What cam to choose (250-300rwhp build)

[C0V3R]

I'm in the middle of doing a build of a brand new engine taking some of the good bits from my previous engine (marked *). At this stage it will be putting the power down through a c4, however that may change. The components that are going in so far are:

- Brand new 5.0 roller shortblock with explorer cam
- 1.6 Roller rockers *
- Full MSD ignition *
- Weiand 7515 single plane or Edelbrock Performer *
- AFR 165 heads
- Tri y headers *
- Edelbrock 1406 600cfm carb *

I am pretty sure that the explorer cam is not going to get me where I want to be in terms of HP. The question is what cam should I get?

Also I am assuming that in this build my single plane manifold will be more useful than the Performer.

 

[mikemustang289]

ditch the performer intake, the weiand stealth or rpm is a better choice.

I personally would go with a custom cam, you cant go wrong there, but it'll cost a little more.

the comp XE274hr is a good choice, it doesn't take much to get 400 fwhp with the heads you've got, seen it done with a stock 5.0 cam, not sure what the specs on the explorer cam are though

 

[C0V3R]

Explorer cam is as follows:

Intake .422", Exhaust .448"
Intake 256°, Exhaust 266°
116° Lobe Separation

 

[mikemustang289]

that's a pretty small cam, sure would be giving up power if it was used with the afr's

Search AFR's websight and look at there articles under ford. There are a bunch of combos listed for 302's with AFR 165's

Maybe some others can chime in with more advice

 

[68converted]

I went through this same question a year ago. I ended up with the comp cams xe270hr. Not the craziest cam but got me just what I wanted. Good low end torque, "smoother" idle (just enough loap to know it is ther), and great highway response. What do you plan to do with the car? Weekend cruizing, tearing up main street on Friday night, daily driver, all around? This is what you should concider when choosing your cam.

If you are more interested in stop light to stop light in the blink of an eye, get a "bigger" cam. Just know that if you go too much lift, you have to have the pistons fly cut for valve clearance. The 270 with 1.6 was all I believe I could go without cutting the pistons. Good luck with your weighty decision, and watch out for "advice". Opinions are great and very helpful, but go to the engineer side of your brain when the final three have to be cut down to the winner.

 

[C0V3R]

One of the key things I want to avoid is having to fly cut my pistons as everything is assembled brand new and I dont want to add the expense.

The car is essentially a weekend car which gets given a reasonable ammount of stick on twisty country roads. It has been out to the track once and probably will go back again, but I want it to have nice street manners - i.e. enough vacuum to comfortably run power brakes.

 

[65myway]

I'd go with the Trick Flow Stage 1 cam. This is a really good cam for street preformance. I have it in my roller 5.0 with ported GT40 heads and it works great. Really good throttle response and good low end torque for a performance cam. I'd stay away from the Ford alphabet cams (B303, E303...). They don't have nearly as much low end torque and the TFS cam.

 

[SitDown]

I'd go with the Trick Flow Stage 1 cam. This is a really good cam for street preformance. I have it in my roller 5.0 with ported GT40 heads and it works great. Really good throttle response and good low end torque for a performance cam. I'd stay away from the Ford alphabet cams (B303, E303...). They don't have nearly as much low end torque and the TFS cam.

I agree... The tfs1 would be a great choice for your combo. Makes good power, is very streetable, inexpensive, and even passes smog!! I made ~300rw with a similar combo of edel6037s and a rpm intake using that cam. Im all for a custom ground, but for less than 1/2 the price you cant beat the #s this line of cams make.

 

[oz]

Do not use the Exporer cam unless you plan to tow a boat.... too much lobe separation to make any power up high. 114 is the upper limit and a good compromise for an 'around town' driver IMO.

I have the Edelbrock Performer RPM cam in my '69. So far I am happy with it. Only ~11 inches of vacuum at idle. Power brakes seem to work fine though.

I am also very happy with the XE270HR in my 5.0... If I remeber correctly, I had plenty of piston to valve clearance w/ my stock pistons and big valves - something like .120 intake, .100 exhaust... I may have been able to go with 1.7 rockers...
See Sig for 5.0 specs ('69 info is NOT up to date):