So im buying myself something for X mas because of my new job. But im torn between buying a tuner or a new camshaft. Currently leaning towards the tuner though.

It will either be a Bamachips tuner from explorer express, or a ford racing E303 cam.

Im also buying a CAI from Explorer Express on top of everything. What do you guys suggest? I am leaning towards the tuner because its plug and play, itll fix my speedo and i dont have to tear into my truck in the winter haha

 

i would definitely do a tuner and the intake. save the cam for when its warm out and you can tear into the truck. and save for the cam and other motor parts so when its torn down you can throw other stuff at it.

 

Tuner now, cam later!

 

idk about you all but cam lope is sexy...

 

Agreed, I just would rather do the cam in the spring.

Would a tuner be enough of a difference for 400 bucks?

 

A cam shaft and kit will equate to more power than any tuner will produce.

Two thing though... IMHO, get a cam kit, cam, lifter, springs and the hardware to go along with it.
Don't go half way here, the overall package will be abetter install with the kit and the cam will live up to its potential with the proper spring and lifters.

Second, the E303 cam is designed for a higher rpm to HP and less torque than some of the other cams.
Have you decided what you are going to do with your truck, race it, wheel it, you need to decide this before going forward on a cam kit setup.

Guessing here, I would go for more low end torque, this means you will feel the increase in power form the get-go not having to wait for the rpms to come up. You will still get an rpm range in the high 5K range but you will feel it come in earlier. If torque is what you want you need a cam that has a good lift and a shorter duration not the E303.

If you do decide to go with a cam, call Competition Cams and talk to their techs, tell them what you are looking for, what your truck is, what you want to get out of the cam and they cam tell you what line to follow.
Believe me, it will make a difference with the right cam vs just picking one off the rack.

There is a third thing, a cam needs to have more air in and out to work correctly. What that means is larger air intake, I.e. throttle body , air tubes need to be increased, but if you want more torque you don't want more intake manifold. On the other end headers will improve the cams performance too.

Enough said, good luck on your choice, my choice is again a cam and kit.

 

I believe mark had some problems with the b303 cam when he was getting it setup.

iirc, the stock cam isn't that bad actually along with the stock gt40 heads and intake

but i'd call a tuner(i used hensen) and a cam company and chat with both.

also can't remember your build, but you can now buy the toque monster headers again, def worth the upgrade.

 

Tuner!

 

Thanks alot guys, I wasnt too set on which cam. I would like a set of torque monsters....but they are pricey. Its hard to justify this purchase let alone those haha.

Tuner wise I guess im not going with anything from explorer express. They have not reponded to any e mails.

The plan for my truck is porting heads, Intake, Exhaust(eventually) and a cam. I just dont know if a tuner will make any noticeable difference. Ive only driven tuned diesels, and those i noticed a difference.

 

yeah, i've been browsing my craigslist to find another set of heads and intake that i can port and clean up and paint then just swap onto my motor so i don't have to worry about downtime.

i can tell a difference when i swap to my 93 octane tune from 89. all my tunes are written for torque.

get in touch with james hensen of hensenperformance and tell him what your doing and want done. i have the sf3 and you can hook it up to your computer for data logging to get a nice custom tune for your truck.

 

Why port...? Are you going to race this thing, if not then porting is a waste to time and money.

A good cam, good header and a good intake system will result in more street-able torque, not to mention a good set of gears.

A tuner is a good idea too and will make a stock vehicle liven up but to take advantage of the tuner the other parts will produce more usable power...