5.0 bigger cam, no tune?

[MurderedSport]

Hey guys, I have a '01 Explorer Sport with a 5.0 out of a 2001 Explorer that I swapped in over this summer. I really wanted to put a cam/springs/pushrods in it when I rebuilt the engine but I needed it back on the road to pull my trailer around so ended up going the stock route. Now it is going to sit until snow falls and I thought this would be the "perfect" time to swap in a cam.

From what I have gathered I see a couple people on the forum were running the XE264HR Comp cam without a tune. Has anybody had any personal experience with this? I tried reaching out to a few members who have done this and haven't gotten any responses since the threads were super old. I know you should tune it to get its true potential, but at the end of the day its an old Explorer and I could really care less about how fast this death trap goes lol. As long as it idles, runs fine, and sounds great, I am ok with not getting a tune.
Thanks a lot

 

[410Fortune]

Your PCM will adjust for the new camshaft no problem
Your stock exhaust manifolds on that 5.0 are already limiting how much power that engine can make
So the cam should go after some headers

I ran my old 96 explorer for 8+ years with a E303 cam, headers, cold air intake, custom exhaust, and NO TUNE
works just fine.
The 96-01 PCM is very good at accepting most bolt on mods
Sure a tune would be beneficial after headers and a cam but it is not needed to just run around
A 5.0 in a sport with headers and THAT Camshaft would be alot of fun
You will probably need longer pushrods, but that all depends on your cam spring rocker combo and your particular engine

 

[Gary Crist]

If you can throw away all the exhaust system! You might get something out
of your endeavor.

A cam, push rods, rocker arms, lifters timing set gaskets, timing cover,
just to name some of the costs. Now the exhaust kills it all, even with some headers.

Just my sorry opine....

 

[974X4BLACKSPORT]

I went as far as the F303 cam in an 88' 5.0 with 1.6 RR rockers, A9l MAF, T-5, 8.8 3.50 LSD, long tubes with dual side pipes with all emissions in a FFR TYPE 65 Cobra Daytona chassis I built, All I can say is BIG SMILES ON FACE!!!!!l Idled beautiful, but lumpy, YAYA!!

 

[MurderedSport]

Your PCM will adjust for the new camshaft no problem
Your stock exhaust manifolds on that 5.0 are already limiting how much power that engine can make
So the cam should go after some headers

When I was rebuilding the engine I was actually going to get some OBX SS headers since I saw they were finally back in stock. I swear the day I went to order them they we out of stock again.... It still looks like they aren't back in stock either which really sucks because they were a good deal.

 

[410Fortune]

Agreed
Stock exhaust sucks
4 cats and a muffler on the stock 5.0 plus the manifolds choke the power, all of that stuff HAS TO GO if you want performance from the 302

the OBX headers are good if you can get them for under $500 otherwise pony up for the TMH

 

[MurderedSport]

Agreed
Stock exhaust sucks
4 cats and a muffler on the stock 5.0 plus the manifolds choke the power, all of that stuff HAS TO GO if you want performance from the 302

the OBX headers are good if you can get them for under $500 otherwise pony up for the TMH

One day I would love to hop it up and make it a fun sub-350 HP 4x4, but as of now I daily it in the winter so I do not want a whole lot done to it. I'm trying to keep it more reliable than the 4.0 was.... I swapped it because the timing chain guides fell in my oil pan at around 80k and I drove it until 112k until it finally skipped a timing tooth and ran like garbage. I'm not sure if it destroyed the engine but when I found out it skipped a tooth I wasn't about to pull the 4.0 and dump a whole lot of money into it. Coincidentally, as soon as my engine took a crap my coworker had the same year explorer with a 5.0 for sale with a rear axle that split in two from rust that I got for super cheap so the 5.0 swap had to happen. It's like everything fell right into place at the right time which we all know does not happen a lot, and it eventually didn't ended up happening in my case. Like you saw in a previous thread I responded to, the VATS and some misc wiring was different since my Explorer was the mid year change and his 5.0 Explorer ran the old style of VATS.
But in the end everything worked out. I'm looking at buying a 7.3 diesel in the near future to tow my trailer around in the summer so once that happens I'll turn it into the fun 4x4 I have been wanting since I was 16. For now I just need it to get me through the winter season so the salt doesn't destroy my summer car. My Explorer already has terrible body rust but the frame and body mounts are solid so that's all that matters.

