help me pick a new intake/head combo

[nick_94cobra]

hey guys

Current setup is a 331, peformer rpm heads and intake, 1.90" valves and a f cam. 1 5/8 longtubes. I'm currently putting down around 340 hp at the wheels. the car is a blast to drive, but i'm looking to push that 400 rwhp number. i've already decided on a custom cam from ed curtis, what heads and intake do you think would work the best?

thanks in advance

 

[donkey_punch]

ask ed for some suggetsions, since you are going to use him for the cam.

good luck

 

[95strokerPSU]

He'll probably say AFR 185s, possibly 205s.

 

[tstang21]

^^^like what he said. afr 185s. i helped installed a 165s on my fox and searched more on 185s. for manifold, holley system max II or a trickflow track heat.

 

[PUNISHER RACING]

the heads you have work well, maybe a little port and a custom cam will do the trick.

 

[rj95svt]

I'm sure that Ed C. will give you a good recomendation on the heads and intake for pushing 400rwhp. My personal pick would be some canfield 195's, custom cam and holley systemax II. I think I would go ahead and do 1 3/4 headers and 3 inch exhaust which would probably help as well but talk to you cam grinder about the exhaust as well.

 

[nick_94cobra]

i was thinking afr 185s as well. from people i've talked to and my tuner, the heads and intake were holding me back right now. i know the cam is. my question is, could i get away with better heads and cam, and stay with the peformer rpm?

 

[nmcgrawj]

You do realize that when you pay a guy like Ed C. or Jay Allen or any of those guys designing cams that you are paying for their advice and guidance too?

There's very few guys on here that i'd take advice for building a certain package. Its cool to talk about it here but i really hope that you are discussing this with Ed or whoever does the cam.

 

[nick_94cobra]

i will be taking their advice on direction, that's for sure. it wouldn't make alot of sense to have them build a cam designed for a certain package, and then use other parts. on the other hand, i've heard that the f cam is really holding back my current setup. any thoughts on that?

 

[Stopsign32v]

Good God guys, anytime anyone asks about a cam or heads and intake everyone jumps on the Ed and Jay train. There are MANY more ways to get good power without contacting either of them. Yes that wouldn't be a bad way to go but its certainly not the only way you should go.



Edelbrock RPM II intake (don't go with the Victor, I think you will lose too much torque down low) or a Systemax 2 intake. I'm not a fan of Trickflow intakes. The RPM II intake made more power and torque over the Track heat intake on the MM&FF 347 setup. The R and up intake (box) are more for 351cid+.



Heads you could send you Performers off to get ported and bigger valves but I honestly wouldn't put the money in them. Sell those heads and pick up a set of AFR 185s or maybe some of the new Trickflow "fast as cast" heads. I think either would be good on a 331. Those heads would be a perfect match for a 331 like you want and if you felt like you wanted to try it you could go with some AFR 205s or TW 185s. Any of these heads you will be happy with.


As far as cams go...yes you can contact Jay Allen or Ed Curtis But there are definately other ways to go. I sold a cam I had grinded by Jay Allen on here and I had lost the cam sheet. I emailed Jay, called Jay, the guy that bought my cam emailed Jay. We asked him if he could simply give us the specs for the cam. We never heard a word from him. (3 weeks went by) I just took the cam to a speed shop around here and they put it in a Cam Doctor and it spit out the specs. However I wouldn't waste my time with either Jay or Ed again. If you do, hope you have better luck than me and people I've known.

I personally would go with AFM. Unlike Ed or Jay you atleast know what you are getting and just not sending them money and hoping for the best. Anderson Ford Motorsport Home Page Call and talk to Rick or Brian. They will set you up with the best cam, heads, and intake. ALOT of fast cars use their parts and you can actually call them tomorrow and talk to them and not a voice mail.


Good luck!!!!

 

[nmcgrawj]

.......i've already decided on a custom cam from ed curtis......

hmmmmm..........

Good God guys, anytime anyone asks about a cam or heads and intake everyone jumps on the Ed and Jay train. There are MANY more ways to get good power without contacting either of them. Yes that wouldn't be a bad way to go but its certainly not the only way you should go.

Jumping on the train? This guy said he already decided to go with a cam from Ed. So why wouldnt you talk to the man doing your cam? You can ask him what your current heads are capable of doing with one of his cams, what intake is best, etc. I have done this and both Ed and Jay have answered a million of my questions....once i put money up. They dont give(nor do they have) time to guys just emailing/calling to ask questions. Guys do that all day long and then dont buy a cam or any parts. Thats not cool looking from the their end of things and making money is it?

As far as cams go...yes you can contact Jay Allen or Ed Curtis But there are definately other ways to go. I sold a cam I had grinded by Jay Allen on here and I had lost the cam sheet. I emailed Jay, called Jay, the guy that bought my cam emailed Jay. We asked him if he could simply give us the specs for the cam. We never heard a word from him. (3 weeks went by) I just took the cam to a speed shop around here and they put it in a Cam Doctor and it spit out the specs. However I wouldn't waste my time with either Jay or Ed again. If you do, hope you have better luck than me and people I've known.

I personally would go with AFM. Unlike Ed or Jay you atleast know what you are getting and just not sending them money and hoping for the best. Anderson Ford Motorsport Home Page Call and talk to Rick or Brian. They will set you up with the best cam, heads, and intake. ALOT of fast cars use their parts and you can actually call them tomorrow and talk to them and not a voice mail.

