I'm looking at performance bolt on mods for my truck and my dad is not understanding how the idea is feasable. His idea for more power is a new camshaft and maybe a chip for the valve duration and timing for new cam. So bolt on or as the saying goes "cam it up?" I've exhausted my limited knowledge on bolt ons.

I've read the results, but I need help explaining the hows of an FIPK, and a new exhaust will produce more power if the cam is stock and the valve duration hasn't changed.

And how can you put more air into an engine with a new FIPK and not change out the intake and the valve duration for the new mass of air coming in?

TIA

P.S. I may have more questions later, so beware!

 

tell your dad that your truck has two cams and the 4.6 works better with a supercharger or pull that pos 4.6 out get the tranny from the 4.2 and put in a 5.0 and have a nice day

 

"Tis the Question!" MHAHAHAHAHA

 

71 hits and 2 replies? Did I just stumble into an "unknown" realm?

 

It seems to me no one on this site was alive when the true muscle machines were roaming this planet. Maybe we have to resurrect someone who really knows how to put power in todays engines. When you put a cam in with more lift and duration then the stock engine had you went to the quarter mile strip to test the improvement. But this was back when a 327 ci was in the old lady's car she drove to church.

 

Silent Bob, Rather than change the cams on your 97 4.6L, I would change to PI heads with the PI cams. A cam change is a big job on these trucks and you will still not see much difference without the PI heads to go with the cams. Just my 2 cents.

 

If you put much of a cam (I doubt you can even by them) in these engines I seriously doubt they would even run. With the funky readings MANY sensors would see, I can't even see it starting up, and it sure as heck would never see closed loop. The only way that you could get away with that is with the PI heads as previously mentioned. I think your best bet is to do the same that everyone else does. Fipk, exhaust, gears, chip or tuner, blower etc.

Now to really answer your question, you have to think back to Volumetric Efficeincy. Volumetric Efficeincy(VE) is the ratio of how much air/fuel actually fills the cyl. to how much could enter the cyl. Remember that a running engine is full of vacuum. On normally aspirated engines, the only thing that pulls the air in is the vacuum. Which if you think about it isn't much of a pull. So if you have an even partially restricted intake/exhaust more vacuum remains and less air will come in. Which in turn means less air/less hp. When you only change the amount of air going into an engine with no other change, you increase your VE. This is exactly how a blower works. All it does is increase your VE. Normal stock engines have a VE of about 75 percent. With a blower you jump up to almost 100%. Now, with boltons such as intakes, exhaust, etc, I suspect you only see an improvement of 2-3%. So maybe this will help you in your advertisement to dad!

 

HI!.... Stock Cam specs:

Non-PI heads:
.466" intake lift
.466" exhaust lift
184 degrees intake duration @.050"
196 degrees exhaust duration @.050"

5.4 PI heads:
.510" intake lift
.530" exhaust lift
184 degrees intake duration @.050"
196 degrees exhaust duration @.050"

MODMAX CAM SPECS :

The numbers they state are:
4.6 & 5.4 SOHC N/A Mild Street Strip
(I) 214@ .050 .525 lift
(E) 214@ .050 .550 lift
and
4.6 & 5.4 SOHC N/A Hi-Perf. Street and Racing
(I) 226@ .050 .525
(E) 235@ .050 .575

 

Hate to show my ignorance but what is a PI Head vs a Non_PI head

 

The pi heads showed up first in 99, correct me if I am wrong. When ford upped the horses for the 99 year this was one of the ways they did it, putting better flowing heads with different cam specs. The 97 and 98 year models have the non pi heads.

 

Got a call from the company that is rebuilding my 00 5.4 engine. As mentioned in previous posts, I am going all out on heavy duty parts, Pistons, Rods, SS Valves, Port & Polish Heads, etc. More money than I care to state here. I already have a Holley S/C in the truck. One of the other items, I wanted to install is a cam, but they told me today that the trans would cause problems. Something about sensors (don't know what they are talking about) Asked about putting something like a TransGo shift kit, and was told this is not the problem. Can anyone explain what the H they are talking about in plain language. In my day when you built an engine, there were no chips, sensors, etc to worry about. Still

 

I too am from the days of no chips. I did talk to a manufacturer from California and George told me you can install a cam that will give you 15% to 20% increase in hp curve and torque curve and still use the stock chip. If you want more you will have to install the cam and take the truck to someone who can burn you a customized chip otherwise the engine will not run. And if you still want more his recommendation was to install mechanical injectors. No mention was made about the transmission being a problem.

https://www.apke.com/ssl/claysmithcams/auto.htm

 

Thanks for the info. Called George this afternoon and also the company building the engine. They will get together tomorrow by phone. Didn't realize when I started this project (orig just a port & polish job) how difficult a 5.4 is to beef up and still remain within California emission limits, also parts are a lot harder to find than for a 4.6 engine.

 

Like I stated once already in my previous post when you cam up these engines many sensors see screwed up readings. THe trans uses many of these same sensors to define shift timing, firmness etc. To my knowledge a chip won't correct the prob. A special set of sensors to compensate for lopy idle and crazy map readings is only answer. I don't think a certain set of sensors is avail.

 

HD2NV89

When you find out about the transmission question(s) would you let us know?