5.0 to 4.6 swap

[zoomie]

[QUOTE= There is nothing you can do to a 302 or 351W to make it look as cool as a 4V 4.6 motor.
[/QUOTE]

i see your comment and raise you a few pics

[v8only]

A 1999+ Cobra motor makes 320HP (275 RWHP) absolutely bone stock. No factory 302 can touch it, not even the Boss 302. That is with the factory smooth idle. Throwing a cam at a 302 may be easy but you give up that idle. There is nothing you can do to a 302 or 351W to make it look as cool as a 4V 4.6 motor.
If you are on a small budget, going from a 302 to a 4.6 is not in your future. Camming an Explorer motor makes more sense.

You're preaching to the choir as far as the smoothness....I absolutely love my p71 for how smooth it is.

As far as a "factory" 302, you're partially correct. However, you can make that power in a factory stock longblock pan to intake with nothing other than a cam swap.

the 96-01 explorer 5.0's when retrofitted back with the eec IV computer and distributor, when kept with the stock explorer efi intake fuel injectors heads, but adding say a tfs 1 cam will make 240-270 at the wheels. I've personally assembled 3 of these engines , and have had a few other friends assemble them too.....every one of them dyno 240-270 at the wheels with nothing other than a cam and valve springs, which is 300 give or take at the flywheel give or take....that's all for a junkyard motor, a direct bolt on and $300ish worth of cam and valve springs.

As far as the idle quality goes, the nice thing about a roller cam is that it allows a cam that makes more power to be installed without the unstreetable lope.

The following video is my old 86gt. it's got the tfs 1 cam and a 97 explorer motor. the tfs 1 cam has a nice little lope, but mild...as you can hear it almost sounds factory stock. this is through 4 cats and flowmaster mufflers...300+flywheel hp and it sounded like bone stock for junkyard prices....man I surprised the crap out of a lot of people with this ugly little convertible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFquMV8AnKY

for comparison, here is my bro's old setup, his 86 ttop gt with a 96 explorer motor and the same tfs 1 cam but through flowmaster american thunder exhaust and a catted magnaflow 2 catted pipe-still very mellow

http://slantnosefox.com/picturehosting/86GTTops.MOV

[Mercracer]

Once you swap the cam and springs, it is no longer "factory"....
"Streetable" idle does not infer smooth idle. A TFS Stage 1 cam definitely has a lump to it.
I run such a setup in my Capri and run high 12s on the engine and low 11s with a shot of N2O. Don't forget needing to add MAF to your recipe....

[Mercracer]

i see your comment and raise you a few pics

Some nice pics but ..Sorry mang.... It takes more than chrome to really do it for me...

[v8only]

sure, but were not necessarily talking about comparing factory cars...if you were comparing say the 93-95 cobra to the 96+ cobra, I'll give you that...the 4.6 4v is a good evolutionary step and quicker. However, since we're talking about engine transplants in vehicles that didn't have these kind of motors in the first place, in my opinion a mild quick cam swap is acceptable for comparison....the entire front assembly including timing chain cover has to come off the explorer motor anyhow if you retrofit to the mustang or vic pulley system....so it's an easy swap away (I use the tool which magnatizes the lifters so I don't have to yank the lower intake) the tfs does indeed have a lump to it, but it's extremely mild when compared to bigger cams. When my bro dyno'd 240 it was still through the stock maf, and a few other components that were stock...so he had some upward movement to go still. (he wound up taking it all apart for a 65 coupe that he's building now)

[Mercracer]

sure, but were not necessarily talking about comparing factory cars...if you were comparing say the 93-95 cobra to the 96+ cobra, I'll give you that...the 4.6 4v is a good evolutionary step and quicker. However, since we're talking about engine transplants in vehicles that didn't have these kind of motors in the first place, in my opinion a mild quick cam swap is acceptable for comparison....the entire front assembly including timing chain cover has to come off the explorer motor anyhow if you retrofit to the mustang or vic pulley system....so it's an easy swap away (I use the tool which magnatizes the lifters so I don't have to yank the lower intake) the tfs does indeed have a lump to it, but it's extremely mild when compared to bigger cams. When my bro dyno'd 240 it was still through the stock maf, and a few other components that were stock...so he had some upward movement to go still. (he wound up taking it all apart for a 65 coupe that he's building now)

My point is that just a cam change does not put an Explorer motor in the same class as a 99+ Cobra motor NA. That TFS Stage 1 cam is adding alot and you still are not making the same power. Like I already said, such a recipe is more affordable but you are still handicapped by mediocre heads (at best). Without breaking the seal on a factory valve cover bolt it is possible to add a power adder and put a Mustang into the 9s with a factory 99+ Cobra motor. It's been done. Don't even dream about that with a camed Explorer motor.
I wouldn't dream about taking a used Explorer motor and not putting a fresh intake gasket on it.

