cam shaft parts
 

Im planning on buying a ford racing e303 cam pretty soon and was wondering if there was any where i can buy all the needed parts to do the swap, liking the timing chain amung other things. This is going to be my first time doing anything with a cam so i need as much info as possible. Am i going to have to lift the motor or can i get it out by taking th radiator and maybe the front fender off??? Am also buying a cobra intake manifold to put on at the same time as the cam...Any other little, cheaper, things i should look into while i got it all apart??? Is the e303 the best emissions legal cam to buy??? Sorry for all the questions but im kind of excited and need to learn what i can before i start. thanks.

Get new lifters if you dont have em already and check your valvetrain out while your in there. make sure you mark your distributor and chain before you remove them because you can really make it harder then it needs to be. Remove your fan, fan shroud, radiator and your front clip to get the cam in safely. Make sure you use some good assembly lube, not oil, to lube the cam journals & lobes, lifters and timing gears. If you dont already have a step-by-step manual, get one! And use ultra-black RTV silicone on the oil pan corners and the front and back of your intake. Dont use those stupid cork gaskets they give you for the pan corners and intake.

is there a kit i can get that has all the parts...like the lifters, timing gears and chain...or do i have to buy them all seperate?

Changing to an E cam, you would not need new lifters unless you had like 150,000 miles on them. same with the springs. But i would not get an E cam. I had one and had nothing but problems with it, bad idle surging and not that great of power.

As said above, check the old lifters first, they're pretty damn durable. Summit used to have a kit with all the gaskets needed for a cam swap (Valve covers, intake, timing cover, front seal,water pump, ect.) but I'm not 100% sure. If your sprockets are still in good shape then you can just get a replacement chain from ford for about $20. If you still have the original valvesprings on your car, I'd reccommend getting a better set. A single spring with a damper will probably do since the E303's lobes aren't really aggressive, just get something with about 110-130lbs of seat pressure and at least 280lbs over the nose.

thanks for the help guys...but if the e303 isnt that good, what is the best cam to get that will still pass emissions with a 5-speed?

cams
 

The TFS Stage-1 is a decent cam. But you're not going to feel or see much of a difference in power if you are just upgrading the cam & intake. The stock cylinder heads work best with the stock cam. You really should wait until you can get some aftermarket heads, cam & intake all at the same time. Otherwise...you could verywell lose some low end torque...and have a jumping, surging idle with very minimal power gains. Even if you can't do all 3 upgrades at the same time...I'd put a little more money into it and do the heads & intake...before doing just the cam & intake. Just my 2 cents.

I agree,with Simi Stang. If you decide later to change heads, then you will have to do it all over again. (except the cam). I have done several cam swaps on 5.0's and almost all of them had some sort of problem with the lifters, later. Thats my luck, but I am sure not everybody has had that kind of luck. But for the 100-120 dollars, I say f--k it, get the new lifters, nothing worse then having problems with the lifters later after you were just there!

As goes for the cam, I would wait till you have the rest of your set-up. Think of it this way,...the cam is the brain, it tells when to have things open and close and how much air to allow to go into an engine. When you have the complete combo, (ported heads and intake or not), a custom made cam will be the best for YOU!
You and your car are unique in your own way, why not get a custom grind cam?
thats my 2 cents

Very rarely do you have to change the lifters.

I like the E-cam. You may have to drill an extra hole in your TB butterfly to get it to idle right but thats about it.

Definitely change the chain.

PM me if you have any problems or ?'s I would be glad to help.

Later,

A few reasons, most of which have a picture of George Washington on them.
A custom ground cam is for an engine you've worked and worked and worked until you have every part working perfectly together, and you're trying to drag that last couple of HP out of it. To go to that expense on a street machine made up of parts that are at least partly mismatched in the first place, just seems a total waste to me ?
Harvey Crane, Ed Iskenderian, Clay Smith, Chet Herbert, Comp, Engle, etc. etc., between them have thousands if not tens of thousands of cam grinds, and they have the years of experience to know which one matches your combination best. IMO

Ok I understand that, but if you compare a comp-cam extreme energy cam, luniti, etc (roller) and a custom grind cam the price is really not that different.(what maybe 40-50 dollars). If you are already that deep into a motor, why not try to at least give it your best shot? I understand that money is an issue (been there done that a hundreds of times). It's just that later you are most likely going to do it again and spend even more money. When I started to get custom grind cams, they were more then just to get most power out of a combo, there were for driveablity reasons as well. Now if the main purpose is just to get that lumpy idle sound, then ok get the cheapest cam that works for your combo.

Now understand this, I am NOT a rich person or even well off but I am firm believer that you give it your best shot at that time, even if you don't have all the money presently, then just wait the most reasonable time you can wait and save. This, I am sure does not work for everybody, but it works for me and if I have to wait an additional 1 month or 1 year to do it right, I will!
This car is simply a toy,(expensive f**kin toy) but simply still a toy. I have a daily driver, so I can offered to make these decisions. Some people have daily drivers that they are modifying which can lead to stressful late nights working on them, so they can go to work the next day.