[RICK LAKE]

olddog I run 50 lb injectors in my 452 motor. I have many problems with fitting the blower drive under the hood back in 1999. After 2 belts jumping, I gave up on this for a while. With a good fuel regulator that is vacuum controlled and steady supply fuel lines, I could have run 96 pounders. My 50's are running at 68% duty cycle at 6,000 rpms in the 452 motor. I now have a 482 motor with high compression and same setup, they are up to 73% duty cycle. Could a run a small injector, yes but here is the rub, if you get larger inijectors they have IMO 2 advantages. 1 they don't every over heat from being open in the 90% duty cycle which over time kills both the drivers in the ECU and the coils in the injectors. 2 This also gives you room to play with down the road and not have to change your injection system. If your ECU can handle 36 or 42 pounders I would go with them.
Cleaning injectors, the correct way is to pull them apart and sonic tank them, install new screens and flow test them. The down side is the coil test is not 100% accurate. If you have a scharder valve in your fuel line and the fuel pump has a one way valve, you can get this done. I can't answer for Ford but at GM we have a cleaner call TEC top engine clean. You add 4 oz into a small tank and fill with gas. Pressure the system and run the tank dry. We have very good luck with this. You can only do this ONCE. It will eat rubber hose and some plastics. This is way the fuel system should be caped for the return side.
It is in the long run cheaper to buy a new set of injectors, but you will have to do a little programing on the ECU again unless you stay with the same size injectors. The ECU should be able to adjust for the 5-7% differents between old and new. Just remember that injectors are not like a carb. The smaller injector is not always better depending on motor and rpm range. Spray patterns is also key. Emmissions and GPM are the differents. Also do you have a narrow or wide band O2 sensor in the car?
For grounds, I have a total of 3. 2 main grounds to the motor and chassis and a #12 gauage wire going to the ground of the ECU directly. These are inside the car and are clean and dry. My battery is in the trunk. I run heavy cables to the front of the car. Rick L.