You say "atleast you know what you are getting" and you knew exactly what you got from Jay. And you would know exactly what Ed gave you. YOU just lost the sheet so you forgot. When i got both of my cams from Jay, and the other from Ed, i scanned the sheet onto my computer so i wouldnt have to worry about losing the sheet. I cant explain Jay not contacting you, but both Jay and Ed are good guys. EVERY business has satisfied and unsatisfied customers.




I have seen some combos put out some impressive numbers with AFM products. But you are going down an avenue thats unnecessary. Dont let your dislike for Ed or Jay get you off topic. At the end of the day who does your cam should be anwering your questions on what heads/intake to use. Cause if it doesnt work, u can go back to them and get help/explanations on why. If i was spending the money i would tap into the knowledge of the guy taking my check, Ed, Jay, or AFM or even Hi-tech. Then if they said something i didnt agree with or if i just wanted to see other people's opinions then i would post here. And the maybe go back and ask the Pro's more questions so we can be on the same page.


Your advice, that you do give on the actual parts, is good. But then again, the same advice has been given in a million threads for a very long time. But like i said, when it comes down to options talking to the pro thats doing your combo i the best. They can tell u who should port the heads, the cost benefit, then u can decide if u should just sell them, and buy a better head that will give you more room to grow.

Oh, and i wouldnt trust the results from magazines. There's wayyyyy too much that can be done to affect the results. And when u dont get the magazine's results, u can call them and find out why right ?

 

[rj95svt]

Good God guys, anytime anyone asks about a cam or heads and intake everyone jumps on the Ed and Jay train. There are MANY more ways to get good power without contacting either of them. Yes that wouldn't be a bad way to go but its certainly not the only way you should go.



Edelbrock RPM II intake (don't go with the Victor, I think you will lose too much torque down low) or a Systemax 2 intake. I'm not a fan of Trickflow intakes. The RPM II intake made more power and torque over the Track heat intake on the MM&FF 347 setup. The R and up intake (box) are more for 351cid+.



Heads you could send you Performers off to get ported and bigger valves but I honestly wouldn't put the money in them. Sell those heads and pick up a set of AFR 185s or maybe some of the new Trickflow "fast as cast" heads. I think either would be good on a 331. Those heads would be a perfect match for a 331 like you want and if you felt like you wanted to try it you could go with some AFR 205s or TW 185s. Any of these heads you will be happy with.


As far as cams go...yes you can contact Jay Allen or Ed Curtis But there are definately other ways to go. I sold a cam I had grinded by Jay Allen on here and I had lost the cam sheet. I emailed Jay, called Jay, the guy that bought my cam emailed Jay. We asked him if he could simply give us the specs for the cam. We never heard a word from him. (3 weeks went by) I just took the cam to a speed shop around here and they put it in a Cam Doctor and it spit out the specs. However I wouldn't waste my time with either Jay or Ed again. If you do, hope you have better luck than me and people I've known.

I personally would go with AFM. Unlike Ed or Jay you atleast know what you are getting and just not sending them money and hoping for the best. Anderson Ford Motorsport Home Page Call and talk to Rick or Brian. They will set you up with the best cam, heads, and intake. ALOT of fast cars use their parts and you can actually call them tomorrow and talk to them and not a voice mail.


Good luck!!!!

Like said above he said that he was already getting a cam from Ed C. That's the reason I said to talk to him.

I agree that some off the shelf cam grinds are not bad and they can make some serious power but picking a cam is where alot of errors are are made. Most of the amauteur engine builders such as ourselfs don't know enough to do as well as these custom grinders do. I believe that these guys know alot more than I do and I've been around cars most of my life.

 

[BlackVert]

ask ed for some suggetsions, since you are going to use him for the cam.

good luck

+1 ...

Ed has said many times over on hardcore50 that AFRs give you the most bang for your buck, so I bet he'll say AFRs

and it's hard to go wrong with the holley intake, but see what Ed says.

that said ...

as time has gone on, i've become more of a believer in OTS stuff (including cams), simply because then you have something that is 100% repeatable. and at our performance level (meaning not professionally racing), a correctly matched combo of OTS parts should be pretty close to a combo with the same heads and intake and a custom cam, with the edge to the combo with the custom cam of course.

i dunno ... to me, getting into porting and custom cams and stuff like that adds an element of ... well ... voodoo (if you will), to it that i am starting to want to shy away from.

you know what i mean? should your motor should go south on you, then (assuming you want to rebuild what you have) you know exactly what to do to put it back together the way it was

 

[Stopsign32v]

Like said above he said that he was already getting a cam from Ed C. That's the reason I said to talk to him.

I agree that some off the shelf cam grinds are not bad and they can make some serious power but picking a cam is where alot of errors are are made. Most of the amauteur engine builders such as ourselfs don't know enough to do as well as these custom grinders do. I believe that these guys know alot more than I do and I've been around cars most of my life.

Ah I missed that part. If he is dead set on getting a cam from either person I'd go with their advice. Still I would atleast call around to some well known engine shops for advice. (CHP is good if you talk to the right person, AFM is great, TEA is also good, and I'm sure there are some that I am forgetting right now)

 

[rj95svt]

I personally have been reading over on sbf tech and when I build a 347 stroker later I will probably use canfield 195's with a Jay Allen cam. I don't think there is anything wrong with the AFR FTI combo though. I just like the design of the canfields with the slightly raised exhaust port.

 

[nick_94cobra]

alright, lets try this route. i've been considering getting a custom cam, but i've also been thinking about a OTS grind. Which way would you guys go? custom or off the shelf? i've been reading some good things about trickflow twisted wedge track heat and lunati voodoo cams lately. basically, i'm looking to get to 450 horse, that's my goal. i've made it to 380 with my current setup, which way would you guys go to get the rest of the way there?