A few simple questions on 5.0

gevalia said:

I'm about to buy a 66. The guy is putting an 87 5.0l with 74 closed chambered heads on it. Cam is stock. I am not a motor guy and I'm wondering if anyone could enlighten me on what he is putting in the car. Is an 87 block decent? What are closed chambered heads, what benefits? Why 74, is there a reason? I'd like to see 300hp, streetable, daily driver. What are my choices on (streetable daily driver) cams? No track use, just spirited street driving, midrange torque.

Thanks,
Ron Miller
agavemail@yahoo.com

Click to expand...

heres my .02. You have 2 big things to ask about.
1) is this a 5.0 HO motor from a Lincon Mark7 or Mustang? If not, it's a plain 5.0 car motor wich, in stock, form has awful heads, and the pistons can't tolerate a cam bigger than the stock HO unit (which is larger than the car cam).

The 5.0 HO has forged pistons, some of the better production heads, a good cam, and the stock pistons can tolerate a large cam

f it indeed is a roller block (all car/HO blocksshould be in 87) then yes, its a good block.

2) I see no benefits in 74 heads. They have HORRIBLE airflow charicteristics and will drop the compression ratio at least 1 point (from 8.7:1 or so). I would seriously question why this person is using 74 heads. The only exception would be if they had been modified (milled to reduce compression loss, ported, ect.

What Cam? Well in my 6 months of testing a similar engine combo, I've found that the HO cam produces great low and mid range and power combarable to most aftermarket cams in mild street engines. If you do want to change cams still, I think Comp Cams has the best prices for very streetable cams (I like the 258HR as a HO replacement on mild street engines.)
HTH
--Kyle