My dad just started the work on the car. I had it at a Performance Shop, for a few weeks, charged me 300 and they couldn't tell me anything that was wrong with it. Now my dad has it and told me what i needed for the roller stuff, but ive been told so many different things from people here, Comp Cam, Summit, and Ford Racing people that my head has spun. But i am going to get the spyder fit, a roller cam and lifters, new springs and rockers. And if that doesn't fix the problem i will set the car on fire.
Well, the knowledge about your engine in this case will mean the difference between a stock style hyd. roller lifter and a 500$ set of link bar lifters. If you can get a picture of the engine from the top, we can tell you what it is, and please get the number off the block! If you google that number you'd be suprised what you find, I promise you! And please, don't set the car on fire... I'll come get it if you wanna go that route! lol
For anyone who isnt there with you to help, whether thats here, comp cam, summit, ford racing....you have to know exactly what you have to know where u need to go. Without that...its a "well u could need this...or u could need that, but...etc etc etc" which makes your head spin lol. If you want to double check when you dad starts taking it apart, take pictures of the block when he takes the lower intake off and find the serial number cast into the block. And perhaps you should post your specific problems....because like people have said. THere are no "built in" issues with flat tappet cams....a roller cam is just more efficient and frees up horsepower doing the EXACT same thing a flat tappet does. So the only way you will fix something is if something is broken/wrong with the install on the flat tappet cam....but the hydraulic roller aspect of it wont fix "it". But then again....i dunno what "it" is so take it with a grain of salt
He took the intake off just to make sure and it has the holes for the spyder thing. The block is a roller set up. I was just the moron who put the wrong **** in it. One of the issues i am having is the cam is hopping around, and the hole lift,push rod, rockers just don't sit right. We measured the push rod length with a checker and it cam out to 7.100 but then when you start to tighten it down the pushes the rockers off, and anything shorter you can basically tighten the rockers all the way down. I just want to put it back to roller. Its a 95 so i should have kept it roller. I am just going to pick up a set up ford racing lifters, the z303 cam, and probably change the intake to a trick flow, get it running and park it within the next 2 weeks.
Are there "threaded" holes in the lifter valley? All motors have drain holes in them, make sure they're threaded.
Yes they are. Plus the guy at Ford Racing said all 302 blocks from mid 80's had the threaded holes. I asked him about the 87 f150 and he said yes then went on to say what years, but i kinda zoned out because i was thinking about cam and lifters. What is the difference between a computer controlled cam and a non computer controller cam. I see the x303 is controlled and the z is not.
They're telling you basically that if you have a Fuel injected car, the computer may or may not like the super low vacuum that will result from installing it, something about lobe seperation angle (LSA) being too narrow (is that correct?)The higher the number ie: 114/115 is better for computer controlled vehicles, the lower the number ie: 110 or so tends to give computers fits. I'm sure a competant tuner can tune for any cam you desire though.
Know your stuff before throwing a cam in. The springs on the heads need to be able to handle it. And it has to match the other parts on your car...
Figured a ford cam would be a great match for some gt-40 heads. Right now the intake is ported to match the heads. The heads have ford racing double springs.
Brand doesnt mean it will match. Look up some combos to see what guys have done with certain gt40 combos. I think on the corral there is a thread specifically for GT40 combos (that might be here also). One of the most impressive gt40 combo's ive seen was by a member here, 95snoozer i think, and he ran a compcams cam. And the same applies to springs. Not saying your stuff wont work, but dont concentrate so much on the brand, but what the parts actually do.
How do i match stuff. What kind of stuff do i look for. What should i not do, things like that. Also i see things about the x303 cam might require notches in the piston. Would the notch have to be in the bottom or something. I don't understand those kinds of things. Mine is a stroker and the pistons are shorter then the stock ones i had. Does those things make a difference.
Well the bad news is i won't get to drive my car until spring. Even worse news is i need a new block. The problem that caused everything i was told, was that the springs i had were to much for the flat tappet lifters and cam, so basically it beat the **** out of my lifters and cam, and scratched the hell out of the lifter holes. Metal shavings all over. My crank and pistons are fine along with my heads. So i need a new block, to swap everything over, just sucks bad. But i learned my lesson. Make sure everything is matched correctly lol.