[P72Ford]

I think it depends on what you're doing. If you're looking for visual impact, and solid power from a stone stock engine, then a 32V 4.6 is probably a good choice (provided you are ok with the budget).

If you're looking to improve the eprformance of your engine, I would say a 32V 4.6 is not for you, especially if you are on a budget. Whereas a stock 32V 4.6 makes as much power as a cammed 302, when you start to look at performance options, the 302 is a real beauty. For the price of a set of cams for a 32V, you could get yourself pretty close to a fine set of heads for your 302.

Of course, when you talk power adders, you're going to be spending a buttload, no matter which route you choose...

It comes down to your goals and budget.

[hemihotrod402]

i see your comment and raise you a few pics

/off topic

you have no idea how long i've been looking for the air cleaner in the 2nd pic

[Mercracer]

/off topic

you have no idea how long i've been looking for the air cleaner in the 2nd pic

http://www.summitracing.com/search/Brand/Ford-Racing/Product-Line/Ford-Racing-Air-Cleaner-Assemblies/

[hemihotrod402]

yes, but the one that has the ford oval is discontinued.

[merc91]

for anyone who cares for comparison sake... I raced a buddy in a marked out 1/4 mile on a country road against is 4.6 cop car he got, and added chip, headers, gears, and cold air intake to his. My mods to our good old 5.0 push rod lopo's are in my sig and cost me $2000 which isn't really that much for all you get out of it.

Anyways I spun, he took off, i caught up and blew by him halfway down and beat him by 3 lengths. I love the look of a 302 EFI engine in a cleaned up engine bay, and the sound is awasome to... and they got some balls after a little moding.

[mrltd]

Thats funny becasue they said the exact opposite in the 4.6 forum. Why are we talking about 5.0's in the 4.6 forum. I can't please everyone. I thought we were car guys, not internet geeks. I love this site. However, thats the only thing that makes me go out of my mind. When people get mad when somone violates some unspoke internet rule. We are all car guys right? Not children.

Really? Guess what type of people created and maintain this site, car guys that are internet geeks....

And uh, yeah.. there are children, and car guys....that are fucking retards.

[Mercracer]

for anyone who cares for comparison sake... I raced a buddy in a marked out 1/4 mile on a country road against is 4.6 cop car he got, and added chip, headers, gears, and cold air intake to his. My mods to our good old 5.0 push rod lopo's are in my sig and cost me $2000 which isn't really that much for all you get out of it.

Anyways I spun, he took off, i caught up and blew by him halfway down and beat him by 3 lengths. I love the look of a 302 EFI engine in a cleaned up engine bay, and the sound is awasome to... and they got some balls after a little moding.

This only proves that your car make your car go quicker than your buddy's car. This is not a benchmark comparison of how a 4.6 (you didn't say what year his was) and a 302 perform each with some amount of mods. Without ETs and MPH we can not even guess how much power each engine may be making. For all we know, your buddy's car has a poor setup and runs a 20.0 ET and you can run a 17.5 ET. Street racing is only good for bragging rights against each other and sometimes money in your pocket. It is also good for tickets and innocent people getting hurt...

[rick99601]

Really? Guess what type of people created and maintain this site, car guys that are internet geeks....

And uh, yeah.. there are children, and car guys....that are fucking retards.

*raises hand*

[merc91]

82LTDQS... just throwing in a real life comparison, lots of theorys out thier but real word performance is probably what your looking for... just letting you know the old pushrod 5.0 can more than hold thier own for not a bank breaking amount of money and time against a pretty decent 4.6. A 4.6 box would be different tho, and different is cool so run with er bud!