About a month ago my Mustang blew three piston rings and cracked one of the pistons. Blame this on a dead spark plug wire on cylinder #7. I found a nice deal on a 331 shortblock that I purchased through the Corral. It's a DSS 331 w/forged Pistons(8:5.1)-reverse dome for TF heads, forged rods, forged crank, main girdle, 7qt oil pan, and a Comp XE274HR cam. While I've heard some negative reviews on DSS, I decided to take a dive. While budget stroker and boost don't go in the same sentence, I've decided to use my current Twisted Wedge heads and GT-40 Intake. Sure I could upgrade to some AFR 185's, a Holley Systemax, and custom cam. But let's be realistic: 15psi + a 331 is enough to demolish a stock block. Now my question is, how will this cam react to the combo? It's operating range is similar to my current TFS-1, but lasts till 6200rpm vs 5800rpm. With the box stock GT-40, would the cam be overkill. I have a Comp Cam XE270HR sitting in the garage and my TFS-1. So I'm not sure which one to go with. The car also has a built AODE and 4.10's....and of course the Vortech. I'd like some opinions on this set-up more than anything.

 

make sure the tune is spot on, and maybe lower the boost level for longevity

 

What are the spec. on the cams. As far as the intake I would not lose much sleep over that the S/C is gone to make damn sure the air gets through it with which ever cam you use. 331 with 15psi. will run real good like Mike said make sure your tune is on and dont rattle the engine. will help keep the block in one piece. or bite the bullet and move up to a better block. Also with the cam thing it is back to how much HP do you really need to make with the stock block?

 

Truth is with the power, I could care less. As long as it's semi reliable and runs strong, i'll be happy. I was happy with the 302 and Vortech. This will be the third time to rip a motor out/rebuild it in the last year. It gets old real fast. Here are the cam specs:

XE274HR- http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...csid=1057&sb=2
XE270HR- http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...csid=1054&sb=2
TFS-1- http://www.trickflow.com/partdetail....0&autoview=sku

 

I am no cam genius but back when I put together a stroker motor, the engine builder told me adding stroke to a motor will lessen the max rpm of the cam. So in other words, a 331 would be out of cam before 6200 rpm.

 

I can see your logic in that statement. However, I've seen 331's rip to 7000rpm. Of course, it's not a stock block. Plus they're high compression with a 2800-6800 operating range. It's all in the combo. I think I'll end up using my TFS-1 after all. I've had very nice success with it. And it works excellent with my mild stall converter. The XE274 would be my second option, but it's lift is so high, I'd have to upgrade the TFS springs. And I really don't care to do that at this time. Plus emissions is a factor. I'm not sure that cam will pass the sniffer.

 

Yeah I would be curious about how increasing the displacement of an engine would affect the rpm range of a cam. Does the cam still follow the same basic power band as long as the intake and the heads improved\upgraded enough to feed the extra cubes?

 

I really don't know how to answer that. I can tell you this though...I had him put together a 393. I wanted to turn it no more than 6200. He had a cam designed for a 302 with the rpm range coming in somewhere in the 3000 range and maxing out at 7200. He told me with my displacement, the cam would come in around 2500 or somewhere around that and would max out around 6500 or so.... All I know is, if a cam is designed for a standard displacement motor like a 302, the more the displacement, the quicker it comes in and quicker it runs out of rpms.

I imagine is has something to do with extended length the pistons travels and how much air the cylinders move.

 

not even close...