i have a 1996 f-150 4x4 302 5spd and im pulling the engine to install a complete gasket set and new timing chain and gears and i would like to upgrade the cam as well but i dont want to have to do anything to the computer. is it possible to upgrade the cam without upgrading the stock computer? if so any ideals on which cam to use?

 

What gear ratio and tire size does your truck have?

You have a wide selection you could use but I suggest staying conservative with the 5.0 so as to not loose what little low rpm power you have. The Comp 35-349-8 produces a broad powerband all the way to 5000rpm while the 35-510-8 will push the powerband down a little bit lower. Both are good choices but it depends what you use the truck for and what future plans you have. There are similar grinds from Crane and Isky and others, search the Summit website and you'll find 10 pages of roller cams alone for this motor. Just for the record your motor is no different than any 5.0 that came before it so don't worry about specifying a year when searching.

 

it has 3.55 ratio and 33in tires. so the bigger cam wont mess the computer up? im looking for more low end power than top i tow with it and it will probley never see 5000 rpm's it does pretty good now i have shorty headers 2.5" dual exhaust with glass packs and it has a simulator on the post cat o2 sensor so i didnt put a cat on when i had the exhaust installed. we dont have emissions testing here but it has a few leaks and is due for a clutch so i figured i would pull the engine check it out and i thought a cam would be a good upgrade

 

OK that's a problem. Your truck REALLY needs more gears, the effective ratio with 33" tires is 2.90 and that's seriously limiting your towing power and wearing out your tranny. This should be a priority before or even instead of the cam upgrade, the difference the gearing change would make cannot be understated. 4.10 gears would get you back to an effective 3.42 ratio, that just about makes up for the difference in tire size from OEM. You should also recalibrate your speedo if you haven't already, it's gonna be off 11 mph at 60 and that will make your milage look really bad.

 

thanks for the info im going to do the cam swap now since i have the engine out but when i get it back together i will start looking for a 4.10 gear set thanks for everything this is my first post since joining and im really glad i found this siteJohn B