Bad news, but great at the same time!!!

Yep, I am going to pull the motor in Ms. Historic Mustang's coupe over the Thanksgiving Holidays. Will be able to get it out in about 90 minutes.

Going to drop in a long block from Advanced Auto Parts. (See other thread).

HistoricMustang
www.historicmustang.com

Good luck with your build. Make sure to check your valve to piston clearance with the new cam. I know from personal experience that the VIC JR intake under a holley will not allow you to close your hood. You also have to ditch that highway rear with the ViC JR heads and intake or you may actually go slower. Last thing is if you get this combo sorted out and start hooking up low to mid 12s it could probably run on slicks, that T5 is on borrowed time.

have you made sure that the cam bearings are the only problem?

what retrofit kit are you talking about? I hope its just the link bars lifters, and not the spider and dogbone stuff. Also, you'll want to make sure your valve springs are up to the task of controlling the new cam.

Yeah, I'm curious about the retro kit myself as I've contemplated doing this. Also since you have a 69 why not go with a tko 600 if you want to bang gears. I'd would like to see a dyno of when your power comes in on that thing once your done. I bet the power band is up high but man I bet its a wild ride!

Was the 280H too mild for you?

why are you considering using the retrofit kit? Its been practically obsoleted by the all the linkbar lifters on the market. I might sound like a broken record, but reduced base circle cams are bad. There is not a good variety of off the shelf grinds to choose from, and they all have fairly weak lobe profiles. I'd rather run a solid flat tappet, or even a hot hyd flat tappet than used the weak reduced base cirlce cams. Use a full base circle cam, they have the strength to support some really aggressive lobes due to their larger core size. To facilitate the use of this cam, use one of the many link bar roller lifters on the market. They are a drop in swap for early non-roller blocks. The dogbone/spider stuff is not something you want to 'upgrade' to, it has no advantage with a non-roller block. In steel1212's post about cams, I list some part numbers for link bar lifters that can be bought just about anywhere.

Nice upgrade to your avatar coupe!

Converting like that will require the entire block to be disassembled, machined, and reassembled. Not saying don't do it, it is a superior design. But it is not a weekend event like the one you have in mind.

you can use a crower lifter on a lunati cam with no problems. Basically, the link bar eliminates the need for the dogbones and spider. The purpose of these pieces is to keep the lifters from spinning in the bore. Flat tappet lifters are supposed to spin in the bore, roller lifters are not supposed to spin in the bore due to the orientation of the roller wheel. Production roller blocks have taller lifter bores that are machined flat for the dogbones. The taller bores are needed to fit the tall hydraulic roller lifters, the dogbone is used to keep the lifters from spinning, and the spider is used to hold the dogbones in place. With a non-roller block, you're stuck with shorter lifter bores and no tapped holes to bolt down the spider. You can tap the holes and bolt down the spider, but then the lifters stick to far out of their bores to work properly. To correct this, they machine the cam with a smaller base circle, thereby allowing the lifter to sit further down in the bore. This is why the retrofit kits have the nut-serts for the spider, and the reduced base circle cam, just to allow you to use a stock type hydraulic roller lifter and the stock dogbones. Kind of a compromise don't you think? The link bar lifters I listed in the other thread are purpose made to eliminate the compromises in the retrofit kit. The lifter body is made to ride properly in the shorter bore, on a full base circle cam, while the link bars keep them from spinning. No nut-sert, no dinky camshaft, no compromises, and the best part-no additional cost. The only thing that mght be an issue, is that the heads have to be removed to install them, but thats likely the case with the retrofit stuff too. There really is no downside to the link bar stuff, it drops right in place. If you switch to a roller cam, be sure to change to the proper valvesprings. Roller cams require stiffer springs because the lifter itself is heavier than a flat tappet and the lobes have steeper ramps, the extra pressure is needed to keep everything under control.

Note that if that lunati cam has a reduced base circle, and you use the crower lifters, you will need a significantly longer than usual pushrod, not really a problem though.