Looking For Some Winter Upgrade Advise (h/c/i Related)

Chuckman

GTFO you fat, heavy bastard
15 Year Member
Oct 21, 2005
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st. louis, mo
So its that time of year again to start planning my usual winter upgrades, which this year look like theyll be more extensive than usual now that ive sold my house. One of those upgrades may be an 11/12 gt, hence i still have somewhat of a budget, and i still need to rebuild a trans (either the current t5, or the original aod), either a clutch or converter, get some drag radials, and rebuild the trac-lok, along with some other odds and ends.

Anyway, I'm looking into getting my wedge heads fixed up (some of you may remember, my cam bolt backed out a few a years ago and bent every valve, oops), and i figure while im there ill do some other things, which is where i run into questions:

1) I'm looking at maybe swapping out my tfs stage 1 cam to a used (if i can find one) comp xe274, i have the upgraded dual springs in the heads already (bought in 2008, looks like the new upgrade springs are pacs, no idea what the older ones are). will this be enough spring to handle that xe cam up to around 6k or so, or should i spring (hey, look at pun) for the new-style pac springs that look like they keep the same retainers etc, or should i be looking at something else entirely?

2) PTV clearance-i know i'll have to check this to be sure, but what are the actual chances that the xe274 will clear with my stock explorer short-block?

3) My backup plan to finding an xe274 is an xe270, whose advertised duration and lift numbers are much closer to the tfs cam i have now, so would it even be worth looking at swapping to the xe270? Would it even offer a driveability increase over what i have (which i cant get to idle at less than 1000rpm by my not-so-trustworthy stock tach, at least not without stalling when braking for a stoplight/turn)?

4) Car currently has a tfs street intake on it, and i dont know if it would be worth it to swap out to something like an rpm2 or a systemax (used of course, if i can find one). I WILL be swapping my mis-matched 65mm bbk tb and 70mm summit egr spacer for a 70mm accufab setup (maybe a 75mm if i do end up getting an intake that will support it)
 
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A TFS top end kit is advertised as 350 hp. You should piece one of those together as it sounds like you have most of it already. If that isn't enough power, look into increasing displacement or a power adder.
 
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It really all depends on your goals. Is there a few more ponies to be had by upgrading the intake/cam? Sure...is it worth the time/money to gain maybe 15-30hp for a street car...not really. Imo keep the tfs1,fix the heads,trans,and rearend and enjoy! I do really like the Holley intake though. Lol
 
A TFS top end kit is advertised as 350 hp. You should piece one of those together as it sounds like you have most of it already. If that isn't enough power, look into increasing displacement or a power adder.
The tfs kit is actually what i blew up, was just cheaper to get an explorer motor at the time instead of rebuilding the thing again. I just figured id see if i could optimize a few things while i had it torn apart, since one of the joys of this hobby is never leaving things alone.
 
So I'm bumping this because I have some more questions:

I think I've been convinced to just run the cam I have, at least for now. Maybe next year I'll look into getting something bigger and better, but for now, car really needs a driver/sticky tire mod more than a huge power increase (though I am still going to get my wedge heads fixed). The sticky tire mod will be taken care of this winter (looking at a pair of 255/60-15 mt's on some prostars for that), driver mod.......well, it will take some practice.

I'm now looking around for clutches, since my t5 needs a rebuild and my current frpp king cobra has more than a few miles/burnouts/launches on it.

I've been looking for some fox-specific reviews and have been coming up a bit empty. As I'm also looking into an 11/12 gt to fill the 50/50 dd role with my truck that the fox holds now, that means I'm more looking into making the fox into a streetable track car. clutches I've been looking at so far:
Centerforce Dual Friction- been around a long time, seems to have decent street manners, but so/so on the strip?
Exedy mach400 - lots of 4.6l reviews say its about on par with the frpp kc i have now (decent bolt-on street/strip), but I've seen absolutely squat about it as far as the 5.0 crowd goes?
Mcleod street pro - same as above, I know the twin-disk stuff is killer (as is the price for them, good thing I'm not anywhere near that level yet), but finding single-disk reviews is a pita.

I've had a spec stage 1, and if you've ever read my posts when people ask about it, you know how much disdain i have for it. And while I like the pedal feel of the kc clutch I have now, as well as its ability to (seemingly) hold my current power level, I have a lot less faith in the frpp parts that are rolling off the chinese assembly lines now than I did when they were coming from the mexican/canadian/american oem lines they were coming from even 3-4 years ago. So any advice on the ones mentioned, or anything else that will work well behind ~350 fwhp would be appreciated.
 
turbo = hell no, this car will always be an n/a car, no boost, no juice. i will eventually throw a 408/427 in this thing, but im trying to work my way there (remember how it needs a driver mod? i'd rather not be learning how to launch the thing with 700hp when i cant even get it hook with 300hp yet).

4r70w also = no, not only do i not want to have to throw a full manual vb at this car (or yet more electronics), but i already have an aod in the shed that needs a rebuild, that i could build into a fairly stout trans one day (the 4r would also need a build, at least to throw the extra clutches into a v6 trans). was thinking about doing this winter, but i'd rather keep the stick for now. keeping an eye out for a used tko though, just in case i can grab a good deal before i tear apart the t5.

still shopping for a good clutch though, so any help there is still appreciated.
 
I've only used 3 different clutches in my cars. Stock,King Cobra,and a Spec stage 2. I liked both aftermarket clutches. Had no problems with them. I would use a FRPP again but am also concerned about quality.