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VERGAZ2 · May 27, 2024

great forum have learned a lot over the years from lurking thru google searches figured its time to create an acct. 1989 lx convertible 5 speed here going through the checklist of 'gotta have/do' upgrades updates and modifications with a few personal touches. H/C/I is my next step and looking at an explorer intake, B cam and looking for advice on the heads.

General karthief · May 27, 2024

Skip the B cam, it's just so nineties, get a duel pattern grind.

LILCBRA · May 27, 2024

Here's your official 'welcome to the site!'

General karthief said:
Skip the B cam, it's just so nineties, get a duel pattern grind.

Be nice! Maybe he's going for that vibe..... Besides, I have a B cam I may install one of these days....

I heard Scotty once used one in an engine that acted as a replacement warp drive aboard the USS Enterprise.

Noobz347 · May 27, 2024

What happens when you and two of your best friends get too much direct contact with a B cam

Ours had "Hencho de Mexico" written on it.
BTW, I already had the mustache

FastDriver · May 27, 2024

Well, it always comes down to budget and goals. On the low end of the spectrum, you could bang out a budget street build by finding some explorer "3-bar" 96-97 heads, or the later 4-bar GT40Ps (specific headers required). They'll still run ya only a few hundred from the marketplace. On the extreme end, you could end up with some exotic custom Yates, High-port, or Clevor head. But if you go that extreme, you should be talking to a builder or already know what you're doing. In the middle are all the rest at various levels of spend.

Your suggestion of the B-cam probably means you're budget-minded, in which case your goal is to find a good used head. The GT40 and basic cam & explorer intake combo is a really nice bump from stock. Depending on the other bolt ons, you should expect to see 260+ rwhp and to have plenty of power to carry a full weight manual fox deep into the 12s. A step up from there would be to a premium aluminum head like an AFR or Trick Flow. These heads will flow enough to push power into the 300+ rwhp area and if cammed and properly intaked & accessorized, you can even get into the 350+ range. Look to spend a couple grand on those heads new and 1-1.5k used. You'll want to pair those more premium versions with a Holley Systemax II or similar intake if you stay in the 302-310 c.i. at less than 6.5k RPM range.

That should be plenty to put some 'paint on the wall' for ya. There's nothing wrong with a budget-minded torquey little GT40 combo. That's what's currently in my DD, and I love it! Above that, the principle of diminishing returns for the $$$ applies.

FastDriver · May 27, 2024

Out of curiosity, I asked this guy if he'd let his stuff go seperately, and he said he'd part off the heads/cam/intake and rockers for $1.4k. If the parts are good, I think that's a decent deal:

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AeroCoupe · May 27, 2024

Carbed intake?

VERGAZ2 · May 28, 2024

LILCBRA said:
Here's your official 'welcome to the site!'

Be nice! Maybe he's going for that vibe..... Besides, I have a B cam I may install one of these days....

I heard Scotty once used one in an engine that acted as a replacement warp drive aboard the USS Enterprise.

FastDriver said:
Well, it always comes down to budget and goals. On the low end of the spectrum, you could bang out a budget street build by finding some explorer "3-bar" 96-97 heads, or the later 4-bar GT40Ps (specific headers required). They'll still run ya only a few hundred from the marketplace. On the extreme end, you could end up with some exotic custom Yates, High-port, or Clevor head. But if you go that extreme, you should be talking to a builder or already know what you're doing. In the middle are all the rest at various levels of spend.

Your suggestion of the B-cam probably means you're budget-minded, in which case your goal is to find a good used head. The GT40 and basic cam & explorer intake combo is a really nice bump from stock. Depending on the other bolt ons, you should expect to see 260+ rwhp and to have plenty of power to carry a full weight manual fox deep into the 12s. A step up from there would be to a premium aluminum head like an AFR or Trick Flow. These heads will flow enough to push power into the 300+ rwhp area and if cammed and properly intaked & accessorized, you can even get into the 350+ range. Look to spend a couple grand on those heads new and 1-1.5k used. You'll want to pair those more premium versions with a Holley Systemax II or similar intake if you stay in the 302-310 c.i. at less than 6.5k RPM range.

That should be plenty to put some 'paint on the wall' for ya. There's nothing wrong with a budget-minded torquey little GT40 combo. That's what's currently in my DD, and I love it! Above that, the principle of diminishing returns for the $$$ applies.

budget minded and period correct are my top 2 priorities and from what I've read those explorer parts are a pretty sweet deal and the b-cam seems to be popular to match with them. Using factory parts from another Ford also appeals to me its kinda cool to 'raid the parts bin' and keep it all FoMoCo under the hood (for now)

It's an old convertible that I'm not going to be racing at the track I just like to see results from simple and affordable mods. If I could get 260 at the wheels with some cleaned up junkyard parts I'd be more than happy and maybe even a little too pleased with myself

VERGAZ2 · May 28, 2024

General karthief said:
Skip the B cam, it's just so nineties, get a duel pattern grind.

im listening.... what's the dual pattern grind do differently than a 'b' cam? how would I figure out the best one for my application? I'm ignorant so please feel free to school me. knowledge is power

LILCBRA · May 28, 2024

A dual pattern cam will help maximize the exhaust side to more closely resemble the intake flow. Right or wrong, here's how I think of it: the intake valve opens a certain distance for a certain amount of time and allows X amount of air/fuel into the cylinder. Then, the compression and power cycle produce X amount of exhaust. Since nothing was added, you still have to expend the same volume of exhaust as you'd want to bring air/fuel into the cylinder for the next intake cycle, so the exhaust valve needs to be the same size and open the same distance and for the same length of time. Since it's almost physically impossible (there are exceptions, of course) to match the valves and ports size for size, the only way to help equalize them is to adjust the amount of lift and length of time that they're open. So a dual pattern cam generally has longer duration and more lift on the exhaust side to help equalize flow.

