87greyghost

I am converting my fuel injected 5.0 to carbureted and at the same time changing the cam and heads. Im buying a top engine rebuild kit off ebay. Someone told me that ford changed their cams from flat tappet to roller cams around 87 and the car i am redoing is a 87 mustang gt. Im wondering if anybody has any insight on whether the 87 mustang gt 5.0 was flat tappet or roller cam. Thanks for the help. BRAD

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92GreyGT

Ford started putting hydraulic roller cams in the 5.0s in 85. Why are you converting from EFI to carb?

87greyghost

Iknew when i wrote this thread that i would hear that question. it has been the one question everybody has asked me. When i got the car i didnt use the good sense god gave me and look the car over good. The guy that had it before me thought he knew auto electrics and guess what..he didnt. Theres so many lose wires and crap hanging. The stupid speed density **** is ****ing up. And the bigest part is im on a budget (aka its tax time and im a full time college student with no job during the year). I know a guy that works on nothing but carbureted fords and he told me this setup would put out around 350 rwhp. Im not looking for 10's in the quarter just a lil something to mess with people at the track on street night. And im going to shoot nitrous to it and that will probably put it at around 400 to 425.

87greyghost

Oh yea and i forgot to ask how confident you were in your answer and if all cams from 85 and up were roller.

uedlose

if the motor is right to the car it is a roller that is my final answer.thats how confident I am

87greyghost

thanks

mjr46

if your thinking of the trick flow kits as your top end kit...350 rwhp ain't gonna happen...more like 280 to 290 tuned rightand 85 was the first year of the roller cam block

87greyghost

Ok hopefully this thread isnt dead yet. Im buying a kit that comes with heads, intake, cam, rocker arms, lifters, pushrods, gasket kit, timing kit. and all bolts needed for a top end engine rebuile. Pretty much everything except piston block and crank. Can i just take the flat tappet systme of the kit and replace it with the roller system since the kit is flat tappet. Or is there some kind of length difference that will mess it up. Once again only thing off my 87 gt motor i am going to use is the small block (pistons, crank, and block) will this work?

PJC Racing

You will need to replace the valve springs to match the cam.

87greyghost

well the top end kit is all matched up together. Everything in it matches the heads match the cam and all that good ****. I was just wondering if a flat tappet cam would work in a roller block. I read some stuff that said that stuff was different but i just wanted some expert advice from yall. Anyone know for sure.