Best cam for a stock stang?

[afast93stang]

Here is the deal, my engine is stock with 158k miles on it. It has developed rocker arm tick at all rpm ranges, I’ve already tried changing lifters, push rods and rockers from the other side of the engine to see if the noise would travel with the part I moved but it didn’t. I have talked to a few stangers who say it’s possibly a worn cam.

Im still looking into what exactly is the problem, butif it is the cam, which one would be best for my daily driver? In a year or so I would like to upgrade to either some GT40 heads or some ported E7s from Thumper. Keep in mind I want to keep this as my daily driver. Should I go with one of the alphabet cams or something else?

 

[ECU5.0]

those valve springs youre waiting to install might do it...my car has 192k on it and it still has the stock cam and i just put 1.7s on it...runs great and no valve tick thank god.

 

[NotoriousGT350]

curious about this too.

 

[ponyboy19]

I'd doubt it's the cam being a hydrolic roller.. I'd check the valve train on the heads such at the valve guides, springs, etc. Make sure it's not a header leak as that will sound like a loose rocker ticking.

 

[afast93stang]

The springs were my next guess after the rockers/lifters/pushrods but the #2 exhaust rocker was loose (even after I re-torqued it down). On the passanger side looking into the engine you can shake that rocker left & right.

Maybe im interpreting this wrong but I think the springs are fine and somewhere my other components have worn down to the point of making noise.

Tomorrow im driving down to Hewitt and talking to some of my friends at Latemodel Restoration so they can listen to the car and possibly diagnose this for good and at the same time get any parts I need to fix it (possibly cam and lifters)

But which cam to go with if it is that?

 

[cobrabuilder]

I doubt it is the cam also, more than likely a valvetrain or valve-guide issue. In my experience, a Crane 2031 w/ 1.7 rr worked quite well on my friends 92 LX. The heads were stock, just new guides and valve job and new Crane valve-springs that come with the kit were installed. The car with this setup and full exhaust, 3.55, five-speed, cobra intake, 65 mm TB and pulleys ran 12.90 on Sportsman Pro street tires. Not bad, and the exhaust note and lope is nice, almost like it is pissed off!! LOL Just my opionion though.

 

[ECU5.0]

I doubt it is the cam also, more than likely a valvetrain or valve-guide issue. In my experience, a Crane 2031 w/ 1.7 rr worked quite well on my friends 92 LX. The heads were stock, just new guides and valve job and new Crane valve-springs that come with the kit were installed. The car with this setup and full exhaust, 3.55, five-speed, cobra intake, 65 mm TB and pulleys ran 12.90 on Sportsman Pro street tires. Not bad, and the exhaust note and lope is nice, almost like it is pissed off!! LOL Just my opionion though.

wow...it ran a 12.90...im gettin a cam out of a holley systemax kit and probably gonna run some thumper heads or gt40 heads this summer...ive got all those same mods your friend has except ive got a 70mm and chip in mine

 

[autoXr1]

Likely, it's a stock cam. As far as cam profiles go, it's a pretty good one for its application. Many of the "higher performance" cams often are designed to raise the power band and are better suited for modified engines. Sticking in a high-lift, lopey cam in a stock engine often results in a very narrow power band and poor low RPM performance. It is best to think of the heads, cam, and intake are a matched set. If you have a stock intake and heads, you're better off sticking with a stock or stock-like profile.

At any rate, as stated by the others, it is likely that it is a valve-train issue unrelated to the cam, itself.

 

[GMstomper]

Another suggestion...sometimes an exhuast leak thats up far ( lets say header to h-pipe connection) can give you a tick also. Just something to consider.

 

[afast93stang]

It makes the noise with both the off road h and the stock h pipe...

 

[afast93stang]

*UPDATE*

On the advice from one of my friends who works at LRS I exchanged the springs for a set of lifters. I think this picture says it all... Old lifter on the left, new on the right and you can see a difference in spacing where the pushrod sits (old one has a deeper spacing). Most of my lifters were like this.

I took it out for a test drive tonight, no more ticking sound like before. The Cobra Rockers did change my exhaust note by making it deeper than before. Not sure yet if it added any hp, I didnt get on it tonight, maybe tomorrow. Ill post before and after video clips in the 5.0 Talk forums tomorrow when I make the "after" video.

New Parts Installed