Not trying to rehash any of the cam debates I've looked through on here or on other Mustang sites, and a lot of that information is now getting on 1-2 decades old so a lot of the information is outdated... specifically on parts availability. I tried to make this short and to the point but I think I failed. lol
I've just gone through and finally bought all the remaining parts I need to replace on my '89 vert to make it an actual decent car to occasionally live in, and I've got about $1100 left in the budget for misc stuff... I'd like to only really spend about half of what is remaining, but we shall see where this goes. Just to get a picture, someday I'd love to slap in some forged pistons and put a centrifugal blower on this thing, I am not interested in a turbo... end goal maybe 200-250 hp... but currently I'd be happy with 110-120 hp (and would not complain if I got more). I am not interested in drag racing, just being able to enjoy some twisty roads. I've pulled about 100 lbs out of this car so far so we're dealing with about 2800-2900 lb curb weight.
So given the budget, I do not want to add the cost of an aftermarket ECU right now and I want the most I can get without upsetting the computer. What cam specs are the most important for it to be agreeable to the stock ECU? I'm assuming I should throw in some 19 lb injectors, and replace springs and (obviously) lifters. I saw posts out there hinting that retaining a higher LSA is critical to keep up idle vacuum. If I went out and bought a Ranger R cam from Big R Motorsports, would this be a "drop in" cam or is tuning necessary for something like that? (Intake 188° @ .050” Exhaust 190° @ .050”, LCA 111°, Lift .442”) Looking at all the cams on Summit and Jeggs and the other sites, which are supposed to be NA cams, I have my doubts that they'd play nice... even the smaller cams all seem to run a 110° LSA. Anybody actually know what the stock NA cam specs are for these cars? I don't need any lope and I'd be plenty happy with a larger lobe separation if that made things work.
Supporting mods at this point will just be a ranger header (no EGR) and a 2.5" muffler and tailpipe with the stock ~2.25" intermediate pipe with a stock cat... and yes I understand that headwork will make all the gains that much better... that's pretty clearly out of the budget as well.
As far as actually swapping a cam, does one need to lift the motor in order to pull the cam, or can you remove enough in front of the engine to squeeze it out, or is it really best to just pull the whole head and assemble on the bench? I've only swapped one cam before, and it was a 3.8L V6 Camaro... there were miles of room in front of the block and it was just about the most drop in thing you could do... lifters and cam was all it needed to go from stock to over 510 lift... went 60k miles like that before I sold it while still running like a proverbial dog stung in the butt by a bee. (no Gorillas were harmed)
Any advice on anything in my rambling is appreciated... pulling the block and making this a big project is simply not feasible this year, and I really don't want a JY 2.3T... the blower scenario only happens if I can really get a good second wind at the build budget anyway. I fully understand this is not the path for making wads of power. I've had plenty of quick cars over the years... this one to me is not intended to even beat a civic, I want to build the 2.3 that Ford should have built as the base engine.
I've just gone through and finally bought all the remaining parts I need to replace on my '89 vert to make it an actual decent car to occasionally live in, and I've got about $1100 left in the budget for misc stuff... I'd like to only really spend about half of what is remaining, but we shall see where this goes. Just to get a picture, someday I'd love to slap in some forged pistons and put a centrifugal blower on this thing, I am not interested in a turbo... end goal maybe 200-250 hp... but currently I'd be happy with 110-120 hp (and would not complain if I got more). I am not interested in drag racing, just being able to enjoy some twisty roads. I've pulled about 100 lbs out of this car so far so we're dealing with about 2800-2900 lb curb weight.
So given the budget, I do not want to add the cost of an aftermarket ECU right now and I want the most I can get without upsetting the computer. What cam specs are the most important for it to be agreeable to the stock ECU? I'm assuming I should throw in some 19 lb injectors, and replace springs and (obviously) lifters. I saw posts out there hinting that retaining a higher LSA is critical to keep up idle vacuum. If I went out and bought a Ranger R cam from Big R Motorsports, would this be a "drop in" cam or is tuning necessary for something like that? (Intake 188° @ .050” Exhaust 190° @ .050”, LCA 111°, Lift .442”) Looking at all the cams on Summit and Jeggs and the other sites, which are supposed to be NA cams, I have my doubts that they'd play nice... even the smaller cams all seem to run a 110° LSA. Anybody actually know what the stock NA cam specs are for these cars? I don't need any lope and I'd be plenty happy with a larger lobe separation if that made things work.
Supporting mods at this point will just be a ranger header (no EGR) and a 2.5" muffler and tailpipe with the stock ~2.25" intermediate pipe with a stock cat... and yes I understand that headwork will make all the gains that much better... that's pretty clearly out of the budget as well.
As far as actually swapping a cam, does one need to lift the motor in order to pull the cam, or can you remove enough in front of the engine to squeeze it out, or is it really best to just pull the whole head and assemble on the bench? I've only swapped one cam before, and it was a 3.8L V6 Camaro... there were miles of room in front of the block and it was just about the most drop in thing you could do... lifters and cam was all it needed to go from stock to over 510 lift... went 60k miles like that before I sold it while still running like a proverbial dog stung in the butt by a bee. (no Gorillas were harmed)
Any advice on anything in my rambling is appreciated... pulling the block and making this a big project is simply not feasible this year, and I really don't want a JY 2.3T... the blower scenario only happens if I can really get a good second wind at the build budget anyway. I fully understand this is not the path for making wads of power. I've had plenty of quick cars over the years... this one to me is not intended to even beat a civic, I want to build the 2.3 that Ford should have built as the base engine.
But assuming the above doesn't have a perfect quick answer, I emailed Big R and their response indicates that the cam is a drop in part just requiring roller rockers and the obvious springs and lifters and the ECU will be just fine... I think I'll be making a purchase. Will post results when I get around to it.
