1984 5.0L Shorty Header Install - Induction Mods?
 

I replaced the cast iron exhaust manifolds and single pipe exhaust system on my 1984 5.0L with shorty headers and true duals with cats. Induction system is completely stock. Car runs great. Exhaust smells "metallic" but I figure that it is just the smell of the new exhaust.

Do I need to change anything on the induction side to ensure I don't run too lean or should everything be fine?

If everything is fine, but if I decide I want a little more performance, what would be the next steps?

you should be fine... it takes a little while for the smell to go away. your next performance mods will probably gears, or top end engine parts

Everything should be fine.A new 4 barrel carb and intake manifold would be a good start

the stock intake manifold actually flows very well for stock and you wont need to replace it till you do the whole top end.

as for the carb that would be a great thing to replace as the only thing you can really adjust in it is the floats. there are no idle mixture screws which is really odd. i replaced mine with just a standard holley 600cfm vacuum secondaries electric choke.

next mod should be gears it will give you a nice kick in the ass your first time out with them and seeing that you have a stick i would suggest 3.55's or 3.73's depending on what kind of driving you do more of

oh one thing to watch with your duel exhaust is your rear brake hose that connects from the body to the rear axle will be very very close to your exhaust now and it will melt the hose. it happened to mine already

gears then heads and cam and intake ftw!!!!

"as for the carb that would be a great thing to replace as the only thing you can really adjust in it is the floats. there are no idle mixture screws which is really odd. i replaced mine with just a standard holley 600cfm vacuum secondaries electric choke"

This is incorrect,I built one of these carbs about 10 years ago.The mixture screw has a plug blocking it that can taken out with a drywall screw,do some searching or buy a Holley book like I did,these are decent carbs.I cant help much more because its been sooo long since I fked with a carb.Buy the the way its also 600cfm.

The factory intake is a very good peice,I would leave it alone. Performance mods I would go heads gears and suspension.Itll be a quick little car. And invest in a vacumme gauge so you can tune it.GL.

Oh and dont forget about a matched cam and upgraded ignition. 200 posts ftw

I wouldn't worry about the ignition. The stock duraspark setup is pretty good for a mildly modded car. The factory intake is OK, but not great. If you live in a state without any smog checks you can swap out the intake and see a decent boost in power. I swapped out the stocker on my 85 with an edelbrock performer 289 a buddy gave me, but most people seem to really like the weiand stealth on these cars. Just swapping the intake on mine gave a really noticeable boost in power. If you have to stay smog legal and keep the EGR the only intake I know of is the edelbrock performer 302, which from what I hear isn't worth bolting on in place of the stocker.

sorry but i took that thing about so many times it wasnt even funny because it never ran right. there were no mixture screws on it since it was technically a motorcraft/holley which is junk. the canister vents on the ends of the bowls were pointless too. if you got on it hard enough or braked hard enough it jus sloshed liquid gas right into the lines and down to the charcoal boxes. i was removing mine and tipped one over by accident and gas poored right out