my 99 F-250 5.4l is a non-PI headed motor. i've been browsing around a few mustang forums reading about guys doing cams in the 4.6l and seeing decent gains. i've also been talking on here with someone about PI/non-PI interchangability, and he basically told me i will see a good gain with a PI cam, and small additional gains with the PI heads, but realistically not enough to warrant the extra work (for what i'm looking for anyways).

has anyone done an aftermarket cam? i am looking at a Comp Cams extreme energy cam. they have a few different spec'd versions, the first being close to stock, the second being a little more aggressive and having a nice lope at idle, then a few more, respectively... i am looking at the second one. it says i'll need to add stronger springs, and thats it.

has anyone swapped cams?
is it straightforward?
what special tools will i need?
what will my MPG's do?
which cam? how were the gains?
will i be able to run my superchips tuner? or will i need a custom burn?
anything else?



thanks!!

 

I want to do a cam and P&P heads. I was looking at Crane's and Comp Cams and the milder with a more lift. Remember your in a truck, that super high RPM heavy throbbing cam isn't going to provide much power were you need it unless your running a really high stall t/c and gears, to make the RPM range usable.

 

im actually really interested in this anyone ever attempted it more powers always nice

 

bbender85, are you sure you don't have PI heads? I thought 99 was the year that 5.4s went to PIs.

 

I like Cam upgrades.....
Over the summer we dyno tuned 6 cam cars (GT stangs including our GT stang 4.6L). Good HP/TQ gains can come with a set of cams. I would also recommend installing an intake and headers and then have the truck dyno tuned to dial in air / fuel and timing. Also keep in mind most of the cams in these stangs make power from about 4000-6700 RPMs. So pick a cam that power out put is lower in the RPM range has you need torque for your truck down low.

All these cam 4.6L's love lots more timing.. More timing is more torque. My opinion, if you are going to spend the money on a cam upgrade for your truck, which pushes more air through engine then spend the money to dial in all mods to get the most HP you out of it. The stock PCM thinks it should give you stock timing base on stock air flow if you change the air flow (increase it) other things need to change.


Good luck with the cam search..

Mike

 

A set if camshafts like a Comp Cam XE262H or a TPX254HR-15 would really boost your low end torque, which is what you want in a truck engine.

Best results would be seen with a tuner to maximize your fuel map.

 

'99 Superduties still had NPI heads.
JL

 

You don't want anything more than OEM profile cams in a truck. Aftermarket cams are tailored to high RPM power, and the 5.4L's intake manifold will not allow any kind of high RPM breathing.
The camswap will take you about a day if you've never been into a modular before-I can do a swap on one in around 4-5 hours if there's no problems. Not really any "special" or uncommon tools needed,it's pretty straightforward. For best results-you really need a custom tune,but you should have that done with any truck. Those "canned" one-size-fits-all tunes are pretty bad.
Swapping NPI cams for OEM PI cams gains approx 15rwhp and about 20ft-lbs on a 4.6L, so on a 5.4L,it's likely to be a bit more. The extra lift really helps with cylinder fill and midrange power/torque. I'm one of the first,if not the first person to swap a set of PI cams into a NPI engine-the gains are real,and it's not difficult at all.
JL