Cam question! Where to get them??

The cheapest I found cams for was at www.modulardepot.com they also carry VT cames and comp springs.

I bought mine at Modular Depot and got a good price and good service.

http://www.modulardepot.com

or

Many people also recommend T&J. They also have a great reputation for good service.

http://www.modularfordpowerhouse.com

From what you said, Stage 1. Get them at MD and they can setup you up with your SCT hardware. Also, with the stage 1 setup, they can get you real close with a mail order tune.

jbrown said:

cool I was wondering if I would lose out on a lot of power if I didnt get a dyno tune and just the mail order. I hear vt cams have less problems than comp anyone heard anything about this?

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First off, you really need to go sign up at Modular Depot if you have't already and do a search on cams. You will find out that about a year or so ago, everyone was recommending the milder cams because there just wasn't enough data go to by and people were worried about using the bigger cams with stock heads. As time passed and I got ready to buy my cams last winter, enough people had bought them and found out that the "VT Stage II/Comp 270s in stock heads is a bad idea"-thing was false. Quite a few people had started trying the more radical cams and found out that they made great power without sacrificing low-end or anything else. They will make more power with ported heads, but until you have the $1000+ to port the heads, the cams will make good power in the stock PIs. The only reason I can see to go with the mild cams is if you live in a tree-hugging state that has smog testing.

As far as a tune, everyone will tell you that a dyno tune is best. And they are right. However, if you go with Modular Depot, I feel from everything people have reported on Modular Depot that Ken and his crew can get your mail-order tune 99% right. One thing you need to remember is that Apten Performance out of St. Louis merged and moved to Cinnicinati with MD. Apten was one of the premier tuners and had a great reputation for mail order and dyno tunes. I don't really feel you can go wrong with their products. In fact, I am making the trip to Modular Depot this spring when I get a chance to get tuned. My current tune was done by a local tuner and I have drivability issues. My car was the first cammed 4.6L that he had done and.....it shows.

For springs, there isn't much of a choice. Comp, ModMax, and Crower. Most people use Comp. ModMax had a reputation for breaking springs awhile back and Crower just released theirs recently. Just make sure you get the OTC spring tool. Otherwise, you would have to remove the heads to remove the springs with a regular compressor. This is about as cheap as the compressor gets:

http://store.sjdiscounttools.net/otc7928.html

As far as trouble with the cams, Comp has had some trouble in the past. They have recognized this and have supposidly fixed the problems. There still have been a few isolated incidents reported on various forums that I have seen, but for the most part I think you are fairly safe to go with either one at the present.

One nice thing about the Comp 270s if you happen to go with them is that they make good N/A power in stock or ported heads. Plus, if you ever decide to go with a blower at some point, their specs make for a decent blower cam.

BTW, I know I have posted in a few of your threads and I can't remember if you plan on doing your own install or not. If so, and you want to save some time, the AFM cam chain tool is worth its weight in gold IMHO. It saved me a lot of time from not having to pull the front of the motor apart. The $30 for tool is well-worth the extra hours of pulling the front cover off and then re-installing it later when you are done.

jbrown said:

thanks for all the help nick. Im definately gonna have to go over to the md forums because it seems very few people know anything about cams on stangnet. I had bookmarked those tools when you posted in another thread of mine. I was just worried if stage 2 was too much because my friend has a 5.0 with cams(he thinks stage 2) and they are too agressive for the street, way too loud at idle, and his car idles too high. They would probably be a little quiter with a good tune. What would you think would be the differance in horsepower gains on a n/a engine stage 1 vs stage 2? Unfourtanetly I cant afford to have the heads p&p at the same time. I do plan on nitrous in the future so maybe stage 2 would be better. I'm gonna check out that sound clip of the stage 2's.

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unless you are going for a purpose built nitrous motor, you are best off by building a nice performing n/a motor then adding the nitrous. so with that said, stage II's in my opinion would be best. of course that's the same thing i'm doing in the next month just got a nice bonus so i have to do something with the extra money

oh & btw - a over head cam motor with cams is completely different than a pushrod motor with a cam. you can't even begin to compare the two, trying to come to a conclusion on what you want/need.
as far as power, i've seen dyno sheets from a couple stage I dyno's, for instance bill putnam gained 22 rwhp with stage ones, & the highest i've seen has been 33 rwhp gain with the stage I's. & like nick said the guys over at modular depot are much more well informed about cams than here, so that's your best shot at getting more info there are a few around here that know what they are talking about in the tech section & nick is one of them good luck with it