Looking For Cam Advice.

[Norm Clark]

Hey everyone,

I have been gathering parts for a while to rebuild my old oil consuming 5.0 ho. I recently purchased a complete low miles 2000 Explorer 5.0. I have found a Ford B and E cam for cheap on Kijiji ( Canadian Craigslist) I know there are better cams out there, but this is a budget build. Here's the specs and parts:

1989 LX notchback with T5 and 3.55 gears.

2000 Explorer 5.0 with untouched GT40p heads
1.6 Trickflow roller rockers
Edelbrock Performer RPM intake
65mm throttle body (converted explorer)
Stock MAF
19lbs explorer injectors
MSD billet distributer
Mac gt40p shorties
Pypes 2.5 off road x pipe
Flowmaster super 44s with dumps

I realize I will need new valve springs regardless of cam choice. The car is just a fun toy. No track time, not daily driven. Also no smog testing where I'm located.


B or E?

This might be a stupid question, will it require a tune ?

Thank you

 

[mikestang63]

no tune should be needed
I would go with either an Anderson N41 or TFS 1 cam

 

[JD1964]

Check the condition of your stock cam. If it's still decent, I would not throw it away. People will buy it if its the stock HO cam.

 

[a91what]

The cam is the heart of the engine, I would not cheap out here. I would run the stock cam over either letter cam

 

[JD1964]

The cam is the heart of the engine, I would not cheap out here. I would run the stock cam over either letter cam

Ditto

I love the stock HO cam. When I rebuilt the 302 in my boosted 92 hatch, I kept the stock cam and I run 1.7 full roller rockers with it.

On my 93 convertible that had a 306 done by previous owner, I ditched the x cam and put a stock HO cam in. I paid $125 for it on eBay. It’s working fantastic!

 

[sal5.0]

I would get a Racer Brown Cam... They sound badass, check out this video:


View: https://youtu.be/xK6Ya0P-WA0


Like previously stated... Don't cheap out on the Cam. The "E", "B" cams etc, are extremely outdated and don't even perform that well. Hope this helps.

 

[Reddevil91]

What about the TF stage 2 cam?

 

[revhead347]

Ok, I have some suggestions to help with a budget build.

Ditch the MSD pro-billet distributor. Literally no advantage over a stock one, and much more likely fail.

Skip the Performer RPM intake, the one that comes on the Explorer engine will actually be better for stock GT40P heads. The performer RPM is a great intake, but with those heads you'll give up a lot of low end power to try and get high end power that you will never get to before the heads run out of breathe. If you didn't get the intake with the engine, you can find one on ebay in the $150 range.

Use the money you saved on those two items to buy a good cam, a larger MAF, and if at all possible, some better mufflers. I think the other cam recommendations are good. TFS1, Anderson N41, can't go wrong with a Steeda #18. I think the TFS #2 is a little big. Never hesitate to call all the big cam companies for a recommendation. They have customer service to help sell parts; make them work for it. Letter cams just aren't worth it. A stock MAF will choke out any gains. Never buy a muffler you can't see through.

Kurt

 

[FoxMustangLvr]

Ok, I have some suggestions to help with a budget build.

Never buy a muffler you can't see through.

Kurt

Why? Is there any "see through" mufflers that don't sound like azz?

 

[95BlueStallion]

Ok, I have some suggestions to help with a budget build.

Ditch the MSD pro-billet distributor. Literally no advantage over a stock one, and much more likely fail.

Skip the Performer RPM intake, the one that comes on the Explorer engine will actually be better for stock GT40P heads. The performer RPM is a great intake, but with those heads you'll give up a lot of low end power to try and get high end power that you will never get to before the heads run out of breathe. If you didn't get the intake with the engine, you can find one on ebay in the $150 range.

Use the money you saved on those two items to buy a good cam, a larger MAF, and if at all possible, some better mufflers. I think the other cam recommendations are good. TFS1, Anderson N41, can't go wrong with a Steeda #18. I think the TFS #2 is a little big. Never hesitate to call all the big cam companies for a recommendation. They have customer service to help sell parts; make them work for it. Letter cams just aren't worth it. A stock MAF will choke out any gains. Never buy a muffler you can't see through.

