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86 Fuel Injection - what's the difference?

2K views 10 replies 7 participants last post by  wbrockstar 
#1 ·
I had an 85 GT back in the day - just got hooked up with a long time friend getting a deal on his 1986 GT. 85 was 210 HP with a carb, the 86 was 200 with FI and then (please correct me this is a question) the 87 was 225 HP FI - what is the difference between the 86 and 87 FI? Thanks!
 
#4 ·
Didn't the 86 have some kind of throttle body fuel injection, or were they multiport as well?
 
#8 · (Edited)
In 87 the pistons were fordged with valve reliefs because of the
different heads. The 87 ET7 heads will not work on the 86 engine
because of the lack of valve reliefs on the pistons. The E6 heads
had a different combustion chambers and different valve positioning
in order to clear the flat top pistons in the 86.
 
G
#9 ·
The E-7TE "F-150" Truck heads were NOT incorporated into the 5.0 H.O. Engines until the 1987-MY GT and those oh so sweet "Sleeper" LX's!.....As for the addition of the EEC-IV PCM's that supported the New MASS Airflow tech. Well that didnt start until the 1988-MY California ONLY Stangs. And then they All became MAF compliant for the 1989-MY........

And the Head Change, along with a MUCH "Lumpier" Camshaft (And a different type of Roller Rocker Arms) IS the main reason that the HP/Torque was revised to 225 HP and 290 Ft/Lbs of Twist in '87 as opposed to the '86's 200 HP and 275 Ft/Lbs of Torque......

And Yes the Piston Crowns did indeed need to be Notched "Eye-lashed" to prevent Valve to Piston clearance issues, due to Both the New Heads, and of course the higher Lift Camshaft.:wink: As the NEW Roller Camshaft was SUPPOSEDLY Sourced from Fords "Marine" Engine Division *(Which at the time was the "Mastercraft" 302 and 351 Engines that were used for Competition Water-Skiing)*.........


Sean.
 
#10 ·
There are a few reasons for the increase in horsepower from 86 to 87, but the camshaft is not one of them. The same camshaft was used from 85-88 in the Mustang 5.0 HO, part number E5ZE-6250-AA. Some of the camshaft events were changed in 89 with the introduction of Mass Air, but lift stayed the same even then.

86 had one year only shrouded valve heads, 87 went to "E7" truck heads
both were SEFI, but the 86 had a 1 year only upper intake with smaller runners and a smaller 58mm throttle body & opening.
87 saw slightly larger runners in the upper intake, and a larger 60mm throttle body.

The cylinder heads and restrictive intake tract were the reasons for the horsepower difference

Yes the 86 had flat top pistons, and the 87 has valve reliefs. There's no real performance difference between the 2 except for when putting different heads on the 86 you may run into valve clearance issues ( and a possible compression bump if the valves clear). The 86 didn't need valve reliefs because the shrouded valves were further up in the chamber.

Hope this helps!

A good source for year by year difference and specs is : http://www.fiveohinfo.com/fox/engine.html
 
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