[Spartan232]

I have a stock 5.0L in my 95 Mustang. It is worn plum out. Has 190k miles on it.
I am going to go one of two different directions.

Either buy a new 5.0 motor, or completely rebuild the old motor.

Now, that being said, I am wanting to add an E303 cam into the equation.

So, would it be more beneficial and more of a horse power gain to rebuild the old motor and add the cam to it, or buy the new motor and add the cam to it? Ive priced it both ways and the prices come out to nearly the same, the difference will be in down time. I do need my car to drive.

[Mustang Boy]

i along with probably everyone else who reads this will say an E303 is a waste of money if your trying to get any real power out of the motor.

now as for which direction you should go how much power are you looking to get? will the new motor be a stock motor or a performance crate motor?

if you are going for performance i would rebuild your motor that way you can get exactly what you want out of it.

[Spartan232]

So, for a stock motor application, not a performance motor, what cam is recommended to gain some HP out of it?

[centipede3001]

letter cams arnt bad! they just arnt the best

[Puffy93]

You are probably going to want to rebuild the old one. If you are putting a cam in it you are going to want to other things as well such as porting and polishing, better flowing intake, and end exhaust. I don't have the numbers of the E303 and am not sure how much larger it is than stock. The engine is basically built to work with that cam best. I'm not saying don't upgrade the cam but if that's all you do there's a chance you could lose more power than you gain. That's why I would rebuild it instead of buy a new one and have to tear it down to have the work done. That's just my oppinion and some peoples may be different.

[Cobraman1024]

nothing wrong with the E303, I've got in my '95 Cobra w/ 213,000+ miles. I didn't even rebuild the engine, just replaced all of the gaskets and seals and ported/rebuilt the GT40 heads with a valve job. If you want to use a Cobra intake, I'd recommend sending it out to Tom Moss so he can work some magic on it before installing it. See my sig for the numbers.
As far as a rebuild goes, why not bore it out to a 306 while you're at it, get some more torque out of it? Or go a little bigger like a 331?

[Spartan232]

Well, all that helps. I guess im going to just do a rebuild and eat the down time

[centipede3001]

Originally Posted by Cobraman1024 nothing wrong with the E303, I've got in my '95 Cobra w/ 213,000+ miles. I didn't even rebuild the engine, just replaced all of the gaskets and seals and ported/rebuilt the GT40 heads with a valve job. If you want to use a Cobra intake, I'd recommend sending it out to Tom Moss so he can work some magic on it before installing it. See my sig for the numbers. As far as a rebuild goes, why not bore it out to a 306 while you're at it, get some more torque out of it? Or go a little bigger like a 331?

+1

[centipede3001]

and the ecam had a 498 lift if that helps you puffy93

[Cobraman1024]

One other thing; the E303 cam with 1.6 rockers has .498" lift. Using it with 1.7 rockers yields .529" lift and is generally good for a 10hp/15lbft gain over the 1.6 rockers with the GT40 heads.

[69fastback]

Anything but a letter cam......If you just want an OTS cam, Comp makes some much, much better grinds than a letter cam.

[Cobraman1024]

Originally Posted by 69fastback Anything but a letter cam......If you just want an OTS cam, Comp makes some much, much better grinds than a letter cam.

All I know is that the E303 sounds pretty fuckin' good in my combination. It doesn't all have to be about the best power gains, sometimes a lopey idle is enough to just make you feel good about owning a 5.0.

[69fastback]

Well, I guess if sounding fast and going slow makes you happy.....kudos


Sound is a bi product of an efficient cam. I would rather sound slow, and be fast.

[RDY4WAR]

Originally Posted by 69fastback Anything but a letter cam......If you just want an OTS cam, Comp makes some much, much better grinds than a letter cam.

I have to agree with this statement. I'm running a Comp XE270HR-12 cam in my '93 5.0 and it's an amazing cam. The lift is .512" with the 1.6 rockers and .540" with 1.7 rockers.

[Cobraman1024]

Originally Posted by 69fastback Well, I guess if sounding fast and going slow makes you happy.....kudos Sound is a bi product of an efficient cam. I would rather sound slow, and be fast.

Doesn't take much google searching to find out who is going fast with an E303 cam.........then again, I guess anything is slow when compared to your 408 so whats your point?

[Cobraman1024]

Originally Posted by RDY4WAR I have to agree with this statement. I'm running a Comp XE270HR-12 cam in my '93 5.0 and it's an amazing cam. The lift is .512" with the 1.6 rockers and .540" with 1.7 rockers.

so........don't keep us in suspense, whats so amazing about this cam? times? numbers? Just the fact that it was able to be installed into your engine?

[RDY4WAR]

Originally Posted by Cobraman1024 so........don't keep us in suspense, whats so amazing about this cam? times? numbers? Just the fact that it was able to be installed into your engine?

My dad's '89 GT. He had an E303 cam at first and the idle was rough, it didn't accelerate smooth at all, it seemed weak of power in lower rpm and seemed to fall on it's face above 5k. His best run with that cam and I forget what other mods at the time was a 12.8. He swapped in a Comp XE270 cam and it was like a night and day difference. The car idled much better, it felt alot stronger in lower rpm and kept pulling hard all the way through the rpm range, and it accelerated alot smoother. His best pass with the Comp 270 was a 12.6 with 2mph higher trap speed. Not a substantial difference in the 1/4 but the driveability was alot better. I drove the car quite a bit with both cams and I definitely loved the Comp cam over the E cam.

[69fastback]

Originally Posted by Cobraman1024 Doesn't take much google searching to find out who is going fast with an E303 cam.........then again, I guess anything is slow when compared to your 408 so whats your point?

I'm not comparing anything to my 408. Letter cams are old technology. It's been covered over and over again. There are much better grinds out there now that technology and information have advanced. If you're happy with yours, great. Be happy. If someone who hasn't bought one yet asks about it, there are much better options. I'll save the google search. I know what E cams are/aren't capable of. I personally don't think mid 12s is fast, considering there are multiple cars you can buy off the showroom floor that will run that. Including the new 5.0.