2001 Mustang V6 Cam install?

SilverChariot

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Mar 24, 2018
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Hello all!
It’s been a while..
glad to be back
Anyways I have a 2001 Mustang V6 with 43k original miles (was 27k when I got it 2 years ago).
Anyways I want to slowly get more power out of it till it’s just barely breaking 300hp
To me that’s the perfect amount for a car like this. Manageable but not so much that id never use all of it. The motor is stock at the moment except for a cold air intake. However I’ve lowered the car by 2 inches and changed the exhaust to divorced duals to flowmaster 10 mufflers. Anywho as the title suggests I’m looking at an aftermarket camshaft. Now I found one called the “lumpy cam” on Supersixmotorsports.net and that seems like a good fit. It works with the stock heads which is a big plus as I’d rather not tear the block apart just yet. Now my question is with my car being so low mileage do I really need to replace valve springs, pushrods, roller rockers etc when changing my cam? It would make sense on a high mileage engine but on a low mileage engine it just seems silly.
I’m not gonna get a V8. Insurance where I live is night and day for the V6 and V8 model plus this engines got a lot of miles left so I’d hate to get a higher mileage engine just for an extra 60 HP stock.

How much would it cost for a shop to install said cam?
Same for valve springs push rods etc if I really need it.
I already got a tuner and made sure they are able to tune for the cam so that takes a large portion of the cost out of the way.

Any people who’ve done cams to their 3.8L advice would be very much appreciated! Cheers!

Here’s a pic of the Stang for those who want to see:
FE233A71-AB77-4846-A7E2-912F6C147DC5.jpeg
 
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First off reaching 300 horsepower on a v6 that's NA is darn near impossible if it isn't already. Your talking major dynamics need changed. Bigger heads, pistons, stroker kit then all the adders your talking about doing to the motor. If you want 300 horsepower you need to turbo or supercharge it. I've heard a lot of good things about people turbocharging the v6's. I've replaced cams in my v8 and its not worth the hassle to do it again unless you have money to dump down the drain and don't care about spending it. The cheapest and most cost efficient way of increasing horsepower and maintaining fuel economy is to go with a turbo charging kit and have it professionally installed. Just remember when changing parts out it changes the way the car functions. The pcm can keep up with most moderate changes but any drastic changes will require a tuner to modify the fuel and airflow tables to make the car run good. Changing cams out isn't hard if your mechanically inclined but isn't quick either. And you won't get the horsepower increase your looking for on a V6 by doing a cam swap. The horsepower increases they list on websites is false. Most of the time these increases are on heavily modified motors pushed to the limit, then they add the part and say it add's such and such horsepower. I wouldn't mess with your motor having such low miles on it either. I'd go the route of turbocharging it.

You can call your local shops around town and ask who can do a cam change and see what there hourly rate is. Figure 6-8 hours for a cam change and you have the information needed to decide on what to do.

Sharp mustang btw!
 
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First off reaching 300 horsepower on a v6 that's NA is darn near impossible if it isn't already. Your talking major dynamics need changed. Bigger heads, pistons, stroker kit then all the adders your talking about doing to the motor. If you want 300 horsepower you need to turbo or supercharge it. I've heard a lot of good things about people turbocharging the v6's. I've replaced cams in my v8 and its not worth the hassle to do it again unless you have money to dump down the drain and don't care about spending it. The cheapest and most cost efficient way of increasing horsepower and maintaining fuel economy is to go with a turbo charging kit and have it professionally installed. Just remember when changing parts out it changes the way the car functions. The pcm can keep up with most moderate changes but any drastic changes will require a tuner to modify the fuel and airflow tables to make the car run good. Changing cams out isn't hard if your mechanically inclined but isn't quick either. And you won't get the horsepower increase your looking for on a V6 by doing a cam swap. The horsepower increases they list on websites is false. Most of the time these increases are on heavily modified motors pushed to the limit, then they add the part and say it add's such and such horsepower. I wouldn't mess with your motor having such low miles on it either. I'd go the route of turbocharging it.

