Cams for 4.6 06

[06GT-]

2006
Manual
3.55

Which is the way to go?

Howard's rattler
Vs
Mutha thumper comp cams
Vs
Ford hotrod
Vs?

Has to idle and have AC in 100° heat
Choppity chop chop
And some power would be nice

While they are in there what else should be done?

 

[StockishS197]

Howard’s rattlers and Hot Rods will be 6 to one, half dozen to another. They are very similar and both retain VCT which is important for drivability and low end torque.

The morher thumpers require phaser limiters so you lose some VCT functionality and low end torque.

I have run two cars with Hot Rods and they are great all around and sound great. Super common so any tuner can get them running and idling great.

Here is my current car:

While you are in there, worth at least replacing phasers, lash adjusters and roller followers if you only want to pull valve covers

If you are high on mileage, might be worth pulling the front cover and doing a full timing set but it adds a lot of work to the job.

 

[06GT-]

Howard’s rattlers and Hot Rods will be 6 to one, half dozen to another. They are very similar and both retain VCT which is important for drivability and low end torque.

The morher thumpers require phaser limiters so you lose some VCT functionality and low end torque.

I have run two cars with Hot Rods and they are great all around and sound great. Super common so any tuner can get them running and idling great.

Here is my current car:

While you are in there, worth at least replacing phasers, lash adjusters and roller followers if you only want to pull valve covers

If you are high on mileage, might be worth pulling the front cover and doing a full timing set but it adds a lot of work to the job.

Only at 40k miles, would you still do all that if you went with Howard’s? Or only if you went with the thumper?

 

[Forty61]

Love my Hot Rods, I did go from 3.55s to 3.73s at the same time though. Others have gone with 4.11s. Car idles good, runs strong and never had an issue with my AC.

 

[whitmanink]

mutha thumpers also require 373 or 410 gearing to be in the proper range for the cams

 

[Juice]

Forget all that work.
Bolt on a suprecharger, low boost, 8 psi max. The smile from actual power vs, lumpity lump idle.....pricelsess.
Less work to boot.

 

[06GT-]

Forget all that work.
Bolt on a suprecharger, low boost, 8 psi max. The smile from actual power vs, lumpity lump idle.....pricelsess.
Less work to boot.

Why not both?

 

[StockishS197]

Only at 40k miles, would you still do all that if you went with Howard’s? Or only if you went with the thumper?

I would do the lash adjusters, followers and phasers for any cam swap, because you are right there anyways. Zero reason not to do it.

 

[StockishS197]

Forget all that work.
Bolt on a suprecharger, low boost, 8 psi max. The smile from actual power vs, lumpity lump idle.....pricelsess.
Less work to boot.

Cam swap can be done in an afternoon with beer breaks in between. My header swap was a nightmare compared to cams.

Yeah you miss out on the boost, but something about revving up to 6800 RPM reliably and having that lumpy idle is just so dang fun.

Plus, I would worry about bending a rod even on low boost.

 

[mustanger]

Ford updated the roller followers to an improved design sometime after 2006 for oiling and longevity purposes. So even though you're only at 40K miles definitely worth replacing those while you're in there.