Good morning all.

Starting to narrow down my options for my Mustang project. Will probably end up going with a 4.8/4L60E combo, due to financial constraints and time. This will be my daily driver, so I am not looking to go nuts.....just a stock rebuild on the short block, LS6 cam, basic cleanup of the heads (with LS6 valve springs), and a LS1 or LS6 (possibly Dorman) intake. From what I understand EBay has these little adaptors that allow one to use the Multec injectors on an LS1 fuel rail....may go with those too. I'm an old Ford guy, so consider me a noob in the LS realm. I'm not shooting for the moon here, just some fun.....what should I reasonably expect from this combo? Thanks in advance y'all......

Matt

 

No, that cam would be terrible in a 4.8, I had an LS6 and didn't even care for it that much, it just peaks too high and needs compression and cubes to be fun. Contact cam motion for a 4.8 cam, they can set you up with anything you can think of an answer any questions as well.

 

FWIW the 2001-04 LS1/LQ9 cam is actually a "one up" sorta stick that works well in the little 4.8/5.3 engines if this is a super tight budget

 

Agreed...And it makes +40hp(flywheel) over the stock 5.3 cam and gives up 0 low speed TQ.

 

I appreciate that little tidbit....and yes it is a super tight budget.

 

Weight and gearing have a lot to do with your cam choice. What's the rest of your setup look like? To me, mustang usually = light weight so you can get a bit more aggressive on the cam if you want without giving up to much. The 4L60e has a 3.06 first gear that multiplies even small amounts of tourqe quite nicely even with taller rear gears.

yes a 4.8 is a little engine but it's still an LS and I think that they have more potential N/A than most of the " bigger is better" camp care to realize. They just need to turn a bit more rpm to make good power without boost.

my daily driver is a 2002 camaro with a 2002 LR4 4.8 swapped in. The car has a stock stalled 4L60e and 2.73 gears. The 4.8 currently has an LS6 intake, stock 2002 LS1 manifolds blowing through a factory SS/WS6 catback, and a used Lq9 or "late LS1" cam along with some LS6 springs.

​​​​​​the car has plenty of power and is a lot of fun to drive. Its really is a nice mild setup that gets amazing gas mileage and it pulls hard all the way to 7k without issue. I'm sure it would be a real tire frying monster with some 3.73 or 4.10 gears, but I like the durability of the 2.73 and I plan to add a little turbo at some point so I'm keeping them.

until it's turbo time I'm going to add a cutout, a small 2400 stall converter, and a 212/218 comp cam for a little more bite.

​​​​​​

 

I have your garden variety '01 V6 Premium coupe, 3200lbs, 3.27 open 7.5" rear (I know that will have to be addressed eventually!!!). My initial plans are pretty much identical to what you have done, so thank you for the real-world input! The only thing I may do is add a higher stall converter. Any tuning issues with the LQ9 cam or did you let it ride on the stock tune?

 

Sounds like a fun ride. The 4.8 will sound Baddass too! Mustangs have a lot of great choices for catback exhaust. The 3.27 gear is fine but that open differential is going to get old really quick. Try the stock converter first. It will help you make a better decision regarding stall speed when you decide to upgrade it if you use it as a starting point.

Tuning is absolutely necessary for a project like this for so many reasons and I'm too tired to list all of them for you. I could not even comprehend attempting a project like this without proper wideband tuning to get the most out of my blood, sweat, and tears. Yes it will start and probably idle, even drive around a parking lot ok, but it won't be efficient and it won't perform well or be nearly as quick as it could be without the proper tuning.