[Swakefield]

Hey guys, first post on the forums!

I'll get right to it. I picked up a 5.8L windsor from a buddy for cheap and I am planning to drop it into a 1999 Mustang with a t5 5-speed this year. The motor it turns out was rebuilt back in 2009 by Jasper Engines and the only thing they changed in the upgrade is the camshaft. The motor was supposed to be going back into a truck for a business my friend worked for but they ended up scrapping the truck.
So I called Jasper Engines and they said all that was changed was the camshaft so a "High Performance" cam.

Now here's where my confusion is. I'm looking for a good street-able cam for this motor and everything I'm finding lists a lift somewhere in the .4-.5 range. The high performance cam they put in, they said its lift was around .28something. (Don't have my notebook in front of me at the moment. They say they didnt shave the heads at all. This cam is designed for hauling. The lobe separation angle is 110 Degrees. Not a good cam for a mustang as my mentor tells me.

My question is this; I need a high performance Street-able cam to put in this. but do I have the clearance to put in a cam with .4 something lift? What would you guys suggest for cams and Yes i am going flat tappet. First engine build im not going crazy expensive.

A side note, the motor WAS fuel injected but im swapping the manifold for a carbureted one. Less stuff to mess with. And yes i know emissions will be difficult to pass but ill take care of that. Thanks for any help in advance!

 

[Daniel Jones]

> I'll get right to it. I picked up a 5.8L windsor from a buddy for cheap and I am planning to drop it into a 1999 Mustang with a t5 5-speed this year.

Be aware that you will need a flywheel with a 28.2 oz-in balance factor for a 351W. The 5.0L engines were balanced to 50 oz-in so you can't use those parts.

> So I called Jasper Engines and they said all that was changed was the camshaft so a "High Performance" cam.

What are the specs of that camshaft?

> The high performance cam they put in, they said its lift was around .28something.

That is likely the lobe lift of the cam itself. You have to multiply that number by the rocker arm ratio to get the valve lift. The stock 351W rocker arm ratio is 1.6:1 so 0.28 * 1.6 = 0.448". There are number of flat tappet 351W cams with that lift. One example would be the old Ford Motorsport part number M-6250-A311 which was 204/214 degrees duration at 0.050" lift, 0.448"/0.472", 112 degrees LSA. My brother ran that cam in a stock long block 351W in a 1969 Mustang with 4 barrel carb, tri-y headers and dual exhaust.

> The lobe separation angle is 110 Degrees. Not a good cam for a mustang as my mentor tells me.

Is he recommending wider or narrower?

> I need a high performance Street-able cam to put in this. but do I have the clearance to put in a cam with .4 something lift?

Your engine likely has E7TE or similar heads. Those have very small valves (1.78" intake and 1.46" exhaust valve diameters) so piston-to-valve clearance generally isn't a problem, though the valve springs may be a problem. If you go with a more performance oriented camshaft, understand that it will need matching valve springs.

> A side note, the motor WAS fuel injected but im swapping the manifold for a carbureted one.

What intake manifold will you using? Will you be running headers? If so, long or short tube?

> And yes i know emissions will be difficult to pass but ill take care of that. Thanks for any help in advance

The later 351W truck carbs were 4180 Holleys that were designed with emissions in mind and can be modified to work on mild performance combos.

Dan Jones

 

[Capri_5.8]

you will need to check valve springs and retainers for max lift before coil bind and as you go lower on centerline say to 108 or 106 you will get a choppier idle and more mid-range and top end hp likewise as you go wider to say 114 you usually get a smoother idle and peakier performance. Myself I would choose a cam with a 110 centerline and 240-255 [email protected] valve lift and max valve lift around .600,then do whatever it takes to make coil bind not happen. Idle on somethind like that should be around 15 inches of vacuum and top rpm would be 6500 with around 450 HP until you change the heads then 600 HP or there about

 

[Swakefield]

I dont know much about flywheels. When i send it to the machine shop i planned on having the crank/pistons balanced. That will effect the flightwheel correct? It didnt come w a flywheel anyway. I was going to put in a lightweight flywheel but havent gotten that far in the process yet and need to look more into them.


