Engine Current And Future Build Questions

91gte303

Active Member
Mar 3, 2015
144
18
28
Lake city,SC
I'm new here but I'm sure I've spent the last 3 days looking around.
My current set up is. as follows
Stock' 91 short block
3 bar cobra heads of a' 93. Cobra
1.6 RR
Ported gt40 40 lower and stock upper
E303 Cam
19Lb injectors (have 24s just too lazy to put them in.
65Mm tb stock maf (have the better maf off a 93 Cobra..laziness strikes again
)
cone filter and polished intake tube
Full headers o/r h pipe 2-1/2 exhaust with 40s dumped.
Z class t5
3.73's lsd
No fog lights,no catch can,no A/c, battery has been moved to the trunk and some other odds and ends i cant remember at the moment
full interior car w/o a spare in the trunk.
70/30 front shocks and 50/50's in the back.
Sub-frame connectors
11x26x15 et streets on weld rims for the hook
how do you think it will run? dont have a weight on it,but its quite obvious its loads lighter in the front. its sits up pretty good

Next build will have a. 030 over bottom end with 10:1 forged pistons and Anderson n41 cam.everything else will be the same. What do y'all think of that?
 
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trust me. its not up there in the "my favorite cams" list. its a dog till 2500 and dont start pulling good till 3k. from there its great...but its out of steam close to 5k. very narrow power band.
 
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trust me. its not up there in the "my favorite cams" list. its a dog till 2500 and dont start pulling good till 3k. from there its great...but its out of steam close to 5k. very narrow power band.

Exactly why I listed those 3 cams. I know the E cam well. Couldn't pay me to run an alphabet cam. Maybe 25 years ago, but then I also had a March Ram Air
 
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The OEM Ford MAFs are not calibrated to injector size. The injector sizing is done in the computer’s internal programming. Aftermarket MAF’s “lie” to the computer in an attempt to fool the computer into changing the injector pulse on timing to match the increased airflow.

The 93 Cobra computer is labeled X3Z which is internally calibrated for 24 lb. injectors. Use the MAF & MAF sensor from the X3Z computer to avoid problems with the computer's internal calibration.
 
trust me. its not up there in the "my favorite cams" list. its a dog till 2500 and dont start pulling good till 3k. from there its great...but its out of steam close to 5k. very narrow power band.
How are your lifters setup ?
IMO the single best 'free' gain in a stock or modified 5.0 is to shim the rockers properly to bring the pre-load down to a minimum. Bet you'll make power to 6K if you set it up right. I know I'm selling the shims on ebay so it may seem like a sales pitch, but trust me I'm not making money off them, selling them just to help people maximise their setups.
 
Suspension is fine for a budget build. You should have the torque boxes reinforced asap. On the next engine build you should swap the MAF out to a pro-m and look into some better heads if you really want to wake it up. Plenty of good used alum heads out there. The Anderson cam is a good cam for what you're doing. The e cam just blows(I ran one for years).
 
The OEM Ford MAFs are not calibrated to injector size. The injector sizing is done in the computer’s internal programming. Aftermarket MAF’s “lie” to the computer in an attempt to fool the computer into changing the injector pulse on timing to match the increased airflow.

The 93 Cobra computer is labeled X3Z which is internally calibrated for 24 lb. injectors. Use the MAF & MAF sensor from the X3Z computer to avoid problems with the computer's internal calibration.

i have all that,is there something else i can do?
 
How are your lifters setup ?
IMO the single best 'free' gain in a stock or modified 5.0 is to shim the rockers properly to bring the pre-load down to a minimum. Bet you'll make power to 6K if you set it up right. I know I'm selling the shims on ebay so it may seem like a sales pitch, but trust me I'm not making money off them, selling them just to help people maximise their setups.

i just bolted therockers on. didnt know i would need to shim them?
 
Suspension is fine for a budget build. You should have the torque boxes reinforced asap. On the next engine build you should swap the MAF out to a pro-m and look into some better heads if you really want to wake it up. Plenty of good used alum heads out there. The Anderson cam is a good cam for what you're doing. The e cam just blows(I ran one for years).

i have a welder,so i will be welding them up as soon as i get ready to go to the track.
im thinking about the twisted wedge heads in the future. Im really trying to get to the 11's or damn close to it before i get the upgraded heads and intake. do you think i will even come close?
 
i just bolted therockers on. didnt know i would need to shim them?
You do need to shim then, for sure especially with a head/cam change. If you run too much lifter preload, it can kill your top end, like completely kill it. Shim kits from Ford give you 0.020" and 0.040" shims, I have ones for 0.06" and 0.010" also that let's you hit the sweet spot alot closer. 1/8 to 1/4 turn after zero lash is about perfect in my opinion. Noticeable gain in just about any 5.0.
 
To be honest...no. Not going to run 11's with that combo. Maybe low 12's. you will need slicks,race track will have to be at low altitude,have a gutted interior,and drive the ch it out of it to maybe run a 11.9x. I'm actually going for a 11.xx ET with mine this summer on a dot tire/full weight/street/strip combo with TFS 11r heads,custom cam,etc and I'm probably making about 75rwhp more than your combo for a comparison. Just get yours dialed in. Have some fun and enjoy it. Good luck!
 
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i dopl
To be honest...no. Not going to run 11's with that combo. Maybe low 12's. you will need slicks,race track will have to be at low altitude,have a gutted interior,and drive the ch it out of it to maybe run a 11.9x. I'm actually going for a 11.xx ET with mine this summer on a dot tire/full weight/street/strip combo with TFS 11r heads,custom cam,etc and I'm probably making about 75rwhp more than your combo for a comparison. Just get yours dialed in. Have some fun and enjoy it. Good luck!

i do plan on getting the tfs heads and the holly systemax intake and such later. will i even be close then?
btw, i live in south carolina. they call it LOW country.
 
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That's pretty low lol. To get an 11.xx ET, with a relatively full weight car around 3-3200 lbs, you're going to need about 300+rwhp. This would be with a good tire,chassis,suspension,etc and a descent amount of expierience and/or driving skill.

Your present combo is going to be around 250-260 rwhp. You have to address a better suspension,tire,etc and probably 50hp to get there. You will need a good alum head. Along with a free flowing intake system and exhaust. You have a good starting point and I think you could see some low 12's if it hooks.

There's a lot of science/math and some black magic involved with getting a low ET. I suck at most of these things. Lol. Keep good records of your track events. In example-weather,track conditions, tire pressure,engine timing, launch rpm,etc. Experiment with these and see what the car does. If it goes faster try to expand on what changes you make. But make one change at a time. Get used to the car and racing in general. After awhile and you have more $$ invest in better parts. Hell maybe you'll be an excemption to the rule and run faster than expected. And drive it like you stole it if you really want to maximize the track times. But know that this "style" breaks things rather quickly.
 
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Also on that future engine build you quoted 10:1cr, Anderson cam,etc. If you throw a good MAF,inj,intake tubing,a Systemax and some good alum heads(AFR or TFS) you would easily push into the 300-325rwhp range. You should go over to the fox body talk section and look at some examples of combos in the sticky at the top of the page "guess my hp/ 1/4 mile times"