Help! '91 Fox

[Bulletproof]

My '91 foxbody hatch is suffering terribly from power loss below 3,000 RPMs and I can't buff this one out.
The car has stock block 302, GT40 heads, stock headers, BBK decatted X pipe and straight pipes after, MSD distributor/plug wires, intake, stock manifold, E303 cam, it has not been tuned since before it got heads and the cam.
It's causing me to run a depressing 15.3 at best. I'm sick of the power band rising and losing all my low end torque

 

[stykthyn]

Holy mismatched parts batman.
Start by dumping codes. Where is your timing set? Why straight pipes? Auto or manual? I have a gut feeling as to where all your ponies went.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Put a set of mufflers on it and you'd probably be back in the 14's.

Straight pipes on stockish 302 (yes even GT40's and ecam are stockish)is going to shift your power higher in the RPM band...where it's unusable for a street car. Buddy of mine 15 years ago took his stock 89GT to the track and ran mid 14's. He then decided to rip the cat-back off and run just an off-road pipe and no exhaust after that. We went back to the track (we were there almost every weekend back them) and couldn't get out of the 15's. Needless to say, an exhaust went back on the car after that.

 

[TOOLOW91]

Straight pipes need to go. Get mufflers back on it. Id swap the stock headers out for shortys. That stock intake is a straw. The heads can flow the air they want too through a bottle neck. That is where your issues lie. I know guys have been high 12s on that similar setup...

 

[Bulletproof]

Holy mismatched parts batman.
Start by dumping codes. Where is your timing set? Why straight pipes? Auto or manual? I have a gut feeling as to where all your ponies went.

The timing I was instructed to return to zero with the cam install. I have mufflers that a friend was sliding onto another car out of curiosity. Automatic.

 

[stykthyn]

Your Cam degree should be at zero. Ignition timing should be at 10-14 btdc.

 

[Bulletproof]

Your Cam degree should be at zero. Ignition timing should be at 10-14 btdc.

Thank you, I will look into that as soon as I get off work today

 

[Mustang5L5]

Automatic.

Yeah, you really need low end torque with the AOD to get it moving. You need exhaust. Not necessarily cats, but at least a pair of mufflers.

 

[stykthyn]

Yeah, you really need low end torque with the AOD to get it moving. You need exhaust. Not necessarily cats, but at least a pair of mufflers.

The ecam really needs gears and a tq converter. You lose that off idle punch that the stock Cam has.
Address the exhaust, bump timing as much as possible. An explorer intake will really help as well. While you are doing the intake upgrade to a larger maf and convert the explorer Tb. You should pick up close to a second if not more with those items.

 

[mikestang63]

Wlelcome and congrats on the car. Your setup looks lkie someone had some parts lying around and threw them together on this car. Certainly wasn't put together by a person who was looking to accomplish anything .Plenty of guys here that have built anything you can imagine and happy to help out.

my thoughts

• AOD needs 3.73 gears
• that cam doesnt make any power below 3k rpm. you need a highter stall converter or change to a better suited cam like a TFS1 or comp cams 264
• Straight pipes went out in the 70's and you have no backpressure. put some mufflers on it and it will increase the torque and make it so your neighbors dont hate you
• Put an explorer intake on it
• the stock headers are fine unless you put a set of Long Tube headers
• Move your timing to 12-14 BTDC depending on what the motor likes without pinging
• You don't need a tune with that mlld setup. You need it dialed in. Cbeck the gap on the plugs- autolite 25's should be around 55 thousands
• What air intake setup do you have.