Diputado

Am seriously considering upgrading my current mildly-built '65 289 to a hydraulic roller cam and aluminum heads. As for the heads, have pretty much settled on AFR 165s with 58 cc chambers. But not yet too sure on the cam. Been looking at either the Comp Cams 284-HR, or the Edelbrock "Rolling Thunder" cam. Both are fairly similar, and should work well with my current 10:1 comp. ratio and 3.50 rearend. My main uncertainty relates to the lifters. I'm not too keen on drilling into the lifter valley to attach one of those "spiders", but the alternative (link-bar lifters) seem pretty expensive. Any thoughts, ideas, experience out there?

Starfury

What heads do you have now? If you have large chamber (post-66, I believe) heads, you're going to have to find some larger chamber aftermarket heads to keep your CR down.

Choppertwo

back in the day Ford offered Cobra Kits for our 289, everything you needed, probably no more I guess, good luck with your build, should be a Bitchin motor when you're done

67mustang302

Get a hold of Ed Curtis at FTI (he can take some time responding, he gets crazy busy sometimes). You can get a custom roller cam from him that uses conversion lifters, and AFR heads with matching springs for the cam. You only pay like $150 more for the cam, but get better performance and something that's WAY easier on the valvetrain. He grinds his cams so they pick the valve up and set the valve down really easy, so no bounce or crazy motion, and your seats and guides live way longer.

barnett468

i would usae a comp cam over an eddy cam.

you need at least 3.73 gears with that cam unless you don't want it fast off the line and want higher freeway speeds instead.

Diputado

Thanks for these ideas. Some of y'all responded to my other post on heat soak...do double-thanks to you!

Yeah...I've seen other mention of that guy Ed at FTI. You convinced me to give him a call and see what he can do. I'm shooting for a roller cam that will produce really good midrange (2000-5000 rpm) torque, "sound good", won't beat the hell out of the valvetrain, AND work well with a 10:1 comp. ratio.

The heads....I'm currently running bone stock early '65 heads (54.5 cc chambers). Plan on having AFR flat-mill the heads down to a 56 cc chamber, so as to keep my current (more or less) comp. ratio. Currently running on 91-93 octane gas with no apparent detonation, so figure 56cc should be good with the right cam.

Overall, what I'm aiming for is a 289 (well, actually a 294!) putting out around 350 hp that's solid, dependable and will last a long time on the street. I do NOT intend to race it (been there-done that 30+ yrs. ago!), and will only be putting about 1,000-1,500 miles/year on it. You know...cruising around town on nice weekends, barking the tires when I feel like it.

67mustang302

You email Ed, he doesn't give his number out (otherwise he spends all day on the phone and gets nothing done). You can get heads from him milled if that's what you want to do.

He uses Comp to grind his profiles too, but the lobes are his design.

Best bet is to fill out the info sheet on his site and send it in and tell him what you want.

barnett468

hello;

ok, the 284hr is WAY too big for your app.

custom cams are great but due to the extensive selection of off the shelf cams, in my experience you can get one that will perform just as good for a low to moderate build and save yourself the extra expense . . the customs are most beneficial on high horse apps imo.

both the comp xe and lunati voodoo series were designed by harold berkshire of ultradyne fame. he also designed all the voodoo cams with a soft slope on the closing side so they are easier on tje valve train

i think this cam is very close to what you might want. they also sell a complete kit.

https://mablet.com/browse.php?u=8XT0...GCJBlEkxM&b=29


if you look into a custom cam i suggest you call more than one person because they sre not all the same, tgerefore, i would also call the guy below . . unlike some other cam grinders, his stiff has won NHRA World Championships and set NHRA National records. No fancy forms to fill out prior to calling.

http://www.camresearchcorp.com/camshafts/


try this one also.

http://www.straubtechnologies.com/


QUENCH/SQUISH CLEARANCE

For optimum performance, you should mill your block so the pistons are .003" - .005" below the surface.


HORSEPOWER

You will not get 350 hp from a carbureted 289 if you only spin it 5000 rpm unless you use nitrous or a twin screw supercharger etc..
.
.

Diputado

Hey Barnett468,

Thanks a million for the pointers. I've seen a bunch of your posts, and you seem to know what you're talking about. As for milling the block, I'm not planning on tearing the engine down to that point...only the cam/heads. That depends on how the upper cylinders are, though (see my post the other day on heat soak issues). But if it comes to that...well, then so be it. This whole operation is way beyond my ability to do it here in my carport, but fortunately I found a good shop nearby run by a semi-retired drag racer who builds 502 Chevys that run 9-second 1/4 miles....so I figure he can handle the job!

I'll take another look at that Lunati Voodoo cam. Saw that one but haven't really thought about that one, for whatever reason. Hey...here's an important question for you....what do you think of going with a 351W/5.0 firing order? From what I understand, that firing order better distributes stresses along the crank, and also runs a little smoother. Apparently, this switch can be easily done on a 289 using the appropriate cam and just switching spark plug wires around to match. What do you think?

barnett468

hello;


no prob, you're very welcome, and thanks for the kind words but there are some others here that also know a lot about engines.


xr264hrf 5200 264 211 .513 110 rf

http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...?csid=894&sb=0


xr270hrf 5500 270 218 .513 110 rf

http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...?csid=895&sb=0



with around 9.5 compression or more, this cam will easily make around 350 hp between 5500 - 5800 rpm at the crank on most dynos with afr 165 heads and eddy rpm intake and 650 carb . . get it groound on a small base circle for a retrofit application.

xe266hr 5600 266 216 .544 112

http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...csid=1056&sb=0


the firing order won't make any difference in power feel.
.
.