You can call your local shops around town and ask who can do a cam change and see what there hourly rate is. Figure 6-8 hours for a cam change and you have the information needed to decide on what to do.

Sharp mustang btw!
Thank you for the advice
The only problem with that is every shop I call won’t do it
Unless I can find a kit that has all the parts so they just put it together and tune it they won’t do it
The only place that was willing to do it wanted $20K! That’s right you heard me $20k!
If someone had a kit they would sell that had the turbo manifolds id probably do it
The issue still remains that I’d like it to remain reliable as I don’t want it breaking when driving it to the track and car meets and whatnot

Glad you liked the photo here’s another for ya
88E4B927-4648-4F20-800B-D98209D87BF6.jpeg
 
20k is insane. Where do you live? I bet if you post a thread looking for somebody to install and tune you can find much cheaper prices. That probably included the kit, the install and the custom tune. I've never done a turbo install before but somebody on here might be able to help you with doing it yourself then just towing it to get it tuned. Then your looking at the price of the kit + tow and tune if you install it yourself.
 
20k is insane. Where do you live? I bet if you post a thread looking for somebody to install and tune you can find much cheaper prices. That probably included the kit, the install and the custom tune. I've never done a turbo install before but somebody on here might be able to help you with doing it yourself then just towing it to get it tuned. Then your looking at the price of the kit + tow and tune if you install it yourself.
I live in northern Minnesota
I can turn a wrench and I know exactly how and where the turbo could sit comfortably I just don’t have the parts to do it yet
I asked the shops again if they would just install an eBay turbo kit and I’d change the turbo out within a month for an actually good turbo and they all said no because “eBay turbos are garabage and it will break then everyone wants a warranty” so again no one will do it.
It’s very frustrating hence why I figured a cam install would be easier since there isn’t a need for a kit since none of the shops in my state can do anything themselves :mad:
 
Its your car so do what you want with it but just doing a cam swap wont do much unless you pair it with a performance manifold intake. That will help more air get into the combustion chamber and compliment the cold air intake as well. if you can turn a wrench I'd buy the turbo kit and install it myself then take it for a tune. Just my 2 cents.
 
Its your car so do what you want with it but just doing a cam swap wont do much unless you pair it with a performance manifold intake. That will help more air get into the combustion chamber and compliment the cold air intake as well. if you can turn a wrench I'd buy the turbo kit and install it myself then take it for a tune. Just my 2 cents.
I probably should’ve mentioned I already have ported upper and lower intakes that I’ll put on prior to tuning with the cam Install. My bad. But yeah I would but I still don’t have a turbo manifold and like I said no shop will touch it unless it has one that fits
 
First off reaching 300 horsepower on a v6 that's NA is darn near impossible if it isn't already. Your talking major dynamics need changed. Bigger heads, pistons, stroker kit then all the adders your talking about doing to the motor. If you want 300 horsepower you need to turbo or supercharge it. I've heard a lot of good things about people turbocharging the v6's. I've replaced cams in my v8 and its not worth the hassle to do it again unless you have money to dump down the drain and don't care about spending it. The cheapest and most cost efficient way of increasing horsepower and maintaining fuel economy is to go with a turbo charging kit and have it professionally installed. Just remember when changing parts out it changes the way the car functions. The pcm can keep up with most moderate changes but any drastic changes will require a tuner to modify the fuel and airflow tables to make the car run good. Changing cams out isn't hard if your mechanically inclined but isn't quick either. And you won't get the horsepower increase your looking for on a V6 by doing a cam swap. The horsepower increases they list on websites is false. Most of the time these increases are on heavily modified motors pushed to the limit, then they add the part and say it add's such and such horsepower. I wouldn't mess with your motor having such low miles on it either. I'd go the route of turbocharging it.

You can call your local shops around town and ask who can do a cam change and see what there hourly rate is. Figure 6-8 hours for a cam change and you have the information needed to decide on what to do.

