Cams on daily driver? reliable?
 

Like anyone i want my mustang to last forever. I try not to look to much into mods that can cause premature wear on my engine.
So what about cams?

Nothing beats the sound of a well cammed mustang. drooooooll.......

well stock at work has been rising and if it keeps going up i might ahve a couple grand left over after other bills to get some work done on the car

was thinking of getting longtube headers and cams.

what stage would you reccommend for a daily driver? i want that mean muscle car sound, that glungaglungaglungaglungaglung sound.

are stage 2 cams a bit much for a daily driver? what kind of impact can i expect in 60,000 miles? im sitting at 17k right now. if i got longtube headers, cams, T/B combo, what kind of power should i see?

would i be looking at premature engine wear?

currently i have catback straights, xpipe, diablow, K&N FPIK, 4:10's.

Also, with stage 2 i assume i would need springs and all that stuff, what should i expect all of this to run me? think i can get everything done and installed for under 2,500?

I'm looking into getting stage 2's also from a local shop. You'll have to upgrade the valve springs which isn't that big of a deal cause the shop where you get them put in at shouldn't even have to take the heads off to do it... I have seen dyno sheets of a 96 with PI heads, PI intake, Pullies and a Cat-Back make 301hp and 327tq with stage 2 cams... I don't see why cams would make your car not last as long because all they are doing is opening and closeing the vlaves at different times then stock... depending on what year your car is install costs are going to vary... with my 02 I have bolt on cam gears so they do not have to take the front cover off in order to get the cams swapped but on earlier models ex. 1999's they have press on cam gears and the front timing cover has to come off in order to swap the cams... Install on my car was quoted at 800 for parts (6 for cams and 2 for springs) and 700 for install so 1500 tuned and out the door...

Stage 1 cams dont require valve springs and would be good for a daily driver. Stage 2 cams require valve springs with the cams I remember an article I read were they tested Stage 1, 2, 3 comp cams back to back there was only a difference of like 5-7rwhp between the stage 1's and 2's. I chose the stage 1 cams cause they are better for a daily driver plus you dont need valve springs and less worry about piston to valve contact. Articles have claimed up to 23rwhp at certain parts of the powerband w/ the stage 1 comps. I made the mistake of installing them by myself to save some money but ended up costing myself more in the long run. BTW I have those stage 1's for sale.

Im running stage 2's in my DD and dont have any complaints. Make sure the place thats installing them has done it on our motors before. I wouldnt trust them if they used that stupid cam tool and didnt pull the front cover to time the car correctly. Also ask them about degreeing the cams. That should give you a good idea of know knowledgable they are about the install. As for springs you can go with Comp Springs or Manley Nextek springs.

I have comp 262's (stage 1) on my DD. Only problem i have is the stupid cam sensor goes on and off every couple days. Not really a problem, just an annoyence. But it has a nice idle, doesn't cam as hard as stage 2's or comp 270's would, but it sounds good for a DD. Plus you still get damn good power, i'm at 281 at the wheels with my crappy auto.

here's what I'm paying for on my stuff..

VT Stage 2 N/A cams - $608 shipped
Manley Nextek 2v valvesprings - $246 shipped
all new ford oem gaskets and bolts - $71 shipped
new dyno tune - $260

installing tonight, tomororw, and sunday :)

btw my car is daily driven and has 43k miles on it. my gains will most likely be around 290-300rwhp, we'll see next weekend :)

If you get 300rwhp from cams...lol jk, I know what you meant. Cams can definately be done on a daily driver, just with the stage twos, you are going to need a tune to get it to idle well.