In car camshaft replacement for V8 Explorers

[section525]

Originally posted by rocket 5979
Why does your motor sit 3" lower??????

Body lift!

 

[rocket 5979]

Originally posted by section525
Body lift!

Ohhhhhh that explains it. Well as it looks i wont be able to be getting my motorcycle this week like i was planning. So i only have $2000 instead of $5000 like i thought. So all of this $2000 is going into my car. hehe. I figure if i cannot go faster on my bike then i can go faster in my car. Gosh i just had a thought. As of to date i have put about $6000 under the hood of my car(still waiting to install it all). And if i put this other $2000 or a majority of it then it will be closer to $8000 under the hood alone. Let alone The rims and dvd and stereo and other stuff. God i need another hobby!

 

[BrianB31]

Brian,

I don't have my notes here at work but I can ask the engineer again.

From your location in MO I bet you are the same person I've been emailing from home

I hooked up the NGS again and the only code is the P0708. The other one is gone and I don't know why

Now based on your email and note you said you can change the IAC % air flow. Are you just going to increase the airflow to compensate for the PCM dumping in more fuel? If so I tried something similar. I got one of the IAC spacers that has the two set screws to allow more airflow. All this did was raise my idle speed and made it unacceptable with a stick shift because the speed would hang when I shifted gears. I took it back out.

I have my throttle set scew set to 700 RPM and the IAC keeps the idle around 850.

I've also been contimplating changing out the stock exhaust rockers to the 1.70 rockers to "fool" the computer that the lobe speration was more.

Let me know if I'm off base

Brian

 

[BrianB31]

Well, I've been surfing around and found my old post and wanted to give ya'll and update.

My truck is idling better, but I haven't changed the cam, yet. I have done the following and it has helped.

First I lowered the fuel pressure from 65 psi to 45 psi that the Explorer is expecting. This reduced the puddling and brought the fuel trim levels into spec. It was noticable as soon as I started her up

Secondly I had a 3" cat back exhaust installed with a big 3" i/o Magnaflow muffler. As before,when I fired it up I noticed the difference.

So with both of these changes it has calmed down and idles much better.

Now for the power news. Has anyone dynoed their X before and after the swap? Reason is in my 4200 lb truck I can't get any faster than 15.5 at 88 MPH in the 1/4 mile. I even tried icing the intake and can't get any better. I'm launching with my stick shift at 3000 rpm and pull all the way up to 5300 rpm and shift right before the rev limiter kicks in at 5500. I did some research and found a computer program called Engine Analyzer version 3.0. I pluged in my specs and was shocked. The E303 cam stinks for low end torque on my truck. Comparing it to a stock Mustang cam I lost over 30-40 ft-lb between 1500-3500 and only gained 10 hp above 3500.

Needless to say this stinks! To get 4200 lbs moving takes more torque than what the E cam gives. I've talked to a few custom cam manufcatures and they all say dump the e for heavy vehicles.

More research showed me that a 5.4 Lightning and a stock 5.4 use the same cam. For a 4700 lb truck and the discussions from the cam builders this didn't surprise me.

Let me know your thoughts. i'm contemplating get a custom cam from Buddy Rawls.

 

[rocket 5979]

In my eyes the best way to use the E-303 cam in an explorer is to get a higher stall torque convertor to get you into your powerband a little quicker. When I had my E-303 and 1.7 rr's installed on my old explorer before it was totalled it lost ALOT of low end torque!!! But man did it pull really great up high till 5700 or so. That is where this cam makes its power is up high!!! in a car without a T/C it is fine because cars are lighter, but with our trucks the best setup would be a higher stall T/C and the computer tuned for the cam, meaning alot higher shift points and rev limiter. That is the only way our trucks will really be allowed to
PROPERLY take advantage of these cams. Now they will work just fine in the explorer's as me and quite a few others have had explorers with the e-303 in them. But the best way the E-303 can be used is with a centrigufugal supercharger (s/c that makes best boost at higher rpms's) and with a 2800 stall or so torque convertor from TCI or Precision Industries. As long as people realize that the E-303 is not a low end torquey cam it is a higher revving cam and design their truck around that then they will be fine.

