Cam options

[One91Fox]

My current h/c/i setup is a gt-40 intake, b303 cam, and ported stock E7s.
At some point in the future I am swapping the E7s for AFR 165s.

I read in an article that the AFR's with a ported lower cobra intake and stock cobra cam, with a larger mass air and throttle body, underdrive pullies, and a mac exhaust made 303rwhp and 341rwtq.

My questions are should I keep the B cam, swap to an E cam or some other cam. Maybe a custom grind? And should I port the gt-40 intake?

 

[Evilfox]

I hope those HP/TQ figures are at the rear wheels. Otherwise that is extremely weak for 165's.

Stock cam, GT40 Intake without port work, and AFR 165's will get you close to 300hp at the flywheel.

B cam will push you over without much trouble. After that the 19lb/s injectors will probably be getting strained so you should think about upgrading. E-cam is in the 310-320 range.

As for porting the intake, it's probably a wise investment if you want to make some decent power.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

The stock Cobra cam was a turd...it was less aggressive than the GT cam...so i wouldn't even consider that. They used 1.7s to compensate for how tame it was.


When you're going step at a time, you're gonna probably pick a cam that won't work well with your current combo until you get the heads to go with it...so with that in mind i'd probably decide what parts you ultimately plan to get and have a custom cam ground FOR those parts and work on getting them.

 

[One91Fox]

This is probably going to be my final setup as it is a daily drive. If anything after this changed it would be to add a small blower or some spray.

Those numbers from the article are at the wheels. I would like to do a little better as hopefully I can end up with 350-400 hp at the wheels. I would like to keep the intake and afr 165s, any suggestions on how to get those numbers?

 

[Evilfox]

350-400 HP at the rear wheels is basically 402-460 at the flywheel assuming a 15% drive train loss. Those figures are a little steep imo.

My recommendations for a streetable build take into the following:
Good vacuum, bottom end torque(what you will actually feel on the street), Moderate to Good idle.

1.7 Rockers
1 5/8" ID Headers
Comp Cams 275DEH Camshaft, Part Number 35-418-3.
Port the GT40 Intake
New Pistons with less volume.
30lb/s Injectors.
165's with 58CC Chamber Size
Bore .030 Over.
Larger Throttle Body, Not sure what size you're working with atm.

With that you should have close to a 9.6 static compression ratio. Your dynamic compression ratio won't be awful so you can still run 91+ Octane. Summit has 4" bore pistons for $87.95 with +3cc volume. You need this to raise your compression ratio. Camshaft has a choppy Idle but should be ok for running accesories like air conditioning etc. Which by the way will rob some horsepower.

This will get you close to the goal but at the flywheel. ~350 Horsepower and ~370 Ft/lbs. It will be hard to get any more from a stock stroke engine. While still having a manageable idle to run accesorries and not only that but run on pump gas without retarding the timing a ridiculous amount to account for knock.

My recommendation if you want more power is to step up to a 331 stroker where the above combo will give you more in the range of 400 horsepower.

 

[Maryland Stang]

The next cam up from the B is the X cam. The E cam is a emissions cam. The F is a blower cam. You can't go by the alphabet with Ford cams. With your ported E7s you'd be better off with an E or the stock HO cam.

In any case. If you have the money then I'd suggest a custom cam with your AFR 165s. If you don't want to spend the money then get the Trick Flow Stage 1 or X cam.

 

[57fairlane]

keep the e7s for now, have the intake ported, and keep the b-cam

Save up for the AFR heads then worry about swapping the cam out.

 

[93lxcobra]

I don't know about the 94-95 Cobra cams but the 93 was a stock H.O. cam just had the 1.7's instead. That is what came out of my 93.

 

[One91Fox]

I didn't realize that they used the same cam. What exactly are the differences between a 5.0 gt and a 5.0 cobra out of curiosity.

 

[Maryland Stang]

I don't know about the 94-95 Cobra cams but the 93 was a stock H.O. cam just had the 1.7's instead. That is what came out of my 93.

The 93 Cobra used a Cobra specific cam, not the HO cam.

93 Cobra cam is .480 lift with 1.72 rockers, 118 1/4 lobe seperation and 270/270 adv. duration.

Stock 5.0 HO cam is .444 lift with 1.6 rockers and .477 with 1.72 rockers, 115 lobe seperation and 276/266 adv. duration.

If your Cobra had a HO cam in it that was either a mistake or something done after the car was sold. My '92 had 64,000 miles on it when I got it and it was bone stock and had only been to a Ford dealer for service. It had only Ford or Motorcraft parts on it right down to a Motorcraft battery. When I pulled the engine to clean it up and replace some parts I put a King Cobra clutch in it. I had read that you should always replace the stock aluminum throw out bearing retainer with a steel retainer. Guess what? It already had a steel retainer on it. That doesn't mean every '92 came with a steel retainer because they didn't. But at some point some dealer felt the need to install one on my car.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

I don't know about the 94-95 Cobra cams but the 93 was a stock H.O. cam just had the 1.7's instead. That is what came out of my 93.

The Cobras used the upcoming '94 5.0 Tbird cam and computer, and used 1.7s to compensate the crappy specs. Just swapping in a GT cam and computer will net gains in a Cobra.

 

[One91Fox]

Can anyone give me some specs on Ford's alphabet cams?

 

[Brian@PAR]

That DEH cam is a flat tappet not a roller.

A better choice would be the XE274HR. This will give you a pretty good idle and should make you 350 at the flywheel. You'll need at least 24 lb injectors.

Now you can have the same idle characteristics and make 425 at the flywheel with a different set up but you have to be willing to rev it and I don't think you'd like it for a DD.