Gday all i'm wondering about what mods to do to my ex-cop AU2 V8. Since it already comes with the explorer manifold and gt40p heads that everyone recommends, and the guy i bought it from already did pacemaker extractors, exhaust and a k&n panel filter, would it make much difference to mod the intake? I'm booked in for a pro-fire lpg vapour injection system install next month and wanted to do any mods before then so they can tune the computer properly to suit.
whats likely to make the best performance improvement for up to about $1000? I prefer not to do anything that will make fuel economy much worse since driving to work and back does 1200km a week but i spose if its a bit worse won't matter too much since lpg's heaps cheaper...
thanks
Geoff

Cam.

Yeah, I would say cam as well.....the heads, intake, TB, and MAF are all pretty well matched on the AU V8's...its just the cam that is too small.

I doubt you could change a cam properly for only $1000 bucks though (cam, springs, retainers, locks, pushrods, timing chain).

Is it an auto? You may get better results spending your $1000 on a higher stall converter, and/or shorter diff gears.

what is the ratio on the standard rockers? would changing them for a higher ratio roller setup be a viable alternative to a cam change? are there cams that will give better power as well as similar or better highway economy?
and yes its auto... i don't know if a high-stall would help that much. it feels pretty strong down low already - seems to run out of breath up top though...

I'm also debating pretty much what you are.

1.7 rockers is a definate go on these, but i wouldn't mind doing a cam at the same time.

Seems that you gain a lot of power just from the right cam in the 5.0... Especially AU.

Cam plus edit and you will have a very nice improvement.

I say the same as Vic, but that's about $2200 worth, definately worth it though, major improvement

Cooper69s has a good suggestion. These came with stamped 1.6:1 rockers.

If you cant afford a cam change, then a set of 1.72:1 roller rockers would be a decent upgrade.

I would recommend the Yella Terra stealth rockers. They join the exhaust and intake rockers with a pedastal, which is about as strong as you can make a pedastal mount setup.

VPW had the best prices last time i checked.

If you can afford a cam though....do it....you'll love it

i assume a cam change is an engine out job - is that right? I've done that on my mini, but how hard is it on the v8? DIY or workshop?
does anyone have any data on how a cam change has affected their highway fuel consumption?
I probably won't need the edit because I think the profire lpg computer should take care of all that - will that reduce the price from the $2200 that offyaguts quoted?

Cam's can be installed through the front of the engine with the engine still in the car but you'll need to remove the radiator and you'll lose the A/C gas when you shift it all out of the way, but, then you'll have sufficient room to pull the cam in and out.

I'm more interested in the pro-fire lpg vapour injection system, what's it costing, can you point to some details for fitment to a 5.0l

I did my cam install with the engine still in the car.

You dont have to run the edit when you fit a cam. I've been running mine (Crane 2030) with the stock computer for over 12 months.

It cost me about 1500 in parts including a set of YT roller rockers. I only paid 250 for the cam though....i think the retail for more like 400-500?

ive just done mine with the mota in , if ur careful drop x member under air con condensorand you can lower it just enuf to get cam out i only put a 264 dur cam in but really idling like s**t its done about 150 ks by now and i thought eec might have adjusted by now but stil the same, cant afford a flash tuner yet ,goes like s**t just doesent like to idle p.s when you pull cam sensor synchroniser out make sure you mark a tooth on the gear so you can put it back in the same spot

I got the initial info from Perth Street Car magazine where they ran a story on a LPG ford F350 doing 13.9 quarter - the guys developing it are based here in WA - I'm not aware if anyone elsewhere in the country is doing their systems. check www.profire.com.au for details on the engine management system or call Tyson from Rage Racing (0409 140 226) about installs. cost is probably at least $5K (but since we get an extra $1000 lpg rebate from the state gov over here as well as little johnny's $2K it works out pretty good). I'll probably recover the cost of the conversion in about 3 to 4 months with the k's i'm doing - even at $5K that i was expecting to pay i was going to be in front after about 10 months.

but about the mods, i spoke to one high performance parts place today and he basically said that the heads, cams, intake etc are fairly well matched in the AU engines, and that changing cams or the intake won't do all that much (said i will get improvements but nothing major). recommended doing 1.7 rockers and bigger TB and maybe something like a SS inductions snorkel while i'm not wanting to spend too much, and then later on down the track change the heads and cam if i want a big power increase... but if you guys reckon cams have made big improvements on their own, then I'll have to check it out some more. just gotta work out best bang-for-buck... I'm surprised how cheap roller rockers are. i had roller-tip rockers on my mini and i imported them from the UK for about $500. local places wanted up to $700 and full roller ones were closer to $1000 and thats with only 4 cylinders to worry about...

Still interested in fuel consumption though - are there cams that will give a decent amount more power and still get me 700-750 km per tank (mostly highway) like i'm getting now?

Heads and Intake are very well matched, yes. Camshaft is not well matched at all, especially the non-xr and AU1 XR V8's.

Larger intake snorkel is a complete waste of money in my opinion.