[96lx]

will these cams work in our engines? (namely my 96 lx)

http://www.compcams.com/Technical/Curre ... /58-61.asp

 

[James92Scort]

I don't think they will... call em up and ask though... never hurts, right?

 

[1Sleepy93]

Stops at 1990 which is the last year before cam position sensors on the CVH. So no it won't work.

 

[gt19ho]

You can send comp you old cam and have it re-ground. They did mine a while back.

 

[PonyExpress]

hopefully they are aware that the escort cams have heat pressed on lobes and when they heat tem up to re-weld more metal they know that the lobes will shift around and fall right off the camshaft.

 

[PonyExpress]

upon looking at the provided link, those arent even cams for your engine type. those are for the Lima engines, the pinto, ranger, mustang, thunderbird, cougar 2.0/2.3 OHC engines.

 

[Flyguyeddy]

are you sure that the lobes are pressed on? it looks like a solid cast piece to me (if i can remember correctly)

 

[PonyExpress]

pretty sure they are. looking at the stock 91 cam i have here..

 

[1Sleepy93]

So in reallity we can't get our stock cams reground. The only other option would be to get an aftermarket cam. Now that leads me to two questions.
1. Hydraulic or hydraulic roller cam?
2. What's the ideal amount of lift/duration for a mild/slightly wild but still civil daily driver?

I ask since you have one of the Crane cams.

 

[PonyExpress]

well, you could send your cam out for them to TRY and weld onto it to regrind.. it seems it would be difficult, but doable.

there are some benefits of having roller lifters (like stock since 87), over solid hydraulic ones.

1. less noise. since its a smoother interaction between parts, there is less clanky-ness

2. less wear on the valvetrain componants from reduced friction.

3. typically more horsepower due to the reduced friction.

on the other hand, solid lifters are great for real high rpm engines where the roller bearings might fail.

honestly, in my opinion, there is no real reason why you shouldnt be using a hydraulic roller cam and lifters.. theyre there stock for a reason: they are good.

as far as cam specs for a somewhat crazy but still drivable CVH? id say go .260 lift, .202-intake/.210-exhaust duration at .050 lobe lift. thats less than what i have in my head, so you shouldnt have the rough lopey idle and drivability problems i have had to deal with.

plus thats a big improvment over the stock .405" valve lift/.245 lobe lift. the lift is where youre going to see your biggest improvments in power, as more air is being allowed into the CC. of course a big lift cam is pointless unless the head ports actually flow that much air.

 

[1Sleepy93]

Thanks Pony, I think I have a cam picked out now but will have to wait till I'm ready for the all the headwork to be done to do it. My SPI will be fun here soon. :twisted:

 

[PonyExpress]

headwork+cam+SPI= major wicked fun!

id like to see the specs on that cam if you have them, would be interesting to see how they compare to my cam.

any other questions, feel free to ask me.

 

[Flyguyeddy]

the roller lifters did not become standard till 91. they were sorta hit and miss in the later second gen's. i had a 1990 gt that has regular lifters. (87 head, too)

 

[1Sleepy93]

276/276 dur-.437/.437 lift. Should be fun. I will be modeling the port work after yours. There is a guy near me that is highly recommended by the local hot rodders and my shop. It will all be done at the same time so it will be a few months. Then a year or so down the road it will get turbochaged too.

 

[PonyExpress]

a 90 gt SHOULD have had rollers.. if it had an 87 head, it could have been an early 87, maybe late 86 in which it would have had the flat lifters.

those specs look good, should make for about 5-8% more power.

 

[1Sleepy93]

Do you think the stock ECU will handle the cam and headwork or will I need to chip or go standalone?

 

[PonyExpress]

stock ECM should be fine until you start messing around with fuel pressures, MAF sensors, and injectors and crap.

thats what I did.. changed my MAF from one from another car, had different injectors, way different fuel pressure..

i had to get an ECM from an obd1 95 LX and then tune it with an SAFC to fix my fuel curves that i screwed up.

you should be perfectly fine with the stock componants. If you really wanted to ice the cake, you could always get a superchip or something custom burned to your application, then you would be taking full advantage of what you have.

and that would be my suggestion. now that you'll be sucking inand moving more air around..the ECM can take advantage of that even more with custom chip tuning.