Which aftermarket cam is closest to stock drive-ability?

doctorj357 · Oct 22, 2019

Does anyone know which aftermarket cam profile is closest to stock? Like a Steeda #19 or something?

Labora · Oct 22, 2019

Crane 2041 drove fine with stock ECU for me but it is meant for GT40 heads/intake.

Would be helpful if you posted your setup, and also most cams can drive fine with a tune.

VibrantRedGT · Oct 22, 2019

Split duration preferred and high LSA (113-116) and you'll never have an idle issue ever.

Not sure if they make the 2041 anymore but I do remember it was popular back in the day. The a Steeda #19 was designed for 94-95 ECC with high lobe of 115.
https://www.steeda.com/steeda-number-19-mustang-camshafts-063-0019.html

There is a cam stick in the 94-95 forum above. Lots of specs.

doctorj357 · Oct 22, 2019

Yeah I guess that would be prudent huh?

Edelbrock
Intake / UPPER [PN: 3821]
LOWER [PN: 3820]
Heads [PN: 60379] '1.90 Intake/1.60 Exhaust, 1.460 Spring Diameter, 0.575 Spring Max Lift'

Ford Racing
Cam E303 [PN: M-6250-E303]

Crane
Rocker Arms [PN: 11746-16] '1.6 ratio'

This is how the original owner set the car up in 1997. Still sporting the stock maf, injectors, ecu. I'm the 3rd owner so i had to chase a lot of this information down from the available paperwork provided with the sale + I later got in contact with the original owner.

When I got the car, its running pig rich and gotten rotten mileage. I just chalked that up to 'well its still running the stock ecu, it really needs to be tuned'. I identified a lot of other small items that were wrong/failed due to age and spent the past year fixing all that stuff, but still always ran rich and mpg's in the dumper. As of recent I started losing coolant somewhere, no leaks, no james-bond smoke screen out the tailpipe. Just no idea where its going. I'm not having any pwr issues, nor any cooling issues either. I decided to do a cylinder balance test and cylinders 1,2,3,4,5,7 all came up. I'm going to do a compression test next, but will likely be pulling the heads anyway this winter.

While I'm at it, I'm not overly fond of the e303 and was thinking about going to a milder profile. I get that it can be tuned correctly, but even when tuned the idle is still gonna be upwards of 800-1000 and will still periodically surge by design. While I don't want to go entirely back to stock, I do miss the low rpm idling from a stock setup. Plus I'm looking to add more drivability to the car.

VibrantRedGT · Oct 22, 2019

Ugh, the alphabet cams. They are so dated and not really meant for the 94-95 cars.

Don't know how you got away with stock injectors and MAF this long. That stuff is good up to maybe 250HP. Car would gain with say a 80MM MAF and 70MM Throttle body.

I wouldn't run the stock cam on Intake and Heads motor. If you don't like the cam, change it to something better. Crower 15511 is a baby cam with high LSA and split duration. I ran this in my 94GT with N/A and with a Vortech S-Trim Blower. Car still had rock solid idle always. I increased the lift using 1.72 rockers.

There are plenty 94-95 ECC cams out there. Can go extreme and get a custom made from FTI. The gains are insane when you do it that way but pricey.

revhead347 · Oct 22, 2019

doctorj357 said:
Does anyone know which aftermarket cam profile is closest to stock? Like a Steeda #19 or something?

The Steeda #19 is going to idle and drive basically like stock. Not a bad choice at all. If that is your goal, I agree with your original assesment.

Kurt

jozsefsz · Oct 22, 2019

Running pig-rich with lots of smoke out the tailpipe (white smoke may actually be fuel and not coolant) and most of your cylinders failing the test - perhaps because of not-enough fuel - tells me you might have one or more stuck-open injectors, possibly on 6 or 8. I'd pull the fuel rail, energize the pump, and see if there are any injectors stuck wide open. Beats swapping cams and pulling heads, unless you need to.

doctorj357 · Oct 22, 2019

Well maybe I miss stated it, but I have 'no' smoke out the tailpipe. As for the injectors, I pulled the upper intake to redo the seal on it, and decided to try different injectors. Came across a set of new Bosch 19lb 'EV6' injectors for $20. Couldn't say no to that and they should flow a little better, like maybe......20lbs? But even still, that's probably marginal for my setup.

Long story short, I'm the 3rd owner on the car. I found out the original owner pulled the top end apart due to a detonation issue, and never got around to putting it back together. 2nd owner comes along, pretends to really like the car and buys it AS-IS. Pays a mechanic to slap it back together and sell it to some sucker 'me' thinking the engine was never apart to begin with

Down the road I'm troubleshooting some vacuum leaks, and thought make I should check the intake. Holy hell the bolts were finger tight. Whatever jerkwad mechanic wheeler dealer '2nd owner' used to put it back together, didn't follow through any torque specs. Then the coolant starts disappearing. I think, you know the heads were off on this car, if they f'd up the most basic of not even torquing the intake bolts, what else did they do wrong.

So yeah, I need to pull the heads because I don't know what was done to it. I mean it sucks, but at least if I do it myself I can assure the work gets done right. And I'd like to refresh the heads anyway cause its got 45k on it with that e cam already. I'd like to make sure it will last another 45k. Of course while its apart, prime opportunity address anything else I don't like, like a cam, and maybe bump to 24lb injectors while the rail is off.

I"m in Michigan so the weather has done turned crappy. Snow will be here in a few weeks, the car aint going anywhere for a while so I got a winter project ahead of me

jozsefsz · Oct 23, 2019

I've had very bad luck with the Bosch pencil-style injectors. Specifically with them sticking open. If those are in there now, definitely check them, mine went into the trash-bin after the 3rd one stuck and I never got the cylinder balance test to pass. Not saying don't pull the heads if you think it's warranted, there just isn't much in there worth looking-at unless you're sure you have a blown head-gasket (a leak-down test can help verify). Springs, seals, etc. can all be replaced with heads-on, and you can look around with a $15 borescope. And you don't have to pull them to swap a cam. Of course do whatever you think is warranted, just tossing out a suggestion or two if you wanted to avoid the work - and to help make sure once you go through all the trouble, it doesn't turn out to be something simple that's still there after you get it all back together.

Which aftermarket cam is closest to stock drive-ability?

doctorj357

Labora

VibrantRedGT

"STANGNET'S PENGUIN SMACKER"

doctorj357

VibrantRedGT

"STANGNET'S PENGUIN SMACKER"

revhead347

Apparently my ex-husband made that mistake.

jozsefsz

doctorj357

jozsefsz

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Which aftermarket cam is closest to stock drive-ability?

"STANGNET'S PENGUIN SMACKER"

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