Cam Suggestions

[Bigmatthew86]

Any 5.0 gurus here that can suggest a cam for my setup? 01 standard cab Ranger 2wd with motor & drivetrain out of a 96 Explorer. Motor is stock with torque monster headers, 2.5 duals with x pipe & Borla mufflers, drop in K&N. 4r70w has a shift kit & Explorer axle has 3.73’s. Sitting on 275/40r17’s. I know it’ll need new spring’s regardless. Originally was just thinking about an HO cam but if there are better options for DD/street toy. I know the Explorer cam is very tame.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Don't get crazy. One performance step above stock will be plenty, meaning just a modest increase in lift and duration. Otherwise you'll have to look at redoing injectors and intake, beefing up the drivetrain, and (maybe worst of all) recalibrating the engine computer if that's even feasible. Also, the crazier the cam, the worse the idle and less reliable the engine and drivetrain.

That's probably not what you wanted to hear, but better safe than sorry.

 

[Bigmatthew86]

That’s pretty in line with what I was thinking. I’m assuming you HO cam would be considered stock so a step past that. I have a line for tuning now.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I got one of THESE for my Explorer when I rebuilt the engine and installed the OBX headers a month ago and used the trick flow spring setup from Summit. There was an open box cam on Amazon otherwise I would have gotten one from Summit to support them instead... As for difference I'm not sure as I still have the stock tune with stock rev limit and everything... my 4R70W has a shift kit too, it's quite the setup, I like it... it only has like 150 miles on it so far so not much experience but the computer works just fine with that cam, there's another that's very slightly different if you go through the options at Summit...

 

[bobbywalter]

Definitely need valve springs

 

[Bigmatthew86]

100%

 

[19Walt93]

I got one of THESE for my Explorer when I rebuilt the engine and installed the OBX headers a month ago and used the trick flow spring setup from Summit. There was an open box cam on Amazon otherwise I would have gotten one from Summit to support them instead... As for difference I'm not sure as I still have the stock tune with stock rev limit and everything... my 4R70W has a shift kit too, it's quite the setup, I like it... it only has like 150 miles on it so far so not much experience but the computer works just fine with that cam, there's another that's very slightly different if you go through the options at Summit...

That looks like a good choice to me, bigger than stock but not big enough to make other big changes necessary. The Isky cam in my Mustang has 210/ 218 duration, .480/.500 lift, on 112 lobe separation and it's about perfect for what I wanted. It idles about like a 60's police cruiser, gets decent mileage and runs 13.8 @ 102 mph on street tires. When buying a tractor, get the next one bigger than you think you want. Picking a cam is the oposite- get the next one smaller than you think you want.

 

[Bigmatthew86]

Well the xe264 is what I wanted so that would put me at the xe258 lol. This truck won’t ever see 5500rpm I doubt.

 

[Bigmatthew86]

I spoke to the guys at 5 Star Tuning & they told me they can tune it. I’m waiting for the sct to come in so I can get them the strategy. I told them I really wanted a 87 tune. He told me he’d do an 87 & 93 performance. Seemed confident that they could get more out of it. Said the 1st tune should be pretty close but should be able to dial it in nicely with some data logging.

 

[19Walt93]

Well the xe264 is what I wanted so that would put me at the xe258 lol. This truck won’t ever see 5500rpm I doubt.

No, it sounds like you gave it some thought and were honest with yourself about how you were going to use it. "Buy the next one smaller" is just a rule of thumb for folks who don't do that.

 

[bodied91ranger]

I went with a small cam from Texas speed. Upgraded valves and springs and tuned the ls best I could and even tho Texas speed said I could run a stock torque converter that
Is false. Coming to stop light it wants to push me thru the brakes. Considering with ls the brake booster vacuums off the intake manifold. It wants to cause issues in the short fuel trims. I have learned how to drive it. But this winter it will be getting a stall converter. Once you slide that cam in there it def changes the whole game. Good luck !!!

 

[19Walt93]

If the cam is big enough to kill idle vacuum, it ain't "small" or it's installed retarded. What are the specs? Before buying a higher stall convertor, why not try a vacuum reservoir for the booster?

 

[bobbywalter]

I went with a small cam from Texas speed. Upgraded valves and springs and tuned the ls best I could and even tho Texas speed said I could run a stock torque converter that
Is false. Coming to stop light it wants to push me thru the brakes. Considering with ls the brake booster vacuums off the intake manifold. It wants to cause issues in the short fuel trims. I have learned how to drive it. But this winter it will be getting a stall converter. Once you slide that cam in there it def changes the whole game. Good luck !!!

using stock style ecm with hp tuners? what is actual idle? what is actual idle vacuum? are you sure your booster is working and not leaking?

i see alot of big vacuum leaks get overlooked on cam swaps because they expect higher altered idle ect.... recently...i could hear it with the hood closed on one guys truck....he was fighting it for two years....

 

[Bigmatthew86]

I haven't pulled the trigger on anything yet but have been doing some more reading & searching marketplace for any used parts that might pop up. Adding springs & a comp xe258 was my plan. I'm leaning more towards a set of aluminum heads (probably a used set of twisted wedge) & the same cam. Also figured I'd get the lower ported while I had it off. What would be a rough guess on gains with both setups? Maybe 30ish with the gt40's & 50ish with aluminum heads? Is it worth porting the lower running the gt40's with a small cam? If I'm going through the trouble of tearing it down, I want to really tell a difference when it's back together.

 

[CUracing]

If your planning on aluminum heads I would go with a custom cam. There are a few reputable cam grinders out there, I went with Ed Curtis at FTI for my 331 90 mustang. He did an excellent job choosing a cam for my motor and intended use. He comes highly recommend on corral.net.