Let me first state this all pertains to a 91 Mustang LX Vert. Don't hate or bash, but I have been running an On3 kit for almost 2 years now. I see they get a lot of bad press, but I will have to say I have had no issues and am happy so far. Im running a stock block, but have an RPM crank, Manley rods and pistons. The 900 dollar Edlelbrock aluminum heads. Im running 3:73 gears and a tko600.

So I know this has been gone over a trillion times on this site, and I hate for my first post to be about this, but I came to this forum for help so I figure I picked a good one to get my feet wet. Like a lot of others, I have questions on what cam to go with. I keep hearing F cam is the way to go, but I agree that the combo of components plays a big part in what cam is really gonna give you the most power. For starters, I know the turbo and cam I am currently running are more than adequate to crack the block...I get that, but going through a rebuild and if there is a better cam choice for power to be gained off the motor to therefore use less boost to achieve my goals then that's the info Im after...Sorry..I know I can ramble on. It seems a lumpy cam does not seem to go hand in hand in a turbo set up, but Im really after a lumpy idle, or as lumpy as I can get. Currently Im running the equivalent of a Ford E-cam. A local shop here takes your cam and regrinds them so I had the stock cam reground to those specs. I also have an Anderson Motorsports B-3 cam. That cam had a pretty lumpy idle. It actually rattled the dash and a bunch of bolts loose so at one point I decided it was a bit too much and swapped it for my custom grind. I hear the Ford f cam is the way to go and I was all ready to get it when I started looking into it and I have been brought to post about it now. If not the F cam, maybe a custom grind? What specs would I be looking for. The one thing not mentioned was Intake and TB. Currently I have been running Typhoon intake with the matching 70mm TB. I got a killer deal on these and it was the polished intake so I went with it. I would have no problem getting a different intake if one was going to work better with my heads and what not. I also have a Trick Flow "R" intake but I think that may be over kill. Im probably missing stuff, but you get the idea. So whats my best move here? I would love to hear what people with real world experience would have to say.

 

Well I'll start this off.. but you really didn't give us enough information to determine what would best suit your needs. I'll suggest what i *think* you're after...

F-cam- proven performer, but 25 year old cam technology.. I'm sure you can find better. Custom if you want to spend the $ but otherwise call comp or any other cam company for a cam recommendation.

Intake/ throttle body - lots of options but I'd look at having TMOSS port it (just search google), or if you want to spend the $ there are bigger and better intakes out there.

With that said.. the info you need to look at is:

Intended RPM range? The cam and intake you need is determined by this
Street Car/ Weekend car?
What are your power goals?
What is your budget?

MY personal opinion.. Save the money for a Boss/351/World /Dart block .You could also sell off your existing parts before it goes boom or just run more boost until you have the new engine together. After all.. more boost is pretty much free.

 

I guess the answer is clear...I need to go to a dart block, but for the hell of it I would like to hear where I could improve on what I currently have. In all reality I am not stuck with anything g I have. I don't want to say there is no budget cause like anyone else I don't want to spend a fortune, but making the commitment to go dart or boss is going to cost a fortune no matter what. What started this nightmare is I installed a used tko600 and picked up a wicked vibration. This was installed to the back of a motor that was fairly new to me. I bought another car with the intentions of swapping the drivetrain into my car and then selling the donor car with my basically stock components. As mentioned I picked up a wicked, oscillating, rotating pounding on the floorboard vibration. Instantly I thought I got screwed on the trans, but after swapping flywheels, balancers, checking driveline angles, indexing bell housing and even installing my original t5, it was determined something was going on inside this motor. I put the tko and my original stock motor into the donor car and no vibration. So where I am somewhat committed is I had the rotating assembly from the donor engine rebalanced. It still makes no sense since I drove this engine for a few weeks with no vibrations yet something changed at the time of the engine swap. As mentioned, this rotating assembly is and RPM crank, manley rods and pistons and from balancer to clutch bolts it has all been balanced. To me it seems silly to build a dart block off these stock, but forged internals. This is going to be a street car with a trip to the track on occasion. I have a bbk75mm TB I can use, but again am willing to change that if a better combo is needed. As far as intakes go, Im not set on this one. I have a trick flow "r" intake, but Im under the impression that is over kill for Im looking to do. maybe I should say the motor I picked up was a 30 over 302. It has a set of edelbrock aluminum heads, rpm crank, manley rods and pistons. It has a trickflow stage 3 cam with the trickflow "r" intake and bbk 75mm TB. My plan was to put my turbo set up on this motor, which I did, but when I thought I was doing the right thing by going with a tko600 I picked up this vibration which has put me where I am today. Im not dead set on these heads either. I have a buyer for the heads and the intake and could use that money towards different stuff. I just don't know what I should do at this point. Any thoughts? I know I can be confusing...How about this..If I go with the F cam, what would be a good intake to match with the edelbrock E street heads?

 

Do you want a lumpy idle or a efficient turbo cam? In my experience they're two different things as a turbo seems to like a fairly wide LSA which isn't really conducive to rumpity rumpity idle quality.

 

Well..Im learning its not possible to have both? I want the lumpy idle if possible, but if performance out weighs the lumpy idle by a drastic amount then I guess I have to go for performance over a silly idle preference. It seems the F cam kinda gives ya both. For 100 bucks there is a shop here locally that will take my existing cam and grind it to whatever spec I want.

 

You can make big power with a lopey cam, but it's a compromise. I made 639.7rwhp with a box stock XR280R comp blowing through the convertor, but I could've made more with a better cam. It did thump at idle though and I've always been a sucker for that too.

 

ok..so with that being said, running the Edlelbrock E street heads, what would you suggest as a good cam to run with. Im open to intakes as well. I have a typhoon, which I know is not the greatest, but its the polished version nad it came with a set of aluminum heads as part of a package deal. Im not set on that intake though. I have the trick flow R intake but was probably gonna sell that one

 

I'd give someone who specializes in turbo cams a call and see what they recommend, I tend to stay to the small side on my cam choices, but they might be able to hook you up with something well balanced between a lopey idle and make stupid power too.

 

Comp and Lunati have always been my go to's.

 

My first thought on 302 stock blocks is, dont spend money on fancy parts. You will eventually break the block and ruin the fancy parts.

Cam choice takes a bunch of factors in mind. One big factor is the turbo or more specifically, the exhaust side. If the exhaust side is small (on3 is notorious for) the cam overlap should be as small as possible which means no cool idle sounds. If it were a turbo matched with high rpm in mind, the exhaust would be big and not restrictive. This allows you to run a cam with more overlap for higher rpm use also and that classic slobbering idle.

302 stock block should be held to low rpm to help it live longer. This means the turbo exhaust should be ok but cam needs to be relatively small also. This also means the R intake is a little much. I would just stick with the custom E cam spec camshaft for now and put money in a platform that gives you more room to have fun. This could be a Dart or Boss block or even going to a 351w.