I tried to do a budget rebuild on a 85 CFI HO. It has a roller block so I took the nonroller cam out and put in an 87 lincoln non HO (302 firing order) roller cam and the lincoln heads on it. I rerouted the sparkplug wires to the 302 firing order from the 351 firing order. The car runs OK above 2000 rpm, but wont idle and is running really rich. I was told by ford racing that the computer from the 85 mustang couldnt handle the lincoln cam and the only way to run it is to get a carburator and put on it. Does this sound right to you guys? I know of other people on the internet that have claimed to have done something similar with CFI and had it run well. Also, what do you recommend I do for a dist.? Should I go with a one wire ready to run MSD or find a duraspark and put a steel gear on it? Can I use a duraspark box from any engine or does it have to come from a 302?
85 CFI with 87 Lincoln roller cam
- Thread starter eatfish
- Start date
Vinnietbird
Member
- Jun 2, 2005
- 584
- 3
- 19
The computer is telling the engine to fire like a 351.You need a regular 5.0 computer.Why didn't you install the H.O cam?Put an H.O cam in and call it good.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you're totally off on this one. The CFI system is throttle body injected, so it has no idea what cylinder is firing, and at what time.Vinnietbird said:
Your car is running rich because of the different cam. I'm not very knowledgable about the CFI system, but if it shares any similarities with the speed density system, it probably uses a MAP sensor to try to determine load on the engine. Because of the different vacuum the hydraulic roller cam has over the flat tappet cam, it believes the engine has more load than it actually does, and is dumping more fuel in. This is of course if the systems are similar in the manner they determine engine load.
eagleautosports
New Member
Don't forget about the mismatch of the distributor gears. A non roller gear will eat up a roller cam quick and that gets really messy.
Thanks for the info StangGT1995. Do you think there is any way that I can run the CFI with the roller cam? I already have the steel gear on the dist. I could put the flat tappet HO cam back in, but I would gain a lot more by putting a 4 bbl on it. Just need to know what wires to hook up to a duraspark and a regulator with a bypass for the fuel line. I was hoping it would be easy but it never is. Thanks again. This is the first time I have delt with stangnet, usually dealing with the ford truck enthusiast forum.
Similar threads
