Help with FTI cam/TW head swap

zenboy99 · Mar 28, 2004

The cam requires springs with 130-135# spring pressure, but stock TW heads are 110. Can anyone recomend a good valve spring for that range?

Also I just went to check my piston to valve clearance. I used play dough wich sucks cause it won't stick to the piston. I tried this twice, and with the head gasket in my clearance was only 0.05". Now I find it hard to believe that Ed C would grind the wrong cam for me. Could there be something here that I'm missing or possibly screwed up on?

I'm using the Fel-pro head gaskets recomended by Trick Flow, Trick Flow 6.75" pushrods (recomended) and pro magnum 1.6 rockers.

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

RIO5.0 · Mar 28, 2004

Thats .050 with or without the gasket???

zenboy99 · Mar 28, 2004

Thats WITH the gasket! I'm suppose to be 0.08" and 0.1"

When I got my cam in the mail, the lift was larger then what Trick Flow recomended for clearance. I e-mailed Ed C and he told me I would have plenty of clearance, that its not about max lift but the timing events.

Rootus · Mar 28, 2004

I have a couple of thoughts:

1. Ed is right, it's not the lift that gets you, it's overlap & duration.
2. You can get thicker headgaskets.
3. If you tightened the heads down with that head gasket in place, you'll need to get a new headgasket (unless you got one of the reusable kind).
4. If I were doing my H/C/I again, I think I would choose the comp cams beehive springs (I didn't know about them at the time).

Every engine is different, that cam may work for some people with TW heads, just not your exact parts. That's why you're measuring .

Dave

TMC · Mar 28, 2004

Did you ask Ed about the spings you need? I'm sure he'll have some that fall into place for you. But if you don't want to do that the Comp 978's installed at 1.80 will be ok and should be a drop in replacement. However I'm not certain that the stock retainer and locks will fit...you'll have to look into that or just order the comp parts that go with those springs.

Joes95GT · Mar 28, 2004

I got new springs for my Edelbrock heads from Ed, so I'm guessing that he would have the springs you need too. As far as the clearance issues was the 0.050" clearance on the intake or exhaust side? What was the other side's clearance? 0.050 inches of clearance is pushing it for a street car, but in no way is that going to stop your car from running right. Are you sure that is the correct clearance? What did you measure it with? How thick was the headgasket? I have a hard time believing that the clearance was that close with the headgasket on there.

Joe

94DreamGT · Mar 28, 2004

Hmmm...that is strange on the clearance thing. How are you measuring it???

Here is when I did mine with milled AFR's and an FTI cam:

I used modeling clay and no headgasket. I was 0.080" Intake and 0.060" Exhaust and then figured @ 0.040" for the HG. Close but it was enough clearance. I was worried too beforehand because my cam has over .550" lift, but Ed was right on...and it's not just about lift either, duration and timing events are key.

zenboy99 · Mar 29, 2004

Ed C came to the rescue, degreeing of the cam might be off. I'll update it later in the week when I try it again.

Killercanary · Mar 29, 2004

That's why we love Ed. I spent hours working with him when I put my car together because I have never done it before.

zenboy99 · Mar 29, 2004

So far dealing with Ed has been the only good thing about this swap. He shipped out new valve springs and two solid lifters for me today. Now that is service! Summit and Ford tech lines provided little help.

The extra price you pay for a custom cam is completely compensated for by the help that Ed can give you.

Killercanary · Mar 29, 2004

zenboy99 said:
The extra price you pay for a custom cam is completely compensated for by the help that Ed can give you.

EXACTLY!!! He will help you with EVERY aspect of your car, not just the cam!!!

Grn92LX · Mar 29, 2004

Just curious on your cam specs? My TW heads are milled .020" and I haven't any p to v clearence in the over a year I had the FTI cam. Nice combo, glad to see soemone trying somthing different rather than the afr/fti set up..

Killercanary · Mar 29, 2004

Grn92LX said:
...glad to see soemone trying somthing different rather than the afr/fti set up..

My dad is running a holley systemax II/FTI setup in his 91GT. Best time so far is 12.01 at 115mph.

zenboy99 · Mar 29, 2004

Grn92LX, sent you a pm.

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