 

[BrianB31]

rocket 5979, the thing that gets me is I bought the cam based on the statements in the FRPS catalog. It states "good idle quality. Excellent low and mid-range power." Now after installing it on my engine and running an engine simulation that statement is not right. IMHO it's fraudulent and I won't buy another FRPS part again even though I am a Ford employee.

Since I'm running a manual trans I don't have a TC. All I have is my foot, my arm, the clutch and the rev limiter at 5500. I will raise the limit to 6000, but no higher.

As I said before I was a little surprised the Lighning uses the stock cam, even with the blower. A large vehicle needs more torque to get off the line.

 

[rocket 5979]

I know mine idled a little bit rough when I first got the cam and rr's in there. But once I got the EEC reflashed with an Apten tune it made more power and also solved the minor idle quality problem. Hey Brian I dont know what you shift at going from first to second but to get the most out of that cam you should be shifting at about 5700 rpms or thereabouts. FRPP didnt mis-advertise anything in my eyes whatsoever. I mean if a person expects to just drop a major valvetrain item in like a camshaft and have it run like normal then they got another thing coming. The camshaft is THE HEART of the engine!!!!! Plain and simple. That is what controls the whole mchanical process. I mean if that is not timed right or whatever your truck will run like crap and if it is then that same truck can run great! Just get the computer tune so as to be setup for the new camshaft properties and you will notice a difference for the better. If you already have had your EEC reflashed for the new camshaft or have a chip that is burned for the new camshaft then you need to talk to your tuner. Because I know for a fact that the E-303 will work and has worked just fine with a 5.0 engine and especially the explorer 5.0 which has no difference from the stang 5.0 besides computer tunes which when installing a new cam you will want to reflash anyways. It is not the cam it is the tune, or lack there of it.

 

[rocket 5979]

And by the way the lightning uses the stock cam just like the 4.6 mod motors do. An example is of between the 4.6 explorer engine camshafts and the 4.6 GT engines camshafts. SAME EXACT THING!!! Now there are aftermarket camshafts out there but not many. The reason Ford stuck with the stock camshaft is, one because the 5.4 is a modular engine. Meaning parts are able to be swapped from one to another without fitment issues. that is the whole concept that the 5.4 and the 4.6 were designed on. But that is not the technology that the 5.0 engine was designed upon, hence the difference in cams in different ford vehicles, like the 5.0 GT stangs and the 5.0 Explorer cams. The second reason is that though the Roots type charger that is used on the L's provide alot of low end torque they didnt want to sacrifice it even more by putting a high revving camshaft in there. So they stuck with that. In case you didnt notice the 5.4 is NOT a high revving engine like the 4.6 is. So why put a high revving camshaft into a setup that wont need or like it. That is why they stuck with the stock 5.4 torquey truck cams. Now dont think I am being a ##### or anything by pointing this out. But you got to realize that comparing the technology of the modular motors to those of yesteryear is just ridiculous. And to then try to rationalize the problems you are having by associating the changing of your camshaft to why Ford didnt change the cams in the 5.4 L motors is not not even thinkinable. Check or respec your camshaft with the rr's and springs you got and make sure that they are set correctly. Then after that possibility is eliminated I would take my truck to a tuner that was worth a **** and have my truck tuned to its new camshaft. If you have a returnless fuel system then all of the tuning should be in the chip or EEC reflash. But if you got return(dont know which fuel sys you went with) then you might want to drop the FP a little bit so as not run rich. All this should be checked on a wideband o2 sensor so as to eliminate the possibility of running too lean and going that route. The cam is good the engine and truck are good I am willing to bet. But with that cam you will have a little lump to it. If you want you can watch the video I made of my truck with its E-303 camshaft in it and listen to the engine and see where yous is at from there. And in that video I was untuned as of yet.

