I'm a Ford guy and love sbf's but the 302 in my '95 conversion E150 lacks power under 2000 rpm, especially in 2nd gear, at about 2200 rpm it gets a little boost, I'm an old school carb. guy and know nothing about that thing that currently sits on top the engine. I do notice during the winter right after start up it's got good lower end torque until it warms up then it's dead again, any tricks here ? it's a good reliable van and hate to let it go, any help appreciated, thanks, Tim

 

The real problem is to determine if it is fuel related or ignition related.

Exhaust system restrictions can get into the picture also. Many times the basics which you already know, can lead to the cause. What kind of maintenance has been done?

 

Thanks for the reply, Plugs and points are good, newer K+N air filter, low restriction muffler, new fuel pump are the most recent updates, is there a way to find if the cat. converter is taking a crap ? The motor runs smooth and quiet, just 0 torque at low rpm, acts like it's starving for fuel.. I'm guessing thats a throttle body instead of a carb ? is there also a computer that controls air/fuel mix at certain rpm's ? The fuel mileage is poor also..

 

Plugs are good, what does that mean?
Found best performance with Motorcraft plugs.
How does it run without the air filter ?
Those cats are expensive to replace, but if you disconnect the exhaust after the cat and look in there, you could get a pretty good idea of its condition. If for any reason it has been running rich , the cat could be clogged.
It is a throttle body up there , you haven't mentioned the fuel filter , where do we stand there?

 

I had a F150/5.0 and had the same issue, a flat spot at low end for power. On mine, I disabled the EGR and the power response was much better. So I installed a EGR flow restrictor ( like on the old universal kits) just enough to restrict the flow, but not too much as to cause a CEL. May/may not be your issue, but helped mine from near new till sold off..

 

Ok researched EGR and its purpose and symptons of one gone bad, decreased power and acceleration, rough idle, and sometimes check engine light.. got all but a check engine light, my E-150 being a '95 is exempt from the physical emissions test so can I just eliminate the thing and where do I find the EGR ? supposing it's located somewhere between the exh. and intake manifold ?

 

Didn't see any idle concerns, rough, in your last posts..
If the EGR Is stuck open or has carbon build up under the pintle it can flow at idle which it shouldn't. Generally if stuck open or enough buildup on the seat/pin the sensor will see the off spec position and set a code.
EGR serves as a benifit in that it lowers cylinder combustion temps by introducing metered-small amounts of exhaust/carbon dioxide.. Removing it will cause a CEL and can affect overall engine manegment systems and may increase the possibility of detonation. More so if lowest octane fuel is the standard.

Many things can cause a poor throttle response, CATs, intake leaks, EGR, tuning/ignition, engine/fuel management and so on. My truck was near new with the 'condition'. If everything is checked, you might try and remove/plug the small vacuum hose on the EGR diaphragm first disabling an opening of the valve while driving. Prior to driving, or condemning the EGR, check/test to make sure there isn't any active vacuum on the line at idle. If so, it could be a vacuum solenoid leak. If the EGR itself is leaking/bleeding exhaust at an idle, idle results will still remain the same, but midrange may improve since an open event won't occur. If the drivability is better, what I did was to remove the exhaust tube inlet at the EGR and install a small ID diameter restricter and checked, rechecked until I got a lower EGR flow with an improvement on the midrange stumble, without setting a light. Back in the day sometimes an inline vacuum delay valve was added in to the vacuum circuit to delay response and increase vacuum demand to pull the valve open.. With systems with an EGR position sensor, you can't or harder to trick 'what's expected' May/may not be your cause, but mentionable..
That said, I would never advise illegal tampering with an emission system

EGR inlet tube is off if the right/passenger exhaust manifold, valve on the plenum