Ok my six is stock, and i was wondering wha benefits i would get from a competition cam.

 

Not much from just a cam. your biggest improvements will come from how your motor breathes. Focus on exhaust and intake first. If you do a search of this forum on those two topics you will come up with hours of reading. Good Luck.

 

Put your vehicle info in your signature so we know what you have!! A cam is probably the best bang for the buck as far as internal motor mods are concerned!! Not to mention one of the quickest and easiest internal mod!! If you can save up for exhaust manifold, cam, roller rockers and msd coil. Install all at the same time so you can feel the improvement!! Instead of one at a time and kind of feeling the improvement from each. If you got carb go ahead and add intake and two barrel carb!! You want to get a cam that increase your torque the 300 is a torque monster trying to make it a high rpm high Hp motor will leave you disappointed. Torque is the wow, pushing you to the back of your seat, off the line power that impresses your friends and makes those honda racerboy cars jealous!!

 

sorry i was in a hurry when i posted the first comment. My truck is efi 1994 f150 xlt 2wd, inline 6 motor with e4od tranny. i lowered my truck a bit since its only 2wd i dint think a lift would be the proper thing to do. im looking at an k&n intake, a jet performance chip, and maybe an exhaust but its two expensive.

 

Don't look very hard at the intake or the chip. There are gains to be found in the exhaust, and you can gain a little by advancing the timing to 12 ro 14 degrees. If your truck has the air intake above the radiator (my 95 was like that, I don't think I've seen another 6 with it that way) you can change it to the tube that goes beside the radiator and find some gains.

 

my truck preatty much breaths in the air from the fan cause i have no tube going besides the radiator. its just open right under the filter, the big opening on the bottom of the air box. Hey Blue beast, do you have a bronco??? i beat one with the 302 motor from a dig and it never caught up to me. :-) sry just had to brag bout my six! I saw some dyno shots from the jet chip, supposedly i can get a good 20+ hp from that and a k&n. As far as exhaust should i just get a catback and try to find some headers or should i replace the whole exhaust including the cat and the pipe that goes to it? What cam do you guys recommend for most gains. I have a 4.6l v8 to destroy, i got it covered from a dig but into 50+mph he walks on me. Thanks to all you guys!! Longer is better than wider!!!!

 

A good dyno operator can make it read whatever he wants it to. Adding 20 hp to the 300 is like adding 50 hp to a V8 because of the rpm range it operates in. If you add 20 hp to a 300 you will be looking at gaining 50-60 ft-lbs at some rpms. Not gonna happen.

Headers are great, but they're a pain to install. Do a search, the topic's been beaten to death. Unless the 4.6 is a turd you'll still have a hard time with it.

 

well i had seen the performance chip gains on several websites from several diferent brands. Superchips adverticed an 16-18 hp gain and over 20 if used with the k&n intake. And the chip alone increased torque by thirty sum lbs. i know i wont beat the v8 in higfh speed but takeoffs i can.

 

Also i wanted to know what the few upgrades to the inline 6 would do if used together with a 3.73 final drive ratio!!!

 

I don't know about the chips. The OBD1 computers are so limited and easy to work around. Bump up your base timing for more power, retrofit a 5.0 Mustang fuel regulator and install bigger injectors for more top-end headroom, the mandatory exhaust upgrade for power every where, and a cam will do wonders. Even just getting rid of the 4 degree factory cam retard will be good. All of which should still work with the factory computer. Optikal Illushon (sp) cammed his EFI truck and it passes CA emissions, IIRC.

I have a hard time believing they're getting another 15-20HP on the factory exhaust. However, when they say "K&N air filter", I read that to be generically "improved airflow". So the chip is probably programmed for a little more airflow, which would be in the right line with the recommended mods. However, all the maps and tables that your truck uses are hard-coded and can't change. The computer is programmed explicitly for your engine. So you're hoping that your truck is going to match (to within acceptable sensor range) whatever truck Superchips, Jet, etc., had in their shop.

Chips work great with modern EFI systems, because they control EVERYTHING. But the OBD1 EFI system is JUST a fuel injection system that tries to maintain 14.7:1 and run some primitive emissions controls. I think you're better off doing the mechanical mods first (timing, exhaust, injectors, FPR, cam, etc..), then if you want more, call Superchips and have them make you a chip specifically for your setup.