 

[rocket 5979]

Here is a link to that video I mentioned. Look at the engine in the engine bay notice it shakes a little bit from lumping around but not too bad at all. And also listen to the exhaust note and when it revs. I had an E-303 cam with Crane 1.7 rr's and Crane springs set at I believe 130 lbs. seat pressure. Here is the VIDEO God I miss that truck sometimes!!! But you can see that mine ran just fine with the E-303 cam in it.

 

[rocket 5979]

Please dont take all of what I wrote the wrong way, because I dont want to come off looking like some pushy ********. But I just really cannot think of what else it could be besides that your computer isnt tuned properly for it. And the coolest thing is that you have a manual so you can just choose to launch above the 1500-3200 low power area and not even pay attention to it. Sometimes it is kind of nice to have a manual because you can do certain things that us auto guys would have to get a friggin tune for.

 

[james t]

your 1/4 times sound about right. i ran a best of 15.25 stock motor and a 75shot of the laughing gas. my truck is 4320lbs.

 

[blk mk8]

i have seen so many explorers with cams it is not even funny. yes there are always some down sides to cams but there are a lot of good sides too. i have seen some car have problems with the E-cam or the copy of it i use a lot but i also see a lot of them run perfect with out a hitch. the 95 mustang computer does not take well to the small wolverine cam very well and likes to stall a lot with it. i have seen so many explorers have less problem then mustangs though and that is some what because automatic cars tend to not stall as much. that cam is fine for you truck and you should stay with it and get a PI converter along with a chip from brian. he can rewrite your ford to computer to accept what ever he wants.

 

[BrianB31]

rocket, I don't you are being a jerk. I don't mind critism if its in the right frame of light. I can't dish it out if I can't take it.

Now for my PCM setup the only thing I had the tunner shop do was remove all the trans functions so the engine wouldn't stall to shift gears and not leave my MIL on like a nightlight. He reflashed the PCM, I dont have a chip.

As for the FRPS catalog we agree to disagree. When someone states good low and mid-range power I expect it not to loose torque and hp at those points. To me low is 1500 and midrange is up to 4000, with 4000-6500 being the high end. The statments just don't agree with the performance.

For the 4.6 and 5.4 2 valves all using the same cam thats something I want to check at work. I can understand if the 4.6 in the Explorer, F and E series all use the same cam. They need to move alot of mass down the road and/or pull a heavy trailer. I honestly can't see the 4.6 for the Mustang using the same cam. The customer expectations between the two are not the same and the comparrison of the 5.0 to the 4.6/5.4 are still valid because no mater if an engine is a 4.6 2V or 5.0 the cam is the mecahnical computer of the engine and will determine the poweband of an engine. The 4V are a different animal and have to rev higher to reach max power.

I will ask hte tunner about what modifications can be made to the calibration. '98-'01 Explorers have the Mechanical Returnless Fuel Systems (MRFS) and not the Electronic Returnless with a FPDM. There is no way to change the voltage to a MRFS fuel pump.

One last thing is I plan to install some Gt40X heads this winter and when i have it all apart i will check the cam timing on hte sproket and at the cylinder to make sure i did it right. If I made a boo boo i'll be the first to admit it

I'll watch your video later. Did you use a digital camcorder? I have an 8mm Hi-Fi and i wish I could convert them to digital to show you my stuff as well

 

[BrianB31]

Ok heard your video. Your idle sounds just like mine does now.

One thing that was weird what was that hissing noise when you popped your hood open?

If you know of a way to convert high 8mm to digital i can show you mine.

 

[rocket 5979]

What you heard that sounded like a hiss was the roller rockers. RR's are usually kind of noisy compared to regular stamped ones. Kind of like a noisy bearing is all I can describe it as. About the video tapes. I have a true digital miniDV camcorder so I just plugges it right into my computer and captured the video. I dont know what yo would have to do with the 8mm, sorry. But it would be cool to see a vid or two if you ever got one or a few on here.

 

[98svt]

anyone know why the video link wont work for me... is there another place to view it... thankx