SCT tuners | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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SCT tuners

Joined
August 20, 2008
Messages
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City, State
Kansas City Mo.
Year, Model & Trim Level
00 5.0 Mounty
Who uses one? What mods do you have, and how much did it help you. Among other mods, Im thinking of installing a cam in my Mounty, and hope it wont screw with the factory tune too much. If it does, do you think a Tuner from SCT will help?
 



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Who uses one? What mods do you have, and how much did it help you. Among other mods, Im thinking of installing a cam in my Mounty, and hope it wont screw with the factory tune too much. If it does, do you think a Tuner from SCT will help?

I've got one, and I love it. It was good for 6 tenths of a second in back to back runs with the mods listed in my signature.

edit: If your into racing Limited02 and I are going to heartland park to race this thrusday night.
 






Forget about the cam. Your first mod should be a set of Torque Monster headers. They are cheaper than a cam swap.

A cam isn't going to do a thing as the stock exhaust manifolds are so restrictive I don't see how the engine breaths.

There are several here that have an SCT tuner.

James at Henson Performance http://www.hensonperformance.com
is who you need to contact for the tuner. He is a member & a vendor here.
 






I have been using SCT tuners for years. I write my own tunes with SCT's Racer Pro Software ( Advantage III ).

Very happy with their offerings.
 






I appreciate all the input guys. I would love to find a pair of the Ford Racing headers. The Torque Monster headers are just out of my price range. I know the headers and the rest of the exhaust is a major restriction on my vehicle. I plan on changing all that sometime soon. But if I dont find any headers worth the money, then I will just keep the stockers, and modify everything from the headers back.

Cam. I planned on doing a cam swap because I like the sound of a car with a small cam. It will help performance as well. Sure cant hurt the performance. I have 2 mustangs I have built up, so doing a cam swap is cake. I was more concerned because I have heard the computers on these Explorers and Mountys are rather finicky compaired to the good ole 89-93 fox body mustangs. The tuner will help with that for sure.
 






Stay away from the FMS headers. They are JUNK.

Also stay away from FMS letter cams for your Explorer. They will wreak havoc with the computer do to their lobe degree separation.
 






I've got one, and I love it. It was good for 6 tenths of a second in back to back runs with the mods listed in my signature.

edit: If your into racing Limited02 and I are going to heartland park to race this thrusday night.

I appreciate this offer. I will have to take you up on this some other time. I am just about to paint my 96 GT mustang. I have a deadline I have set for myself to finish it. There is a big show I want to take it to.
 






Stay away from the FMS headers. They are JUNK.

Also stay away from FMS letter cams for your Explorer. They will wreak havoc with the computer do to their lobe degree separation.

I will keep that in mind on the cam. What cam profile do you suggest?
 






I will keep that in mind on the cam. What cam profile do you suggest?

Comp Cams has an off the shelf cam that would work well. I don't remember the part # though.
 






I've got an SCT XC2. Had it for years. Definte difference in performance from stock (Explorers, especially 5.0 left the factory in "soccer mom" mode).

I've got light mods (Exhaust, Air Intake), but am getting TMH on this summer. I've waited for a few years to pull the trigger on those. Save your money. I've never seen much good said about the Ford Racing offering (they're not much less restrictive than stock).
 












Stay away from the FMS headers. They are JUNK.

Also stay away from FMS letter cams for your Explorer. They will wreak havoc with the computer do to their lobe degree separation.

Is there a certain lobe seperation I Should look/stay away from?
 






i love mine (xcal3).. the tuner, the k&n cai and the phenolic intake spacer helped out a lot with my past cross country drive. we averaged 17.5 to 19mpg throughout the whole trip with a 4 door v8, a driver and a passenger, bfg a/t tires, heavy tube front bumper, 2 fully loaded cargo carriers (one on the roof and one at the back, a cargo area loaded with my tools, furniture, clothes, my 3 goldfish, bamboo plants, appliances cramped all the way to the back of the front seats.. basically my whole apartment :D all that stuff made my front end look up and i had 2 to less than 2 inches before the bump stops hit the rear axle when standing still and that was with helper springs installed.. and the truck pulled everything effortlessly and consistently throughout the trip..

get one.. and get one from james at henson performance..
 






Cam. I planned on doing a cam swap because I like the sound of a car with a small cam. It will help performance as well. Sure cant hurt the performance.

That is so wrong. You can absolutely kill a car with the wrong cam. In fact, more performance is LOST than gained by folks going with too big a cam than the motor can handle.

Think about it...you have to have the heads and intake to handle what the cam can deliver, then you need the exhaust to get rid of what you just put in. If you fall short anywhere, your performance will likely be WORSE than stock. I've seen it dozens of times. And we haven't even discussed converters or gears.

By the way, I had a Ford E-cam in one of my 306's with 185 AFR heads and Bassani exhaust...and a GT-40 intake. Not the Explorer intake that only has the GT-40 lower...but the true GT-40 intake. That motor flew. With a 5 speed, 3.73's, and street tires, it ran mid 12's all day long and had impeccable street manners. It's all about putting together the entire package correctly. Miss with just one piece, and you're dead.
 






