Cam Help

86foxybox

New Member
Mar 12, 2008
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Fairly new to car engines and need some help, have my block apart and going from efi to carb, i am trying to pick out a cam and having some problems. I was reading an engine building book that stated that I should not go over .500 lift to avoid problems, how do i build the heads to allow a bigger cam or is this book just being too cautious. ill be running a 600 cfm carb and a weiand stealth manifold, i already have shorty equal length headers and x pipe for the exhaust. if anyone has any cam recomendations please let me know. just looking for a good one preferably from 1500-5500 that wont rip the insides apart. Thanks a lot.
 
Any upgrade in the cam department, requires an upgrade in the valve train (valve springs, retainers). Since you have stock heads, they would need to be upgraded however, adding a cam with stock heads will not provide big gains in performance.

Based on the .500" lift limit the book mentions, I would say that book is way outdated. That "limitation" is usually mentioned referring to the possibility of Piston to Valve (PtV) issues, and the assumption that stock valve springs are OK for cams with that total lift, which is wrong........ Total valve lift has nothing to do with the possibility of PtV issues + stock springs are acceptable for valve lifts of .450" max (based on the exhaust valves) only.

If aftermarket heads are not in the budget, suggest to use the stock cam and do upgrade the "tired" valve train.... maybe add a set of 1.7 ratio roller rockers. LUK
 
I hope to be doing the same thing very soon but I was either going to see if I can find some gt40 heads in the junk yard and rebuild them or give my stock head a little port job and rebuild those. From what I have read heads are what makes or breaks you as far as the big power.
 
I've always heard the Ford Racing "B303" Cam is a decent off-the-shelf choice ($180 new OR look on eBay). I had the TFS Stage 2 in my 5.0 and I didn't care for it.

I agree w/ Joel
Joel5.0 said:
Any upgrade in the cam department, requires an upgrade in the valve train (valve springs, retainers). Since you have stock heads, they would need to be upgraded however, adding a cam with stock heads will not provide big gains in performance.

Theres a lot of options out there but on A1C pay I would say eBay is your friend! Look for some GT40 heads maybe? My brother ran GT40 irons and the B303 cam into the mid 12's (w/ EFI).