cam swap

[myslo50]

my question is, i have a trick flow stage 1 cam laying around and i want to know if i can put it into my motor with out changing anything. can i leave the stock heads,springs,rockers on it or should i wait until i build`a 306 in a couple of years. or what do i got to do to slam it in.

right now my car is a 88 gt 5.0 with an explorer 5.0 intake headers exhust 3.73 gears and a bunch of timing 110 lph pump. a/c and smong are gone. 114'000 mi and i still have to wire in my mass air

 

[vikingpower]

You will need at least new valvesprings, roller rockers (stud mount), and mass air

 

[myslo50]

i know the mass air is a must i still got to wire it in with injectors. the rockers i figured were a must also but why cant i use the old springs. wouldnt it be better on the cam, i dont plan on reving the engine past 5k.

my buddy had a trick flow stage 1 cam with matching springs, stock rockers on a stock block with the stock e7's and he want to start it up and ran for 10 min and bent pushrods and broke rockers. he put the stock springs with new pushrods and stock rockers back in and it ran like a raped ape.

to put thoes springs in i heard that u half to machine the head down a little to allow the spring to work.

 

[Biggeley]

If he bent up pushrods and what not, then he clearly had a valvetrain problem. He didn't check clearances (valve seal to retainer clearance, coil bind, rocker interference, etc) or he just flat out didn't install something right the first time.

I would seriously hesistate to use that cam with stock springs. With the lift of that cam he is running the ragged edge of what those springs can support as far as coil bind and spring rate.. Sounds like a ticking time bomb.

If you are going to do it, do it right. At least get some adequate springs. Check for proper clearances.. It's probably good to get better rockers and new pushrods, but you can probably get away with the old stuff as long as you can shim the rockers for proper geometry and lifter preload.

 

[myslo50]

is there any cam to get that is better than the one i got in my car now, with out changing my springs. i can do the roller rockers but i dont really want to change the srings, until i do a motor. or would i be better off sticking with the stock cam and maybe go with a set of 1.7 rockers with the stock cam. or just leave it alone. i will probabily end up leaving it alone until i get a new motor but i am curious for a little extra power.