cam selectiom

[dlandry]

what is the largest letter cam that can be put in my 94 5.0 without haveing to make piston mods. i am leaning towards the e303 but was also lokking at the f303. i am guessing the e cam with no problems. just curious about the f cam.

 

[ivan12]

Welcome to the forums, are you set on a letter cam? There are way better cams out there, the letter cams are old technology

 

[Rice_slayer]

Welcome to the forums, are you set on a letter cam? There are way better cams out there, the letter cams are old technology

What he said, welcome and post an intro, always nice to see more SN95s come here. But he is also right, those letter cams are OLD technology. Trickflow, Steeda, Comp cams, and ed curtis custom grind cams are ones to look at. the TFS stage 1 and steeda #19 are similar to the E303 but are just generally better running cams.

 

[hottwheels04]

I had a F cam its more for a blower, I did a new cam but the F cam pulled hard top end from 3,000-6,000 rpms was its full power band from rolls it was halled a*s,but there are so many better cams out there but I will sell you my cheap if you want, either way they say you want to check piston to valve clerance anytime when you install any cam with .500 or more lift esp with stock pistons.

I have a F cam for sale if you want specs are 226/226 .512 lift I paid $300 new only has about 4,000 miles on it I will take $175 shipped if you want it let me kno

 

[slo1]

I have had a 560 lift voodoo cam and a 590 lift extreme energy with Keith black flat tops with the standard valve relief that was cut in the piston that was when I was alot younger and I thought that a bigger cam meant more power. I wouldn't go with a letter cam I did with this build and am debating on taking out my e cam and going with the #19 cam or a custom ground cam.

 

[94RockinGT306]

I recently built my performance 306 with an f cam. I like it alot , i didn't want something to extreme but i am suprised at the power it has. I just hope you plan on installing heads and intake with the cam. You will see better power gains , qnd you will want to upgrade injectors and fuel pump as well. If you want something with an agressive idle and decent power its a good choice.

 

[rz5.0]

you can fly cut your pistons its easy. get a custom made cam best bet. wish i had. i have a tfs cam its not bad.

 

[94califiveoh]

If I would do it all over again, I'd go with a custom cam

 

[LAFENATU]

If your car is stock then don't even consider swapping cams.

A new cam in a stock long block is only going to slow you down.

 

[jthorn9]

As stated look into a more modern cam unless you get one hell of a deal on a letter cam.

 

[beuchaw94gt]

You can find some good deals on the modern cams. I bought a tfs 1 cam for 100 buck brand new, the guy was getting rid of his project.

 

[5.0kid]

as stated, the tfs 1 cam is a good choice, I ran it for a while and it was a great street cam. Also, a few people have mentioned not to get a cam until you get heads and intake. I would def recommend holding off till then. You won't see much of any performance gains, maybe even hurt your performance without the better flowing heads and intake. It also would be much easier to install the new cam with the heads off and since you have to take the intake off either way, why not wait and install everything at once?

 

[wannaboost94gt]

+1

 

[wytstang]

If your car is stock then don't even consider swapping cams.

A new cam in a stock long block is only going to slow you down.

Wrong, Buddy Rawls explained why that mentality is wrong (I had the same mentality until he explained why)
http://forums.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1210752

You mean an aftermarket cam in a bone stock longblock ?

Probably make it slower.

If its bone stock add 1.7 rr's and keep the stock cam.

Stock heads/intake = stock cam

So with the stock restrictive heads with small cross-sectional area needs to be used with a camshaft that has very lazy lobe ramps, and an exhaust lobe that occurs very early (wide LSA) relative to the intake positioning.

1) with very limited intake flow, why does the exhaust need to be opened early? it doesn't
2) with very restrictive, high velocity inlet port capability, why would you stifle the breathing capability with a lazy lobe ramp? you shouldn't

In short, a restrictive motor needs lots of ramp rate and late exhaust events, and typically not biased with more exhaust. this is completely counterproductive in a motor where better inlet flow capability is present and will really hurt its performance. Likewise a camshaft from a better flowing motor will not run well in a restrictive motor.

