Cam thoughts inside please!

ttocs

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I mean did she just walk up one day and say "hey ya know that cammy thingy you wanted? I think you should get it." or was it a 3 day all out knock out drag out begging war? I mean one of those two scenarios sounds reasonable to me and one sounds suspect. :) Just kidding of course
 

Randall Garner

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Unless your going big cam and high compression,. It's better to think smaller on heads than bigger. If your doing mostly cruising you'll never use full potential of heads or cam. Skip white does a good job. But do not just get the base as sold heads. You'll want better springs and upgraded valves. I have a set of the 210's. 7 years. On a driver some racing. And too this day no valve float from weak springs. The 274'comp is a great cam. I can turn you onto a cam grinder that does custom work. Better prices than most you can discuss your overall setup. To get what will work best . Sometimes you have to spend a touch more to get quality. I have seen the afr 165 make big power with the right cam , intake and tune combo
 

95opal

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Unless your going big cam and high compression,. It's better to think smaller on heads than bigger. If your doing mostly cruising you'll never use full potential of heads or cam. Skip white does a good job. But do not just get the base as sold heads. You'll want better springs and upgraded valves. I have a set of the 210's. 7 years. On a driver some racing. And too this day no valve float from weak springs. The 274'comp is a great cam. I can turn you onto a cam grinder that does custom work. Better prices than most you can discuss your overall setup. To get what will work best . Sometimes you have to spend a touch more to get quality. I have seen the afr 165 make big power with the right cam , intake and tune combo
/\ this is dead on the money.
i put down 325 with a set of afr165s fti cam and a holley.
 
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joemomma

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I mean did she just walk up one day and say "hey ya know that cammy thingy you wanted? I think you should get it." or was it a 3 day all out knock out drag out begging war? I mean one of those two scenarios sounds reasonable to me and one sounds suspect. :) Just kidding of course

LOL. I think it was a war of attrition. She got tired of hearing me talk about it.

I'll see about getting a set of fully assembled from Skip. I'd just assume get something ready to drop in and go. My cousin has done many SBF, so I will likely take to him for teardown/assembly.
 

joe65

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you might have your mind set, but i've seen such good things from the twisted wedge heads for the 5.0. pretty hard to go wrong with those. I'll have to look up the skip white heads you mention. I've not heard of them.
 

tinnocker

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First let me say I am a novice also, but have been into hot rodding since I was 16, when I bought a 1940 Ford coup with a 1955 Oldsmobile 324 cubic inch v8 for $550, but hey, it had chrome valve covers. Flash forward 58 years and I still love hot rodding. Recently I bought a 94' Mustang GT, bone stock so I started looking for things to do and keep the stock bottom end, except the cam. I have been looking on every forum debate that I can find about the quality of aluminum heads and what brand to get. Most say that AFR 165 heads are best for a mostly street and some strip use. Eldelbrock, and Twisted Wedge are also good. This is just the consensus of dozens or reviews and word of mouth on different Mustang and Ford forums. Lots of recommendations to let a machinist or qualified mechanic check what ever brand you buy because a small percentage of all have some flaws or aluminum bits and pieces that get by the inspectors. Now with all that said, I went with a set of cast iron GT40'S that have been been ported to flow as well or better than the aluminum ones. Aluminum heads still have the weight advantage but in my case, I am not building a strip car that tries to shave every pound off the weight of the car. I remember a Thunderbolt 427 Ford Fairlane in the sixties that won more than its share of quarter mile races and the driver weighed close to 300 lb. Big Dog Porting is the name of the company that I am buying my heads from. He machines the heads, with new springs and valves installed and ports them to flow as good as or better than any out of the box aluminum heads sold today. He does the same with GT40 intakes that flow better than any aftermarket fuel injected intake that is sold today. He has many rave reviews and his price for a set of ported GT40 heads is less than $1200 delivered and ready to install. Google Big Dog Porting on Facebook for some of his flow charts and many pictures of the before and after porting work that he does. Lots of reviews of guys built Mustangs track time before and after his port work. Some are from just street use Mustangs and Fords that tell of hp increases. He ports the aluminum brand name heads and reviews say that their cars perform better. It seems like a win win situation to me. Cheaper and better performing


 

tinnocker

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Also on cam choice I like this review on YouTube for Comp Cam XE266HR. He takes you a ride along in his Mustang and explains the pros and cons of this cam. I have yet to order but I changed my mind from the 303b cam to this comp cam. Sounds good also.

 

96blak54

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Tinnocker puts down some good info. There are plenty of avenues to travel down and you have to make that decision based on your goals. Figure out that out and i believe youll be happy.

Its fun to buy parts and build, paint and polish, and finally lay the rubber down on the road, but ask yourself...how much of a pain in the ass will the car be the next time i get it out.

I see plenty of over achievers that cant enjoy their rides due to extravagant hp or fear of dirt accumulating on it.

On a side note about the gt40 flow video(good video too).... and im not starting a war here buuuuut a 2valve modular heads ported flows the same amount at half the lift and with a smaller valve ......just saying! LOL
 

sluggish94

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Update: it seems the boss has given me permission to get some nice aluminum heads (don't ask what I did to deserve such a wonderful wife). I'm leaning towards the Skip White NKB. Outside of a timing set, lifters, and rockers, what else am I going to need? Pushrods and guide plates? Recommendations? Keep it simple, I'm a real novice.
I've been seeing that name pop up more and more in cylinder head threads in the past 2 years, Skip White. I just looked on their website and the heads are 889. Not bad for a pair of aluminum heads with comp valve springs and stainless steel valves. I'd consider getting a set of these.
 

ttocs

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On a side note about the gt40 flow video(good video too).... and im not starting a war here buuuuut a 2valve modular heads ported flows the same amount at half the lift and with a smaller valve ......just saying! LOL
Yea but the only dude that would want to wade into this can of worms to argue for the 302 isn't here anymore.
 
