CAM SELECTION--NEED ADVICE

your biggest problem is if you have stock heads with pressed in studs (except for maybe the stock ford HO hyd roller) you will need to install screw in studs,guide plates and new rockers and in order to run any of the off the shelf hyd roller cams you will need expensive link bar conversion hyd roller lifters and new pushrods as well, otherwise you will have to drill and tap your block for the "spyder and dogbones" and use a small base circle retrofit hyd roller cam which will limit your cam choices and you will still need new pushrods and stock type hyd roller lifters. Either way you do it it will cost you 1000.00-1500.00 when you are done. For about the same price or less if you junkyard it (way less at pick your part) you can get a rebuilt or used good running 5.0 longblock, you will need a 50 oz flexplate and balancer, they do make 50 oz balancers thet will work with your 3 bolt pulley and accesories.

Going the 5.0 will give you a roller block, forged pistons, better heads with hardened valve seats and a roller cam, you can bolt on your performer intake/carb and use a 85 up duraspark dist or use the one you have and add a steel dist gear.

I've been there, done that and unless you are going to run aftermarket heads and conersion lifters it is way expensive to convert a stock headed 289 to a roller, once again the stock HO hyd roller should be OK with the stock heads as it has 444 lift and about 211 duration @0.50 but most other decent hyd rollers have over .500 lift which will require extensive mods to the stock heads.

There are many decent flat tappet cams that will work with your stock heads and give a nice boost in power but with stock heads, you will never have a screamer........sorry.

Another option......drop in a 351w.....instant 50hp/50ftlbs even in stock form, but again your best option is a 5.0 ho longblock, it will give you much more power/TQ.street manors and MPG's over a 289, throw in a mild hyd roller like a smaller comp xe and you will have the best of both worlds.

Ditto on that. Except there's no point in limiting the selection of 5.0's to just the HO Mustang engine. At this point in time, most will need a rebuild anyway. Other good 5.0's to pick from are the 94-97 E or F series 5.0's and the 96-2001 Explorer/Mountaineer 5.0's. These also have an excelllant street cam that's only a hair below the HO in specs. Bolt on a set of 1.7 rockers and it's there. Porting the stock heads will also help it. I would also go with an RPM intake or any of these: Weiand Stealth, Ford A321, Edelbrock's old F4B, plus others of the highrise dfual plane design. All will work off idle to 6500, and in some cases higher.

1992MustangGT said:

I need some help choosing a cam. I have a 67 Mercury Cougar XR7 with a 289and C4 automatic. I'm wanting to install a roller cam and am not sure which cam to use. This will be a fully functional street car with A/C and all the modern comforts I can cram into it. I want to really wake up the little 289 and make it scream, but still have great street manners and hopefully some respectable gas mileage.

I realize that I'll have to purchase a retro-fit cam, but for now I'm looking at cam grind numbers. It currently has an Edelbrock Performer 289 intake manifold, which is rated from idle to 5500 rpm, so I need to choose a cam that will work well off idle. I'd really like a cam that would make awesome power from idle clear up to about 6200 to 6500 rpm, if that's possible. The cams I've been looking at are: Ford Motorsport X303, (advertised power range is from idle to 6200), Ford Motorsport Z303 (advertised power range is from idle to 6500), Edelbrock #2221 (advertised power range is from 1500 to 6500), Comp Cams #35-349-8 (advertized power range from 1500 to 5500), Comp Cams #35-514-8 (advertised power range from 1600 to 5600), Comp Cams #35-351-8 (advertised power range from 1800 to 5800).

Has anyone used any of these cams I mentioned? What is your opinion? How do they perform with my combination? Are there any other cams I haven't mentioned that you have used that would work well with what I have? Thanks in advance for your suggestions....

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all the cams you are looking at will work just fine since they all compliment the rpm range of your current parts.

I also looked at going the roller cam route in my 289 and the cost was 3X the cost of using a hyd. like original. I stroked my 289 to 333 and went with the CC XE262 as I am installing A/C and PB so I didn't want to get too radical and this was the last cam that didn't lower vacuum. I do also have AFR 165's w/screw in studs, I think 500 lift if right at the line where they suggest screw in studs. Try downloading the free program CamQuest on the CC website, you can change variables to see what cam they suggest if you add/change things down the line like different heads, rear gear, etc.
Jon

What are the specs for the roller you have now?

with some gears/stall and those heads that cam would run pretty good in a 289.

1992MustangGT said:

The cam I currently have is from Anderson Ford Motorsports. It's a B-31. These are numbers from the cam card I got when I purchased the cam....

Advertised Duration at .006 = 270 Intake / 280 Exhaust
Duration at .050 = 218 Intake / 228 Exhaust
Timing events at .050 = 1/37 Intake 55/-2 Exhaust
Lobe lift @ cam = .340 Intake / .340 Exhaust
Gross Valve lift with 1.6 rockers = .544 Intake / .544 Exhaust
Lobe separation = 112 degree
Degree intake lobe to 108 degree

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I'd stick with that cam. It'll work fine in a 289. It should also put the cruise at about the sweet spot on the highway for fuel mileage.

The Dang 351 would have been my first choice any way. 'specially as the Coug is heavier and has the room to acomodate, the slightly larger 351.
That Anderson cam will do fine in the 351, too.
As your getting the new springs, double check & get ones spec'ed to match the cam.

You mentioned AC. I would not spin one of the stock compressors over 5500 rpm. Better use a modern Sanden unit.