Ford’s famous Alphabet Cams (a.k.a. Letter Cams) have been around for decades and are often the go-to choice for Mustang owners looking for more performance from their 5.0L engine. Ford Performance designed these cams for the 1985-and-up 5.0L/302 roller cam engines with 1.6 ratio rockers. On engines running electronic fuel injection (EFI), these camshafts are only
Gasoline or E85 ethanol-blended fuel? David Freiburger and Steve Dulcich at Engine Masters wanted to find out which makes more power and by how much. So they grabbed a 489-cubic-inch, 13.5:1 compression big block Chevy, teamed up with our partners at Summit Racing for a couple of key parts, and started playing. To ensure a level playing
In the first installment of our ’68 Mustang project build, we detailed the pre-install prep on our 408 cubic-inch Windsor from BluePrint Engines that would replace the original 289. Now it’s time to get it under the hood along with all the supporting parts that will help get the most power and reliability out of
Not long ago, few people had ever heard of an air shifter. Today, at every drag strip in the world, they’re about as common as a radial slick. Wherever they’re class legal, air shifters have turned manually shifted automatic transmissions back into “automatic” transmissions. The reason is simple: Well-executed first gear changes aren’t easy to
Conventional wisdom says roller rockers increase horsepower by reducing valvetrain friction—with the biggest benefits showing up at high RPM. But Engine Masters’ David Freiburger and Steve Dulcich are always willing to question conventional wisdom and will leave no horsepower sacred cow untouched. They’ve tested parts to see what really works, built engines to find the
I’m looking to buy some upgraded brake pads for my 2010 Chevy 1500 pickup as the brake pedal is starting to shudder on even light brake application. I’ve been reading stuff online and one guy mentioned that he’d never buy a particular brake pad again because when he first installed them, the pedal felt weird
The Motor Trend show Engine Masters is all about finding out what makes horsepower and what doesn’t. Hosts David Freiburger and Steve Dulcich have tested everything from headers and carburetors to camshafts, superchargers, mufflers, and air cleaners. In Engine Masters Episode 28, they set out to learn whether cylinder heads with big intake runners really
I am building a 355 cubic inch small-block Chevy with AFR 1065 220cc Race Ready AFR heads, an Erson roller cam, and FiTech fuel injection. Can I use a wet nitrous system injected under the fuel injection and then into a Weiand 6-71 blower? D.W. Jeff Smith: From your photo, it looks like a great project.
Variable Valve Timing (VVT) is a system that automatically adjusts valve timing. GM used VVT on the following engines within the LS family. (Summit Racing’s Paul Spurlock and Brian Nutter contributed to this article.) How Does VVT Work? The computer senses engine load. It also monitors valve timing through the camshaft position sensor. It then uses
Active Fuel Management (AFM) is a trademarked General Motors technology that improves gas mileage by shutting down half of the cylinders under light-load conditions to reduce fuel consumption. It is also known as Displacement on Demand (DoD) or cylinder deactivation. How Does AFM Affect Performance? AFM is good for gas mileage and can be 5-7 percent
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