Sharp mustang btw!
Incorrect, the 99-04 v6's can hit up to 375hp, what he needs is the right cam from Super Six Motorsports, port out his heads, bump compression up to around 10-11:1 which is still pump gas friendly he just needs a more efficient radiator to take advantage of his aluminum heads.
 
Hello all!
It’s been a while..
glad to be back
Anyways I have a 2001 Mustang V6 with 43k original miles (was 27k when I got it 2 years ago).
Anyways I want to slowly get more power out of it till it’s just barely breaking 300hp
To me that’s the perfect amount for a car like this. Manageable but not so much that id never use all of it. The motor is stock at the moment except for a cold air intake. However I’ve lowered the car by 2 inches and changed the exhaust to divorced duals to flowmaster 10 mufflers. Anywho as the title suggests I’m looking at an aftermarket camshaft. Now I found one called the “lumpy cam” on Supersixmotorsports.net and that seems like a good fit. It works with the stock heads which is a big plus as I’d rather not tear the block apart just yet. Now my question is with my car being so low mileage do I really need to replace valve springs, pushrods, roller rockers etc when changing my cam? It would make sense on a high mileage engine but on a low mileage engine it just seems silly.
I’m not gonna get a V8. Insurance where I live is night and day for the V6 and V8 model plus this engines got a lot of miles left so I’d hate to get a higher mileage engine just for an extra 60 HP stock.

How much would it cost for a shop to install said cam?
Same for valve springs push rods etc if I really need it.
I already got a tuner and made sure they are able to tune for the cam so that takes a large portion of the cost out of the way.

Any people who’ve done cams to their 3.8L advice would be very much appreciated! Cheers!

Here’s a pic of the Stang for those who want to see:
FE233A71-AB77-4846-A7E2-912F6C147DC5.jpeg
You will need to change out the springs since the factory ones aren't rated for more lift and enuine speeds. If you just want 300hp to the crank then get a Super Six Motorsports cam and spring set, port your heads and intake; dependant on your choice of cam you'll easily hit 300hp. I only recommend turbo after you've upgraded your engine due to the added stress and cylinder pressures which will cause excess wear on your internals over time. The better the engine build the less boost you'll need and the more reliable it becomes.
 
Incorrect, the 99-04 v6's can hit up to 375hp, what he needs is the right cam from Super Six Motorsports, port out his heads, bump compression up to around 10-11:1 which is still pump gas friendly he just needs a more efficient radiator to take advantage of his aluminum heads.
You are smoking crack if you think a cam and increased compression with ported heads will turn 190 hp to 360 hp. Not going to happen. Major changes need made. Supercharge or turbocharger will get it close. But a cam and compression change will not get it there. Been there done that and it was difficult on my v8.
 
You are smoking crack if you think a cam and increased compression with ported heads will turn 190 hp to 360 hp. Not going to happen. Major changes need made. Supercharge or turbocharger will get it close. But a cam and compression change will not get it there. Been there done that and it was difficult on my v8.
Look up what SSM did, they got 375hp with a carb. Also you're working on a ford v8, those things aren't worth a damn, should've saved your money and put in a better engine unless you find that spending $2k on heads alone is a wise fiscal decision. The 3.8 is rev happy and horsepower is completely dependent on air flow, you increase that you increase efficiency with the right tune and you've got power. Of course you need the right cam and if you want jump up to a 4.2 crank for the added displacement. It's thinking like yours that's killed hotrodding, now y'all throw money at off the shelf parts and read whatever you find online, there's no more crazy experiments and Frankensteins brining out the best of every engine.
 