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joemomma

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I'm taking everyone's info in, and appreciate it all. As for the Big Dog heads, I've seen the videos and reviews. They're fantastic, for a set of worked factory iron heads. I still feel the SWP heads are a better choice for less money. The $300 savings will buy the rockers. Remember, this is a "mostly" budget build (some things I won't try to save a few bucks on, and quality heads are one of those things - I can always reuse these heads down the road).

EDIT: I saw the KASL cam video. I watch his videos, they're good. I was considering the 266 as well, but after watching some of Holdener's videos, I think the 274 would give me more of what I'm after.
 

Chip66

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Update: it seems the boss has given me permission to get some nice aluminum heads (don't ask what I did to deserve such a wonderful wife). I'm leaning towards the Skip White NKB. Outside of a timing set, lifters, and rockers, what else am I going to need? Pushrods and guide plates? Recommendations? Keep it simple, I'm a real novice.

Keep in mind the valve cover clearance. There's a lot of discussions here about the challenges. Taller rockers and studs, lead to taller valve covers, to raising the intake, to raising the hood. It snowballs quickly.

My solution has been to run the stock Cobra 1.7 roller rockers. The trick here is they are pedestal rockers. This is why I went with AFR 165 heads since they make a pedestal version.
 
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joemomma

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Keep in mind the valve cover clearance. There's a lot of discussions here about the challenges. Taller rockers and studs, lead to taller valve covers, to raising the intake, to raising the hood. It snowballs quickly.

My solution has been to run the stock Cobra 1.7 roller rockers. The trick here is they are pedestal rockers. This is why I went with AFR 165 heads since they make a pedestal version.
Yeah, there are pages and pages of threads on valve cover clearances!
 
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joemomma

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Next question - was reading last night and saw a thread somewhere that said 2.02 intake valves won't clear stock pistons. Is this true in all cases, or is it specific to certain heads/valves? The thread I was reading was in regards to Edelbrock Enforcers, but the SWP heads (and most aftermarket in fact) run 2.02 intake valves.

EDIT: more reading has left me with the impression that "it depends". A lot. Cam comes in to play as does specific heads being used.
 
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96blak54

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I stumbled across this video and thought of you. They ported 4 styles of heads, gt40's included and flowbench in in real time the results of all 4 styles.

I was surprised with the gt40's low lift flow capabilities. The valve spends more time in .300" and less lift ranges and surprisingly for a stock ported head flowed really well.

 

joe65

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First let me say I am a novice also, but have been into hot rodding since I was 16, when I bought a 1940 Ford coup with a 1955 Oldsmobile 324 cubic inch v8 for $550, but hey, it had chrome valve covers. Flash forward 58 years and I still love hot rodding. Recently I bought a 94' Mustang GT, bone stock so I started looking for things to do and keep the stock bottom end, except the cam. I have been looking on every forum debate that I can find about the quality of aluminum heads and what brand to get. Most say that AFR 165 heads are best for a mostly street and some strip use. Eldelbrock, and Twisted Wedge are also good. This is just the consensus of dozens or reviews and word of mouth on different Mustang and Ford forums. Lots of recommendations to let a machinist or qualified mechanic check what ever brand you buy because a small percentage of all have some flaws or aluminum bits and pieces that get by the inspectors. Now with all that said, I went with a set of cast iron GT40'S that have been been ported to flow as well or better than the aluminum ones. Aluminum heads still have the weight advantage but in my case, I am not building a strip car that tries to shave every pound off the weight of the car. I remember a Thunderbolt 427 Ford Fairlane in the sixties that won more than its share of quarter mile races and the driver weighed close to 300 lb. Big Dog Porting is the name of the company that I am buying my heads from. He machines the heads, with new springs and valves installed and ports them to flow as good as or better than any out of the box aluminum heads sold today. He does the same with GT40 intakes that flow better than any aftermarket fuel injected intake that is sold today. He has many rave reviews and his price for a set of ported GT40 heads is less than $1200 delivered and ready to install. Google Big Dog Porting on Facebook for some of his flow charts and many pictures of the before and after porting work that he does. Lots of reviews of guys built Mustangs track time before and after his port work. Some are from just street use Mustangs and Fords that tell of hp increases. He ports the aluminum brand name heads and reviews say that their cars perform better. It seems like a win win situation to me. Cheaper and better performing


not a bad choice at all. for the money especially. I'm a total fan of the gt40 stuff. Lots of guys like Tmoss, Thumper and others have been preaching that for years. Way to read and read and come up with a solution you like and feel good about.

this discussion reminds me of this guy in Arizona. Stock Ford stuff. His coupe runs pretty hard. Mustang Mike. Listen to this video. Ol 302 sounds great.
 
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joemomma

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That's very impressive for factory stuff.
 

RAU03MACH

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not a bad choice at all. for the money especially. I'm a total fan of the gt40 stuff. Lots of guys like Tmoss, Thumper and others have been preaching that for years. Way to read and read and come up with a solution you like and feel good about.

this discussion reminds me of this guy in Arizona. Stock Ford stuff. His coupe runs pretty hard. Mustang Mike. Listen to this video. Ol 302 sounds great.
reminds me of my white 95 5.0 except im using aluminum heads
 

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