I am really wanting to do a cam swap. I have heard some poeple say that on the trucks they pull the engine to put it in? And some say they just put it in throught the front of the truck. Is it easy to install it through the front of the truck? What is involved in pulling apart the front of the truck, is it gonna be a pain in the ***? I was thinking about some 1.7RR, but wont something like a Crane 2030 or an E303 make a much bigger difference than some RR? And with one of these cam, how much power increase can I expect? I will get m ychip reburned and everything, but for $165 for an E303, that seems to be a little to good to be true. What is yall input here?

 

how many miles on your engine? might be better to wait tell rebuild time.

roller rockers are much easier,

i think there is better cams for a heavy pickup than a E303. i think a stock mustang cam would be better(cheap on ebay).

if it was mine i would wait tell i had everything else done first headers and heads or rebuild time.

1.7 roller rockers get my vote

 

My engine has 78k miles on it, and when I did a compression test and it was excellent. Plus judging by my dyno pulls, it seems that it is real helpful.

 

There is in fact, a lot more money involved in a cam swap than must the cam itself. The intake and everything in between needs to be removed, valve covers, etc. So you will need new gaskets for all of those pieces. However, the heads do not need to be removed, there is a special tool that you stick in the spark plug hole I believe, and this holds the valve in place while you change the springs (another thing you will need for sure) to higher rate springs that will resist valve float at the higher rpm and lift that you will be seeing. Unless you see physical wear, I would think the rockers, guidplates, pushrods, etc could be reused. Also, you will have to take into account labor charges if you are having someone else do this, or the extra tools to degree the cam and make sure all the rocker clearances are appropriate if you decided to do the work yourself. For working on a cam inside the vehicle, most people just remove the fanshrowd and radiator. With the 302 being so small, I don't believe you even have to remove the grill work, something that is not possible on the larger big block engines.

 

If it is that involved, maybe I will just buy soem 1.7RR, will these even make a noticeable difference?

 

I have been considering the same thing...However, my engine isn't in my truck so I am going ahead and doing the cam. What I have found out is that with stock heads the maximum flow is about .440 inches. Anthing over that will give an increase, but it will be minimal. If you search around on the net you can view individual bench flows of stock heads and they do drop off in the upper end. There will also be a reduction in friction from the roller tips. I would imagine you could see 20HP on a modification like this if you were runing a low lift cam with aftermarket heads like trick flow, ebock, GT40. From what most people tell me they don't give enough HP increase to justify the expense and hassel on stock flow heads. Your dyno numbers were actually quite impressive, certainly more than I expected. With that in mind, You should probably look into getting some sort of header whether it be long tube or short. Those stock manifolds are like breathing through straws. I am trying to find long tubes that still have the o2 bung in them. After that, it appears that you will need to kick out some serious cash and time in order to get those go fast parts (internal). However, im no expert on any of this...just finding out while I go along.

 

I 1.7RR on monday for my other truck (dakota sport, yeah, yeah i know). They shipped them on monday so with any luck they will be here tomorrow and i'll install them saturday night. I'll let you know how much of a difference it makes. I've heard they add up to 35hp on a v8 engine, that would take about 3/10's of a second off your quarter mile time.

-Jon

 

I wouldn't be so optimistic to say that adding 1.7 RR would add 35 hp. That would be a number you could expect by getting a nice set of free flowing heads. Realistically, I would think more in the neighborhood of 10-15 tops for these engines. However, I would also like to think that adding 35 hp (rear wheel) would shave more than just 3/10 of a second off the quarter mile time. Thirty-five hp is a substantial increase. I have heard from one person who knocked almost a full second off their quarter mile time by adding some aluminum heads, which add about 25-35 rwhp. I think it depends on how much hp you have to start with. If you're going from a relatively stock 302, a 35 hp increase will be much more beneficial and noticeable than if you already have a fire breathing monster under the hood. Just my .02.

 

TF, was your Edelbrock upper/lower intake worth the money, did you notice any improvements. I know you posted this a while back, but Iwant to see what you think now. I am thinking that before I really dig into the engine, I will do some sort of headers, upper/lower intake, e-fans, 1.7RR, and then in college after summer gears. Then I will really dig into it.

 

From the dyno runs that I'ver seen, he 1.7 roller rockers will only add about 10 peak HP. What is more important is that they add power throughout the entire RPM range of the engine, not just at peak. Will you be able to "feel" it? Probably not, it depends on how well calibrated the seat of your pants is. You will be able to measure it though. Your 1/4 mile times should drop by 0.1 or so and your fuel mileage will probably improve a bit. There is simply no single bolt on (other than a blower or giggle gas) that is going to give you big performance increases.

 

Beastie,

Your question is very subjective. I guess it depends on how much $500 is worth to you and how badly you want to see improvements, whatever/wherever they might be. So to answer your question, I'll try and explain exactly what I noticed from the intake manifold and then let you decide if you want to spend $500 or so on it.

I noticed no difference from idle-2000 rpm with the manifold. From 2000-3000 rpm, I noticed a slight drop in power. But from 3000-4500 rpm, I can really feel the engine pick up and the torque is noticeably stronger through that range. In all honesty, this manifold works much better when you also have the heads, but then again, the heads work much better if you have this manifold. Ideally, it's best to install both components at the same time so that you gain power throughout the entire rpm range. Your cam and heads are the cornerstone of your engine's characteristics. Manifolds and other bolt-ons compliment and improve these characteristics and allow them to realize their full potential. I was aware of this, but I couldn't afford the heads at the time, but I wanted something since the chip didn't work out like I hoped. Looking back, do I think my gain is worth $500+? As a college student, probably not. But am I happy with the manifold? I would say I am. This is definitely a key piece to the puzzle of trying to build a reliable, strong engine. However, I would buy a good set of headers before I would buy the intake manifold. I hope this helps.

 

I guess it depends on the engine, they say about 30-35HP for a dodge magnum V8. 35hp won't take too much off your 1/4 time, i think i only gained about half a second when i started running a 50hp shot of nitrous.

-Jon

 

How much horsepower were you making before the nitrous? You weren't running nitrous on your truck were you? Anyhow, I don't think there is a set time that you shave from your 1/4 time by adding a given amount of horsepower. I think a lot depends on how heavy the vehicle is and how much horespower the vehicle has before the addition as well as where in the power band the horsepower is gained.

I drove my friend's truck last night. He has the same truck as I do, same year, 4x4, same engine, same transmission, same body style, and the same lift. Only difference is that he's got 3.55 gears whereas I have 4.10 but he's got 2" smaller tires as well. However, the only performance mods. he has are a K&N replacement filter and a flowmaster muffler with dual tips. I don't have that may mods. and I wouldn't wager to say that I have more than 50 hp than his truck, but it's like night and day difference driving our trucks. I'll be darned if my truck isn't at least a second and a half quicker in the 1/4 mile than his. I think it just varies case by case.

 

Your right it has everything to do with the weight of the vehicle.

Yeah i'm running nitrous on my little dodge dakota sport. It makes about 250hp without the nitrous (it's only a V6), with the RR's and a few other mods i have planned for next week i should be around 300hp before the nitrous. I'm also looking into fabricating a twin turbo setup for it. As it is right now it will take out a v6 mustang and pretty much any other truck out on the road. As long as it can beat all those little imports with the wings i'll be happy.

It's just hard to spend money on the dodge and rebuild the ford at the same time...

-Jon

 

Wow, 250 hp without the nitrous or the RR's and it's the V6? What have you done to it already? The V6 comes with about 170 hp stock right? Just curious, I know it's not Dakotaonline.com