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@Mexidankus Post the link, showing a stock v6 mustang caple of making 375 NA horsepower. Props to that person if that's the case. I've never heard of it before until now if what your saying is true. Probably only person ever to attain that if so. On the contrary I've spent thousands, sorry let me re-word 10's of thousands yes over 20k on my v8 just to attain over 400 hp NA. And getting there required major expenses, a lot of labor and several thousand dollars in changes just to amount to 20 hp there and 20 hp here. You might ask why I didn't choose another block teksid or aluminum. I wanted to see what was possible out of the core block of a GT. Did I have the money yes and still do. But I wanted to know what the limits were and have a 4.6 2v that is one of the few to be seen that makes over 400hp. That's why I chose to stay NA. Anyone can boost but to be honest I just don't like the sound of the whine from a supercharger or a turbo spooling up on a v8 with lag. The only things I would turbocharge would be 4 cylinders to help with displacement and keep the gas mileage. And they sound awesome at that. But you cant shake the sound of a V8 NA motor in a mustang. Nothing can quite compare but that's just my opinion(perception is reality). I've never seen a v6 on a dyno that was NA make 375 hp. 300 now Ive seen a few (from youtube, never in person)but are rare occasions and those people have spent so much time and money for what reason? To save money on gas? They should have just bought a V8 to begin with. But then again most of society lives in poverty so we only buy what we can afford. At least were all enthusiast with our mustangs. But I'm still sticking by saying 375 hp is darn near impossible without changing displacement and making major modifications. I will agree on one thing. Airflow is everything. The more you cram the more hp you get with a proper tune.
 
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@Mexidankus Post the link, showing a stock v6 mustang caple of making 375 NA horsepower. Props to that person if that's the case. I've never heard of it before until now if what your saying is true. Probably only person ever to attain that if so. On the contrary I've spent thousands, sorry let me re-word 10's of thousands yes over 20k on my v8 just to attain over 400 hp NA. And getting there required major expenses, a lot of labor and several thousand dollars in changes just to amount to 20 hp there and 20 hp here. You might ask why I didn't choose another block teksid or aluminum. I wanted to see what was possible out of the core block of a GT. Did I have the money yes and still do. But I wanted to know what the limits were and have a 4.6 2v that is one of the few to be seen that makes over 400hp. That's why I chose to stay NA. Anyone can boost but to be honest I just don't like the sound of the whine from a supercharger or a turbo spooling up on a v8 with lag. The only things I would turbocharge would be 4 cylinders to help with displacement and keep the gas mileage. And they sound awesome at that. But you cant shake the sound of a V8 NA motor in a mustang. Nothing can quite compare but that's just my opinion(perception is reality). I've never seen a v6 on a dyno that was NA make 375 hp. 300 now Ive seen a few (from youtube, never in person)but are rare occasions and those people have spent so much time and money for what reason? To save money on gas? They should have just bought a V8 to begin with. But then again most of society lives in poverty so we only buy what we can afford. At least were all enthusiast with our mustangs. But I'm still sticking by saying 375 hp is darn near impossible without changing displacement and making major modifications. I will agree on one thing. Airflow is everything. The more you cram the more hp you get with a proper tune.

View: https://youtu.be/lWRklczcdqA



View: https://youtu.be/l2awdInUBHM


Here you go, they bored over by 30 and used a 4.2 crank, 375HP NA v6, with a carb. If you actually spent 20k to make 400hp you've got more money than brains, all you had to do was have your heads reworked and ported properly, up your valve size, bring compression up, get some good cams, and have a good intake and exhaust combinations. That or you're talking smack.
 
@Mexidankus Thank you for proving my point from the very first post. It's not possible with bolt on's to attain 375 hp. Major engine modifications have to be done, including displacement which changes the liters. You cant and I will say again it's impossible to make 375 hp without spending gobs of money. Just fyi to bore out the cylinders to .030 is risky. The block wont handle it if your hard on the pedal. Ask any professional engine builder and they will tell you .020 over is the safe side. Anything above that is risky. First time I've heard of a v6 making 375 hp. I'm currently having my block re-done and bored .020 with all forged internals by a professional race shop located in indiana. I was told by several professional shops and part distributors not to bore out over .020.
 
This tread started months ago but had to comment on those dyno numbers.
SuperSix has been doing amazing things for years with these motors.

Of note on this dyno run is that there are no accessories, very short straight exhaust and a vertical intake so those aren't actual "NA" in car numbers.
In car numbers would be lower but would still be pretty impressive.
 
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