I second what cobra guy said. I just recently put a comp cam in my explorer but I also did alot of otherods first. I have AFR heads, 70 mm throttle, 73mm maf, TM headers, 1.7 RRs, ported lower and alot more crap done. I also had to notch my pistons becuase of the PVC issue I was gonna have with the explorer because of the cam lift and heads/valves. I needed to do alot of tuning with with James and my xcal3 to get it to idle let alone driveable. The explorer is a heavy truck to get it to go fast. Wrong cam and ur gonna lose your low end and ur not spinning ur truck up to 7gs to get the top end alot of letter cams are targeting. So do ur research for people who have xs and not of mustangs. Huge difference. Also if u go to big u will need a better torque converter. I had to upgrade mine to a 3000. And it's not that small of a task to do. So just try to plan everything out as far forward and as realistically as your wallet and skill level can handle
 






... doing a cam swap is cake. I was more concerned because I have heard the computers on these Explorers and Mountys are rather finicky compaired to the good ole 89-93 fox body mustangs. The tuner will help with that for sure.

The Explorer/Mountaineer is vastly superior to old EECIV computers. You can swap the cam and have no trouble with it running fine, unlike the EECIV stuff.

BTW, the cam swap is hell in the Explorer, the radiator and condenser have to come out.

Please don't buy a letter cam, IMO they are junk. No Ford which must have a split duration cam should ever have an equal duration cam. None of the letter cams have split durations, Ford should know better than to make such crap.

I would suggest a real custom cam, $400 and the required valvetrain parts it needs, you could gain double what any OTS cam will gain. Buying an OTS cam and the springs etc. for it will easily be $450 or so, why skimp to save $100 on the brain of the engine?

Do the flasher last, it will fine tune your changes. You can change a lot of things before doing the flasher, including the entire exhaust, the cam and TB. Don't change the MAF or injectors until you have the flasher. Welcome, let us know how you do with the truck.
 






Ok, the tuner is where it's at, only after you get headers. The FMS headers are junk

As far as letter cams go--
I have an x 303 camshaft, and, it has the fastest recorded NA timslip on the forum, while in the same month driving us across country to tackle some 13,000 ft passes, off road. I wouldhave to say my truck is very versatile.

It has been pretty reliable, and my daily driver. All with a Ford Racing letter cam.

There are opinions, and, there are running vehicles. Take your pick of the advice.
 






I'm biting my tongue about the cams. Most of my issue is with all non custom cams. The quality of the SADI material is not really very high, even though billions have been made that way. The SADI cam material is a rare but pointed cause for some performance issues, cam failures, and engine failures.

The real issue I have learned recently is that almost zero OTS cams(not billet cams which are very rare OTS) have accurate specs as designed. Meaning that the cams almost always do not have the cam spec lift, duration, or valve events as designed. They are off a little bit, degreeing a cam is very necessary.. It's just hit or miss with the accuracy from that SADI construction.

A custom billet cam is basically perfect when it is cut, or else it is scrapped and another one made. The billet cam is also much stronger, does not flex basically at all until wildly high rpm's. SADI cams begin to flex at normal upper levels, like 6000 or so and more.

So my point about the cams is really the price and performance. The cost difference is very minimal considering how much the entire engine etc costs. If not for other reasons like a time crunch or that you have a cam in hand(no cost), or you will sell the vehicle very soon, the custom cam is a better choice. Regards,
 






Well I guess everyone has their opinions. As far as a OTS cam, I dont see a problem with one. There are Hundreds of thousands of Mustangs out there with the FMS alphabet cams, and they run freaking hard. Granted, I do believe in the statement that a cam that works for a mustang may not work so well in a truck. That is a fact. However I also believe that there are several cams out there that are OTS cams that will perform very well in a truck. Its all about finding the grind that will produce the best torque for the RPM you prefer to keep your motor at. If it is going to be a daily driver, I am sure your going to want to find a cam that produces alot of torque out of the hole, and peaks at around 5 grand.

Im not really worried about finding the right cam. I have enough experience to find one that will work well with the GT40 motor in the vehicle. What I dont have experience in, is proper selection on certain other parts for the vehicle. I plan on exhaust upgrades. Probably not the overpriced Torque monster headers, but I will at bare minumum remove the cats and install true dual exhaust. This will remain my daily driver, so I dont want it loud at an idle. But I wouldnt mind a little rumble at WOT. That will be tricky. Proper muffler choice and a X pipe in the system should keep the exhaust quieter.

I do appreciate everyones imput. Obviously there is not much selection for my Mounty on tuners. SCT pretty much has the market cornered on that. What does everyone run for mufflers? What does everyone run for a CAI? If you have a cam in your vehicle please let me know what brand, and part number. If you have a video clip posted someplace, please let me know.
 



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Rant on

Probably not the overpriced Torque monster headers

I get so sick of seeing people ***** about the cost of the Torque Monster headers. Go price a set for a 4.6 for a 94-97 T-Bird/Cougar. They are close to $200 more than the Torque Monsters.

As I stated in my original post a cam is worthless unless you do the headers first.
 






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