In a restrictive motor, the cam is used to crutch the shortcomings of the motor by increasing its breathing capability. How does it do it? by taking the envelope of time the motor needs valve activity and giving it quicker and better placed valve events, more valve open area within the envelope of time. the motor can utilize it very well since port velocity is very high.

In an unrestrictive motor, the camshaft is used to crutch the shortcomings of the low velocity larger crossectional area inlet, by limiting flow to the cylinder (180 degrees opposite than the restrictive motor). This is how velocity is recovered and filling potential maximized.

Two very different applications.

To say a restricted motor needs lazy ramps with early exhaust events, is completely unsubstantiated. You only need to look at 2 barrel restricted roundy round cams and/or stock eliminator camshafts to see that they look nothing like a lazy cam with wide LSA.

One of the best "off the shelf" cams you can put in a stock 5.0, while retaining stock-like powerband range is something similar to the Comp Cams 270/270, 215, 215, 533/533, 110 LSA. It provides the inlet ramp rate to help it, it has the exhaust better positioned relative to the inlet lobe placement, and it has the low seat timing working much better with the 9:1 CR.

The TFS1 cam will cover the inlet side effectively, but the exhaust placement is not so well, and plus it is biased with increased exh lobe area.

The Best cam you can install in your Bone Stock Engine (other than a Custom)
would be the Comp cams XE258HR..out strips the stock 5.0 cam for power and torque
about everywhere in the RPM range.
Most guys look for the larger cams But the XE258HR is a world better than the Stock 5.0 cam
1952

the reason you are seeing good gains with the XE258HR is solely due to the increased ramp rate of the lobes, better placement relative to crank position, and the decreased seat timing. Just this change alone makes a difference that you find appealing. the exhaust lobe on that came is way way too early, and yet you are still liking the gains primarily coming from revised intake side only. This is only one side of the trends needed for the stock restrictive motor and its stock camshaft.

JUST THINK, what would happen if the exhaust lobe activity was more correctly sized and placed relative to the inlet activity. This will bring the exhaust event trends more inline. Then you are starting to talk about the whole cam working.

Take a cam like the XE258HR, then throw in a better placed exhaust lobe and you will end up with something similar to the 260/260, 206/206, 110 camshaft which will show better response yet. But the rpm is very low. This is where the 270HR really begins to shine. You get a tad more rpm capability (more like stock), but with no compromises in low end or midrange, due to the better fill and the better exhaust placement, both of which are increasing the cylinder pressure capability. this produces more torque and quicker acceleration thru the rpms.

these cams aren't the end all of the stock motor camshafts, but everyone always wants to say that a stock motor cannot benefit from a cam change. So these are run of the mill cams that exhibit the needs of the stock set-up.

 

[OnyxCobra]

What other mods will this cam be complimenting? Going with the largest cam you can probably won't be the best choice.

 

[BruhBrahBrad]

So how well will a crane 2030 work with a gt40 setup, heads and intake?

 

[dlandry]

thanks for all the info. this will be going in a stock engine. i also plan on installing an upper and lower from an explorer that has had some porting done. i guess i should also find out about changeing the throttle body, injectors, and maf at the same time.

 

[LAFENATU]

thanks for all the info. this will be going in a stock engine. i also plan on installing an upper and lower from an explorer that has had some porting done. i guess i should also find out about changeing the throttle body, injectors, and maf at the same time.

I would not go through all that work just to put a cam in if you're not looking to change anything else.

The stock cam is not garbage by any means.

 

[Steven]

I love it when people call the letter cams garbage. They are a called old tech simply because they are single pattern camshafts. Single pattern tends to lend itself to motors with less restrictive exhaust ports. What works well in a motor with smaller exhaust ports (ie stock 5.0) is a camshaft that is a dual pattern. Meaning you run more duration and lift on the exhaust side, in order to give the cylinder gases more time to escape. The disadvantage to this is alot of folk say that you also push the torque out of the motor when you do that. It can go both ways. If I'm running after market heads I run a single pattern cam, as long as the heads allow me to do so.

 

[Win]

So how well will a crane 2030 work with a gt40 setup, heads and intake?

Lafenatu has the 2031 and he is pretty happy with his i think