hey guys. i am considering cahnging out my cams for a set of comps. i was told on my '03 that i would have to change my cam gears. i was told by someone else that i could use the AFM tool and not have to change anything except springs. so which is it? tahnx guys.
I've done a ton of research on this subject, so here's what I understand. You have an 03 stang which has a Romeo engine. Your cams have bolt on timing chain sprockets "I think this is what you ment by gears". You do not have to change out your cam sprockets when you swap cams. You do have to remove them though to remove your cams. You will have to replace the bolt that holds the sprocket on due to it being torque to yield and one time use. You can use the AFM Camsaver tool to aid in the swap. By using this tool you do not have to remove the front timing chain cover. Only removal of the cam cover and few accessories is necessary along with the cams themselves of course. I won't go into the details of the use of the camsaver tool. The picture is worth a thousand words.
As far as valve springs are concerned, you have to make a choice here. The 2V engine with PI heads can take up to about .550 of valve lift. Anything above that requires aftermarket valve springs. So your choice in cams along with the amount of gross lift that cam offers determines the necessity to change springs. However you can decide to change springs if you like, but technically you don't unless you exceed .550 of gross lift. If you have a high mileage car "03 I hope not" you might want to anyway. So if you choose a mild enough cam and use the camsaver tool, your cam swap will be fairly easy. Getting back to Gears again and this time I'm referring to differential gears. You should change out you rear end gears to take advantage of the power band that will be in a higher RPM range. 3.73's or up are recommended for most mild cams.
This is strictly book knowledge. Anyone that has actually done a cam swap can chime in.
Thanx Rocketman. the gears i was refering to was infact the cam sprockets. i was told that i would have to dismantel the intire front of the engine but from what you ahve said i dont have to. i am thinking about going with the comp cams xe262ah. i want the better low end torque as opposed to top end hp. i wasnt wanting to change my rearend gear. i just want a little extra punch. (for now ) thanx for the help and please anyone else chime in.