 2004 dodge hemi before it...

Anyone know how to make the ford 4.6l have something called torque? My 4.6l downshift for small mounds. Its ridiculous!

Your friends Hemi came with 345hp versus the F150 which had 300hp. So I'd say it makes since why the F150 was slower than the Hemi.

Maybe it's were you live, but my 4.6 has plenty of pep off the line and I've taken down a very well modded 5.0 Mountaineer at the drag strip plenty of times.

 

[masospaghetti]

Ok guys, your all right.
The Ford 302 push rod v8 is is new technology. And according to another poster its unreliable. He's right also.

Forget I posted.

Pushrod motors aren't all obsolete, but the Ford 302 certainly is.

Totally agree with you on all points.

 

[Joe in NY]

oh yeah the 4.6 has some pep. Past 3,000 rpm. I am used to a 5.3L in our 2007 Suburban. I has 90%+ of its torque at 2,000 rpm. So it rarely has to rev past 2,000 rpm to up shift. At 75 mph on the highway, not even 2,100 rpm.

The 4.6 revs to 3,000 for 1st and 2nd! And I'm not even a lead foot!

Ford has some pretty annoying downfalls past the gauges and brakes. But I do love my explorer...

 

[MercuryMullet]

My 5.0 is like a 2 stroke. A tune helped some on the low end but at 3200-3500+ it is not the same truck as it is at 2500-3000. In the sand I have had the tires break loose when it hit 3500 just like a power band.