5.0l Cam Upgrade Help

a91what said:

Could he just add a set of 1.7rr? That would add more lift and "duration"....

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He could, but I can't imagine he'd gain a whole lot? Spending $200-$300 on roller rockers just to gain 3-4hp he'll never feel isn't what I would consider a very cost effective mod?

If it were me and I wanted to add some usable spunk, for the least amount of money, I'd probably upgrade the valve springs, drop a stock HO cam in there and open things up on the intake side with a larger volume intake tube and the exhaust side with a true 2 1/2"-3" single set up, from the headers back.....actually, swapping out the crappy Explorer headers for something aftermarket wouldn't hurt either (they're brutal). That would add a solid 20-30hp over what he's making now and still maintain a nice broad torque curve.

The sad truth is that it's a heavy vehicle and a 302 is a little small to make any real usable power with. Other than adding some cubes, or some form of power adder, he's not going to feel a "real" jump in performance no matter how many parts he runs.

If it runs better than 16-flat with just bolt ons, I'll be surprised.