Would somebody please post the original specs for the cam in a 1994, 5L, EFI truck motor, installed a E-303 @ 282deg. advertised or 220 actual and 0.498 lift @ 110 lobe center has not improved 1/4 mile time from start to mid, but picked up 5 mph at the end , lost all my lower to mid power and torque and runs a slower time in the 1/4 mile finish.

 

Just my .02, but you don't pick up 5 mph trap speed by losing power. You might want to consider track conditions, weather, etc in the times you ran, and if you ran enough times to show any kind of consistency.

I don't argue that you may have lost SOME low end, but that trap speed indicates you're average torque curve is making it up. What RPM are you going through the traps at? .... or trap speed and gear ratio/tire size?

 

Amen. 5 MPH represents a huge HP gain. Now you have to gt the rest of your driveline matched to the new engine.

Kidd, there's a reason they sell truck-specific cams. What you're discovering is a cam designed for a relatively light vehicle like a Mustang will not produce optimum results in a much heavier truck even though it makes about the same HP gains. You didn't say whether you had a manual or an automatic. If you've got the slushbox, you're going to need a converter with a higher stall speed, ortherwise you aren't going to be getting the engine into the RPM range of the new cam. You're going to need bigger gears regardless of your transmission. If you're not running at least 4.10s, that cam won't have a chance. If you're running taller than stock tires, you're going to need a lot more gear

 

The truck has shift kit (TransGo), Stock Heads pocket ported with GT-40 springs, E-303 cam, 3.55 LS, stock tires (29"tall) MSD 6AL w/TFI Blaster Coil, K&N FIPK Kit, F/M single in dual out muffler,Ford Racing 9mm Wires.

July12,02 ran a best of : 60'-2.468, 330-6.974, 1/8-10.749@65.29
990-14.048, 1/4-16.914@77.87

May10,03 ran a best of : 60'-2.535, 330-7.107, 1/8-10.915@64.55
990-14.290, 1/4-17.225@76.09
- 9:01pm, 73 deg., R.H. 84, A.B. 28.79

: 60'-2.485, 330-7.079, 1/8-10.922@64.11
990-14.306, 1/4-17.245@75.99
- 1:26pm, 72 deg., R.H. 93, A.B. 29.71

: 60'-2.855, 330-7.459, 1/8-11.292@64.47
990-14.557, 1/4-17.340@80.01 ????
- 5:55pm, did not print out

So where did I go wrong, need some help on this one, only change has been the stock cam to the E-303 ????
What cam should I be looking at ???

 

a 2.8 60ft, were you really spinning hard? When I went to the strip, I was pulling of 2.4s spinning with 3.31 gears. Your mph show the truck is pulling its *** off with the new cam. What were the conditions like during the different times you went out.

 

Beastie, the temp. and relative humidity are below the times in each case it just seems to me I should have been runing a lot better all the way , start to finish but I was not , my start to at least mid was slower now, than it was with the stock cam. I have since installed a 2200 to 2400 stall converter and I also am going to try run 26" cas car slicks next time out

 

In the following numbers, I'm assuming you've got an AOD-E with the close ratio gears; the RPM for wide ratio gears or an E4OD are in parenthesis immediately after the close ratio RPM.

With 3.55s and 29" tires @ 70 MPH you're going thru the traps at about 4400 RPM (4650 RPM) in 2nd. That cam has nothing below 2500 and peaks somewhere around 5500 .

The higher stall converter will help your launch a lot and therefore will drop your ETs quite a bit. That still doesn't solve the RPM problem. You need to get the engine up into the top of it's powerband in 2nd as you go through the lights. With 4.10s, you'd be at about 5100 (5400) @ 70 MPH in 2nd. That means you'd be pulling thru the sweet spot in your engines power curve twice per run instead of just once and you'd spend less time getting there.

The 26" slicks will show you what effect pulling more gear would have. They'd be equivalent to running about a 3.90 gearset. But t they really won't solve a thing. If they work like you expect, they still won't make your truck any quicker on the street. You should really make a run or two with your stock tires and the new converter to see how much the converter helped then swap to the slicks and see what difference they make. If you change more than one thing at a time, you'll never know what helps and what doesn't.

 

StrangeRanger, thanks for the info , my tran. is AOD-E with wide ratio as indicated on the unit with a 'W". I will know this week-end if I am getting the 4.10 gear set but I will make the first passes with street tires then put the 26" on to see the diff. I hope this will solve my problem and that I do not have to R&R the cam again. I am also looking for a set of GT-40 heads but will be installing Long tube headers, "X" pipe and duals to help with the lower end power loss

 

That's way too much duration for a truck, especially with an AOD-E. Like StrangeRanger said, the E303 was designed for mustangs (I own three of them) not a truck. You surely can make it work, but it is not optimized for your application and will never work as well as a cam suited to the trucks needs. You should look at a cam with duration in the neighborhood of 258-266 max with some healthy lift and an aggressive ramp rate to take advantage of the roller lifters, open it quick as high as you can and then bring it down slow, minimize the overlap. The lift is where you will get the gains not big duration. But hey, to each his own, just my opinion based on exhaustive research and my truck motor project.

 

Kidd, the Ford E-303 is really a Crane 2040 so you can get full info on Crane's website.

You're right Pony, 282° of duration sure doesn't help anything. With a roller you can pull quite a bit more duration than you can with a flat tappet cam but in a heavy vehicle probably not that much. Crane doesn't even recommend the 2040 for use with an automatic. Crane's truck power (flat) cam is 260°/272° with .456"/.484" lift. For a roller with mongo mid-range their 2030 is 270°/278° with .533"/.544" lift. For a bit more top end with good mid-range the 2031 is 276°/82° at .513/.529. All of these cams have 112° lobe centers vs. the 110° for the E-303/Crane 2040. I suspect it's the lobe center angle as much as the duration that's killing Kidd's low range performance.

Here's a thought. (FLY THIS IDEA THROUGH THE CAM TECHS AT CRANE BEFORE YOU DO IT) If you were to advance the camshaft 2° to 4° you would lower the power band of the engine by several hundred RPM. It might help, it might cause computer problems. You need to ask.

 

strange ranger, where did you get so much knowlege about cams?? Mabey you could help me, I am going to be putting a cam in my mustang. It is a 73 with a cleveland. When I put the cam in there will be roughly 10:1 compression and mildly ported stock heads. Personally I want the thing to really twist. I would like to convert to a roller setup, is there a way that you can get more revs without valve float?? thanks

 

I think that's a very good idea. 4.10's are still necessary, but advancing the valve timing would help as well.

Take care,
~Chris