I've shared this video here before, as I know a couple others have, I think it's a good watch to help get a better handle on cam selection.

He gets into single/dual pattern cams at around the 35 minute mark.

General karthief · May 28, 2024

I am not well versed in cam-tology but I did run a B cam for a short time, I had the same problem many have had with them, you couldn't drive around at low RPMs. (Like cruze'n a parking lot in first or second gear) the engine bucked and made it nearly impossible to drive, once above 2k RPMs it was fine,
Now in defense of The Almighty B cam I will say it was fun to drive aggressively between 3500 and 6000 RPMs and the idle was down right sexy so if you're looking for nostalgia and that old Mustang pushrod burple while sitting at a light it fits.

General karthief · May 28, 2024

I think it is the valve overlap, the time when both valves are open, that our engine management system (computer) has a hard time handling.
Just my thoughts.

AeroCoupe · May 28, 2024

Call Comp Cams and get one of their off the shelf grinds. Just be honest with them about what you want out of the motor and give them your list of wants in order of importance. Be ready to change the rear gears as most cams will want some gear. If I had to do it over again I would have gone with 3.55's over my 3.73's with the 3.35 first gear ratio of my T-5.

FastDriver · May 28, 2024

I've seen a rule of thumb that when you divide the exhaust flow by the intake flow, & then every percent less than 75% wants 1.5 degrees of exhaust duration @ .050".

Maybe this gives a decent idea of why split patterns work so well on GT40 style heads. Let's take the GT40X heads, for example. Skip to the second list, at the bottom, on this:

So, at .600, it'd be around 69.8%, which would need about 7.7 degrees. The XE274HR, a pretty good cam that would have manners similar to a B-cam is 224/232 @ .050". 8 degrees!

So voila! And on top of the right split, it has 1 degree more LSA, which I'll bet makes it even more street friendly than the B-cam. The extra lift should help a bit, too.

Now, most that are familiar with nitrous cams know that they generally have even more duration on the exhaust side, and that jibes with the idea that injecting nitrous is equivalent to having an even bigger intake CFM flow.

Just some food for thought for ya.

VERGAZ2 · May 29, 2024

AeroCoupe said:
Call Comp Cams and get one of their off the shelf grinds. Just be honest with them about what you want out of the motor and give them your list of wants in order of importance. Be ready to change the rear gears as most cams will want some gear. If I had to do it over again I would have gone with 3.55's over my 3.73's with the 3.35 first gear ratio of my T-5.

ive already done the 3:73 rear end and yeah id also go with 3:55 if I was to do it again. beats the 2:73 it came to me with either way. What I'm taking away form this is the best order to do things would be track down the Intake and heads that I'll use and have Comp Cams figure out what will be my best options based on those choices. Anything else to consider? always have read H/C/I with then shorty headers being the following step for a budget/parts bin build.
thanks in advance

AeroCoupe · May 29, 2024

You will need to swap out the springs on the GT40 heads as the stock ones will most likely be worn out and they will allow valve float on even the most mild roller cam. Cam manufacturer will most likely recommend springs but these are the go to with the GT40's:

https://www.trickflow.com/parts/tfs-2500100

manicmechanic007 · Jun 1, 2024

Always buy a cam and kit, meaning use the recommended springs
I have had several lumpy grinds in my Boss 302
The one that runs the best is the factory solid lifter cam

manicmechanic007 · Jun 9, 2024

Buddy of mine always wanted a factory purple shaft in his Mopar (that purple shaft is a factory racing cam for Mopars)
Finally installed it and it ran so lumpy he could not street drive it
Beautiful, looks well kept 89 you have VERGAZ1

VERGAZ2 · Jun 24, 2024

79-93 Fox body Mustangs & Parts For Sale | Edelbrock Victor EFI upper and lower intake, ported by Champion Racing Heads, flows 350 cfm | Facebook

Edelbrock Victor EFI upper and lower intake, ported by Champion Racing Heads, flows 350 cfm

www.facebook.com

edelbrock Victor EFI intake.. looks sweet, has been ported, quick research tells me most were using these on faster cars than what I'm imagining for my own build about 15 years ago. seems like a good price though and would be a unique piece under the hood. someone talk me into or out of this?

General karthief · Jun 24, 2024

Well, you'll likely find if it's a stock head/cam and gearing it will be a dog (with a broke leg) around town, moves the RPM range up and you'll likely lose torque down low, needs different heads and cam (and prolly a gear change) to be useful.
JMO

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wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

I was uncomfortably high & wearing a helmet

I was uncomfortably high & wearing a helmet

lube between the nut and the face. I know my lubes

Member

Member

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

lube between the nut and the face. I know my lubes

I was uncomfortably high & wearing a helmet

Member

lube between the nut and the face. I know my lubes

Member

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

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