Kurt

I have to agree with this. I had ported GT40P's and. Trickflow intake on an otherwise stock shortblock. When I converted it back to stock before I sold it, I was literally amazed how much more torque the car had. Torque is king on the streets. Maybe keep the intake, but sell the distributor and buy a stock one and a good cam with the money.

 

[a91what]

cobra or explorer intake is cheap and still what all street intakes are compared against. For a street car its a no brainer.

 

[FoxMustangLvr]

I have to agree with this. I had ported GT40P's and. Trickflow intake on an otherwise stock shortblock. When I converted it back to stock before I sold it, I was literally amazed how much more torque the car had. Torque is king on the streets. Maybe keep the intake, but sell the distributor and buy a stock one and a good cam with the money.

I wonder if the Edelbrock Performer RPM intake the OP is talking about is the older Performer 5.0 version, not the newer RPM II which caters to the upper rpm range.

My old Eddy Performer intake had "Performer RPM" casted on it, I believe this style was good for low to mid range torque, right?

 

[revhead347]

They are both good intakes for those heads. However, if there is an option to pay $400 or $500 to buy an Eddy intake when the one that is on the engine will do just as well, I would say that's a no brainer.

Kurt

 

[revhead347]

Why? Is there any "see through" mufflers that don't sound like azz?

My Ultraflows sound perfect. If you can see through it, that means the exhaust flows through it better. All those deltaflow, or chambered designs cut down the flow rate a lot.

Kurt

 

[revhead347]

Also, Tmoss will slide an Explorer intake right on past an Eddy for about $150 in port work.

Kurt

 

[88LXSleeper]

Similar set up as mine, 1999 Explorer intake and heads, I used an E cam. Just a little lumpy at idle, pulls good through whole range, pretty happy with it. Would not recommend B cam and keep stock distributor.
View: https://youtu.be/ldrDFD59NQU

 

[FoxMustangLvr]

My Ultraflows sound perfect. If you can see through it, that means the exhaust flows through it better. All those deltaflow, or chambered designs cut down the flow rate a lot.

Kurt

I checked those out, they seem pretty nice. Too bad the Ultra Flo's aren't made for my setup. With Cobra IRS it's required to have offset/offset same side. So that would leave me with possible the Ultra Flo welded round.

 

[revhead347]

I checked those out, they seem pretty nice. Too bad the Ultra Flo's aren't made for my setup. With Cobra IRS it's required to have offset/offset same side. So that would leave me with possible the Ultra Flo welded round.

See if there is a Magnaflow muffler that will work. They make some straight through Mufflers.

Kurt

 

[90sickfox]

I checked those out, they seem pretty nice. Too bad the Ultra Flo's aren't made for my setup. With Cobra IRS it's required to have offset/offset same side. So that would leave me with possible the Ultra Flo welded round.

The mufflers don't have to be offset in and offset out. I run shorty straight through mufflers on my cobra IRS in my fox that are center in center out. Bassani uses the same style mufflers in their kit. The width is where the issue comes in. Mine are narrower than flowmasters ( don't know actual measurement ). I've seen where COBRA guys have the mufflers twisted slightly to clear the driveshaft.

Seeing as the tailpipes are 2.5 inches....one of the computer geniuses here could measure the mufflers using the tail pipe width. That's above my brain grade

 

[FoxMustangLvr]

The mufflers don't have to be offset in and offset out. I run shorty straight through mufflers on my cobra IRS in my fox that are center in center out. Bassani uses the same style mufflers in their kit. The width is where the issue comes in. Mine are narrower than flowmasters ( don't know actual measurement ). I've seen where COBRA guys have the mufflers twisted slightly to clear the driveshaft.

Seeing as the tailpipes are 2.5 inches....one of the computer geniuses here could measure the mufflers using the tail pipe width. That's above my brain grade

I was thinking something like this

I have a Dynomax bullet on my F-150 and it's not super loud and from the reviews I've read these give a mild deep tone.