Cam advice....

[chuzie]

I am going to be doing some upgrades to my 302 in the near future and need help considering a possible cam swap.

My intentions are to add:

GT-40P Explorer or GT-40X heads
Explorer injectors
65mm TB
Explorer or Cobra GT-40 Upper and Lower intake
H pipe
70mm MAF
Underdrive pulleys

All of the upgrades are pretty common in the Mustang and the "go fast" crowds. One day I would like to consider taking this motor and planting it into a Mustang. With all these items already installed, all I would really need to do is swap out a cam and be good to go for a decent street car.

Most of the Mustang folks swap out to a cam that produces better high range power. It also produces that bone chilling lope at idle that stands my hair on end each time I hear it. It is by far the sexiest sounds on the face of our planet.

So I am looking to see if anyone knows of a cam out there I can use in my setup that will keep the good low and mid range power bands where they are, for the most part, but will give me the idle lope that I so desire.

Now, if anyone has any suggestions about looking at moving the power bands for my rig I am all ears. It is a 50 street / 50 trail rig.

Thanks.

[broncosbybart]

Every vehicle that I have owned had a pretty healthy cam in it to have the idle you describe. Intake vacuum is reduced with a bigger cam and low end power is pretty well reduced to nothing. I did work at a machine shop while going through community college and driving a race car. Believe it or not, for just about every build brought to us that we were to order parts for, the boss man would call Edelbrock and get what they suggested, based on customer input. That is my suggestion...

I personally love the sound of a MAF 302 with flowmasters, even stock. FYI, I do have a spare exploder engine sitting here. It is complete and ran fine but had high miles. It is kinda in the way. Was planning to keep it around for spare parts for the race bronco but don't really need it per se.

[broncosbybart]

Oh, and I do not run underdrive pulleys on a Bronco. I want all the cooling, charging, and steering that it can produce. Street car is a different story.

[Timstrk]

"I want a cam that will give me 30mpg, lope like a top fueler and run quarter miles in 9 seconds in my Bronco with 4:10 gears on 37" tires" Good luck, hot rod boy. Top end power or bottom end torque. If you're going to wheel it kiss the top end good bye. I have a 351W cam grind in mine with a power band from 1500-4500rpm and the largest torque converter I could get in the bell housing. I, too, suffer from 4:10 gears.

Tim

[jdowns67]

I agree with Timstrk and Broncosbybart. You have to pick either low end performance with no cam lope or a higher RPM street engine. I don't know how many miles are on your engine but here's something to consider. I tried to "freshen up" my old 302 with a new cam and heads and the extra compression and performance threw the motor over the edge. The older rings and bottom end couldn't stand it and failed quickly. It lasted about a year till I finally had to replace the motor because it was blowing by so much oil. I then went with a new 347 and wish I had done that to begin with.


JD

[blazinchuck]

chuzie, just mad the wifes 77 cut his butt twice!:hysterical::hysterical:

:xyxthumbs:buddy!:beer:

[broncomatt]

Cams are supposed to be matched to the intake. For what your talking about you would want something like the performer rpm. But like everone said, not always the best choice for trail duty.

[chuzie]

You guys are bursting my bubble here. Thanks though

[bucketobolts]

Flat tappet or roller cam?

[chuzie]

Well, since I already have an '89 5.0HO it is a good setup. I guess I could get the explorer intakes and heads and bee good to go. According to the cam companies and you guys there is no really way to get the rough idle and have the power where I want it.

That SUCKS!!! The loping idle makes me mess my pants whenever I hear it. Sure would have been nice. Oh well. Thanks for the info guys.