The Four-Valve Swap Power Struggle Upgrade

Two great sources that we contacted for a number of parts were the Mach 1 Registry and Liberty Ford. Searching the boards at www.mach1registry.com netted numerous items, such as the water crossover tube, timing cover, thermostat housing, and the cam and coil covers. Randy Stinchcomb at Liberty Ford opened up the replacement parts catalog and got us the Four-Valve's oil and transmission dipstick tubes, as well as the throttle cable and bracket.

In our next installment, we'll drop the new bullet in the chamber and set our sights on a dragstrip and 9-second timeslips. Check out the captions to see the dirt on this Four-Valve buildup and be sure to check back as we put it to the test.

Papitto picked out his own Comp Cams camshaft profile just for this engine combination. Comp's XE266BH-116 grind offers a split duration of 230/232 at 0.050, and a valve lift of 0.475-inch on the intake and 0.450-inch on the exhaust. The four bumpsticks went in with custom springs and titanium retainers to give us the right combination of valve force and high-rpm capabilities. The Comp camshafts offer extreme performance and great driveability, too. The car has just enough of a lope that people in the know will notice it, but it's tame enough that most people won't have a clue to the car's actual capabilities.

Other hardware exclusively required for the Four-Valve (which we've largely covered in the captions) include: headers, valve covers, a water-crossover tube, a thermostat housing, water hoses, a front timing cover, timing gears, timing chains and tensioners, additional lifters/followers, a throttle cable and bracket, oil and transmission dipsticks, a Mach 1 wiring harness (modifying a GT harness is possible), 4-V coil packs, an alternator bracket (we were able to use the Bullitt alternator but you'll need a 4-V alternator if you're converting anything but a Bullitt), fuel rails and associated tubing/connectors, and, last but not least, new mounting brackets and hardware to remount the Vortech T-trim and parts to modify the Vortech aftercooler to a Mach 1/'01 Cobra configuration. If dealing with an automatic, you'll more than likely require a higher stall-speed converter, too.