 

[Blown]

Maximizer headers are available on Ebay. It took me a long time to come to grips with the cost of custom headers for these, but they are a necessity if your building for more performance.

There are cams that play well with EFI. If you go outside the EFI cams you may have troubles.

I bit the bullet and bought,

My TM's arrive tomorrow!

 

[SWIGIN]

Anyone use these?

I know you'd need to run all new pipes but do they fit without frame mods?

4.7/5.0/5.8 HUGGER TIGHT TUCK FIT EXHAUST HEADER MANIFOLD FOR FORD SMALL BLOCK | eBay

Summit Racing Block Hugger Headers Natural 1 5/8" Primaries G9063 | eBay

 

[410Fortune]

those wont even come close to fitting the explorer engine bay

 

[SWIGIN]

Here's another.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/snh-ff6302p/applications/?ibanner=SREPD2

 

[Turdle]

Here's another.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/snh-ff6302p/applications/?ibanner=SREPD2

Nope, give it up. seriously.
TM's or OBX are the only choices, unless you find an old set of Ford Motorport Explorer V8 headers which were discontinued

 

[SWIGIN]

With a SAS I thought someone on here used block huggers in the past.

 

[Turdle]

With a SAS I thought someone on here used block huggers in the past.

If you move the rtransfer case, front driveshaft, make a custom cross member, then stick the axle in, yeah. You have moved all of the stuff that's in the way of normal blockhuggers. We aint doin that here though

 

[MurderedSport]

Another question I forgot to ask, I won't need a different torque converter will I? I don't think it would be that aggressive but I want to make sure before I go ahead and pull the trigger on the cam. It's just a stock 5.0 with a 4r70w as I have said previously.

 

[Blown]

Yup, A high RPM cam with stock converter would suck. These make power off idle and the stock converter must have a low stall. Then if you cam it up the exhaust won't flow so it won't make the power at higher RPM..........................................Then if you don't have a tune it will be shifting early and never get to those higher RPM's.............................

 

[410Fortune]

Low stall converter because we want our trucks to make all the power (torque) before 2500 rpm
The end goal is of course a computer tune.........
These days the tune is more achievable back when I built my 96 no Mustang shop would touch it and a "tune" was guesswork done through the mail and cost well over $800-1000......now days that is not true. Tuning thees PCM's has become cheaper and way more user friendly (achievable!)
I build my trucks in stages, because money and time comes in blocks. a proper tune to make all the performance parts work together is of course the end goal. Who doesn't want to take advantage of all the new power and available upgrades like shift points?

 

[Gary Crist]

Check out a big Crown Vic converter. They will have the mass (grunt) to
pull you out from a stop.

 

[MurderedSport]

Low stall converter because we want our trucks to make all the power (torque) before 2500 rpm
The end goal is of course a computer tune.........
These days the tune is more achievable back when I built my 96 no Mustang shop would touch it and a "tune" was guesswork done through the mail and cost well over $800-1000......now days that is not true. Tuning thees PCM's has become cheaper and way more user friendly (achievable!)
I build my trucks in stages, because money and time comes in blocks. a proper tune to make all the performance parts work together is of course the end goal. Who doesn't want to take advantage of all the new power and available upgrades like shift points?

I see on your Ranger 5.0 build you ran a stock converter at first. How did it react with the cam you had in your Ranger?
That sucks I really wish I could run the xe264hr cam, I can't find anybody that will tune it around here. They get scared when I say it's an Explorer ....

Edit: Just saw your Ranger build is still on going

 

[Tech708CC]

My combo is as follows and runs very good.
Stock ho cam
1.72 roller rockers
3000 stall roadrunner converter
4.10 gear
Sct xcal4
E-fan
Old ford Motorsports headers
Exhaust has larger dual inlet single outlet muffler and the cats are gone.
From what I have learned you absolutely should get a tuner. Just find a used sct xcal4 and load the canned tune and it will make a huge difference.
The stock ho cam and converter work fine together. Don't forget to get some valve springs as well those old stock ones won't like the added lift.
Definitely open up the whole exhaust system headers to tailpipe.