 

Well, if they have estimated horsepower numbers its because they dynoed it on this specific setup. I know they dont run a dyno on a chipped 2000 f150 and claim the 94 l6 will have the same gains. And i believe the chip is meant to work together with an intake because it flows a little more fuel into the motor to compensate for more air. I probably will add a cam to my truck but as far as timing retard and all that muble jumbo, i have no idea how to mess with that. As far as motors go i have only bolt on experience no acctual engine internals or timing experience. Since you keep suggesting those modds what numbers can i hope to gain on a block i bought from the dealership less than 100k miles ago?? Its in really good running conditions. I service it with the best quality stuff i can find. I guess if i learn about timing i can get teh cam first, but i have good fatih on the chip and k&n setup, of course with a proper exhaust too. And wont bigger injectors just cause me to run rich?

 

You understand the difference between advertising claims and real life, right? 20HP is an advertising claim. Real life is different. You are not going to get 20HP from a chip and filter. The 99-04 Lightning could get 20 hp from a chip and filter, but they had restricitve stock filters and very conservative tunes. The 4.9 does not have a particularly conservative tune and the stock filter and airbox flow more than enough air to feed even a modified engine. A chip and filter will give you two things that suggest you have more power: noise and throttle response. That is what most people are content with. If you want a real power increase those won't get you there. If that doesn't convince you, condsider the numbers. A 20hp gain is 13% more than stock. Do you really think you can get that kind of gain from a chip and filter? Do you honestly think all the chip companies are going to pull a 4.9 out of the truck, built a dyno setup for it, and do meaningful testing on it? Do you know how much that would cost? Do you know how small the market is for those products? The numbers they are spewing are nothing more than very optimistic guesses at what you might gain in a perfect world going from a worst case scenario to a best case scenario.

 

"I probably will add a cam to my truck but as far as timing retard and all that muble jumbo, i have no idea how to mess with that."

Start your education here and read every post on this Forum...over 200 pages and when you get the "muble jumbo" sorted out you may find that timing is a big part of the performance and efficient running of your vehicle. But until you understand the "muble jumbo" you are certainly free to throw gimicks at your vehicle with somewhere between none and none whatsoever to show for it as long as your bank account holds out.

 

Slow down a sec. Read the posts and research. These engines were designed in the 1960s. These EFI systems are first generation carburetor-replacements, not full engine management systems like modern cars. They don't completely control everything and you can't completely reprogram them. However, Ford did do good things sometimes, like the side-of-beef intake manifold and the split exhaust manifolds. Your truck isn't a Honda. It's not a 2000 model F150. Chips and throttle body spacers don't work on these motors. Look at the mods in people's signatures. Your target is about 200HP and stump-pulling torque in the low 300s.

Chips get you two things (on most cars)
1. timing advances.
2. richer fuel maps for better throttle response.
3. Transmission shift improvements

Item #1 can be accomplished with a screwdriver and a timing light. These engines typically run on the edge of detonation anyway, so you're not going to get more than 1-2 degrees. However it'll make a difference.
Item #2- At WOT, you're running way rich anyways. Problem is the tiny stock injectors run out of flow, so having bigger injectors (downtuned with an adjustable FPR) gives you more headroom. The default computer program is adequate. It's just limited by the injectors.
Your computer has essentially no control over #3. Put in a shift kit.

 

The EFI systems Ford used on these trucks is actually quite good and it can be reprogrammed to about anything. The problem is that the factory gave them a very good tune to start with, which is unusual. Most factory tunes are very conservative because the higher revving and more powerful engines can damage themselves when running too lean.

I have larger injectors and AFPR on my truck. I really don't know that it's worth doing until you have substantial airflow improvements in place. The only real benefits I've seen are better throttle response and the computer doesn't need 200 miles to figure out which way is up every time the battery is disconnected. The downside was losing about 2 mpg. The stock injectors are good for about 200 hp at stock fuel pressure, you just have to convince the computer to add the fuel at WOT after you've added enough airflow to need it. To some extent the computer will automatically adjust for this, it just takes time.