The new camshaft specs are this:
Model: Elgin E-1059-P
LSA: 110
Intake Lift: .265
Exhaust Lift: .281
Intake Duration: 195
Exhaust duration: 204
So this means my Valve lift would actually be
Intake: .424
Exhaust:.450 (rounded up .004)
Correct?

My mentor is suggesting a much narrower cam. Although he hasn't built motors in like 20 years. He said to try and find one around 100 or 98 LSA? His memory must be faultering x'D

I havent looked really into Intake manifolds yet although I seem to hear a lot of good things about the edelbrock Performer RPM manifolds for these motors?? Any help on that front is welcome as well. I dont care about cutting open the hood. In fact I encourage the need for it hah! And I would like long tubes but I need to find something I know will fit into the engine bay. I still need to find an appropriately shaped oil pan as well.

Im in NH an cars after 95 are supposed to be plugged into a computer to pass inspection. Since it wont be OBD controlled i may have to get something special. I'll figure it out!

 

[Swakefield]

Im aiming for an idle similar to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQjDkJW79s0

 

[dstolarc]

That Elgin cam is too mild for what you want. The idle on that will be smooth.
The idle in the video that you like is from a much more aggressive cam than that Elgin.
Really, the best advice you can get here is to contact Ed Curtis at FTI and have him grind you a cam. Get valve springs from him to match the cam. Please don't listen to a mentor that hasn't built engines in 20 years. Anything he remembers is old technology. The new technology cams will be much better.
Contact ED, fill out the form COMPLETELY and let him do his magic. Tell him exactly what you want and expect from the cam, how you plan to drive it, race it etc.
Please don't be scared off by the price. You get what you pay for.
FTI Custom Hydraulic Roller Camshaft Ford - Billet - FlowTech Induction

An off the shelf Comp costs $275 COMP Cams Xtreme Energy Camshafts 35-522-8 - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing but Ed's cam will be better.

dstolarc

 

[Capri_5.8]

check a Comp Cams on line catalog for expected results from their different cams

 

[toddturbo]

That Elgin cam is too mild for what you want. The idle on that will be smooth.
The idle in the video that you like is from a much more aggressive cam than that Elgin.
Really, the best advice you can get here is to contact Ed Curtis at FTI and have him grind you a cam. Get valve springs from him to match the cam. Please don't listen to a mentor that hasn't built engines in 20 years. Anything he remembers is old technology. The new technology cams will be much better.
Contact ED, fill out the form COMPLETELY and let him do his magic. Tell him exactly what you want and expect from the cam, how you plan to drive it, race it etc.
Please don't be scared off by the price. You get what you pay for.
FTI Custom Hydraulic Roller Camshaft Ford - Billet - FlowTech Induction

An off the shelf Comp costs $275 COMP Cams Xtreme Energy Camshafts 35-522-8 - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing but Ed's cam will be better.

dstolarc

Been there done that, and if I ever can get ahead money wise, I'll be ordering 2 more cams from Ed. One for the race car and one for the driver. Bought one from him that went into my '93 LX, AFR165's, etc etc....and the guy who I sold it to dyno'd it at 374 at the wheels. Idled great. Drove almost like a stocker. Let it rev and it came alive. 30 mpg, EFI. Fun car but it needed a set of lifters (one was sticky) and I just did not have a place to work on it anymore, so I dumped it.

 

[357f-150]

My two cents, there's nothing special about a stock 351w engine, pulled from an f150, a new camshaft isn't going to unlock a hell of alotta hidden power, you'll mainly move the rpm range up, but when your dealing with mediocre power to begin with, its not a huge improvement to performance

I'd run it as is, and worry about a new camshaft when you put better flowing heads on it.

I'm assuming you know you'll need a new distributor specific to carbs and specific to 351w engines.

You'll also need to figure out fuel delivery, carbs use much less fuel pressure. There's a few ways to go about that.