Need help with 302 Cam Choice
 

Hey guys Im building a 302 for My 78 Mustang. As of now here is what I have

Rebuilt 78 302
75 Ford C4
8 Inch Rear 3.00 Gears
Ford Motor Sports 4 Barrel Aluminum Manifold
65 289 Heads

The plan is this, I want to use the rebuilt 78 short block, the 65 289 heads do not have any Thermactor bumps from the factory, and are out at the machine shop right now, they're being checked for cracks and then rebuilt with stock 302 valves. Is there a better valve choice out there should/can I go bigger. The heads should be around 50CC, which if Im right should yield about 9.5:1 Compression. I plan on using the an Edelbrock 600 CFM carb and standard Duraspark distributor, Right now the rear is only a 3.00 I plan to swap to 3.40 or 3.25 and will be running roughly a 23 inch tire. If I cant find the right small bellhousing for my C4 I may be stuck with stock manifolds so I cant bank on running long tube headers. The car's intent is a daily driver and it is going to be stock weight, I may even eventually install A/C. My goal is as much power as i can get while still being about to drive it around with good street manners. Id like good low end torque for going light to light and I dont want to have to run a big stall converter because it will feel slushy when coming out of a traffic light, but Id like it to pull hard on the highway if I decide to get on it. I was looking at 2 cams, but Im open to everyone else's opinion too.

Cam #1 COMP Cams Nostalgia Plus Camshafts 31-670-4 (271 H) this is the 289 HIPO hydraulic lifter version, I know this cam made 271HP in a 289 so why not in a 302, but I am worried its too much cam for a street car with an automatic.

Cam #2 Comp Cams Xteme Energy 256H Ive read a lot of good things about this cam, but some people have said its too small.

My other concern is how much lift can I get before the valves kiss the pistons.

It sounds like you're going for a pretty basic build and what I have used in the past is what use to be known as an RV cam which is a cam that makes all its power on the low end of the RPM spectrum. I don't remember the exact specs on them but it was made to make power from idle then ran out of snot somewhere around 4k

With the build you described, you won't be disappointed unless you're after the lopey idle but believe me, with one of those RV cams, you will still be able to absolutely scald the crap out of your tires even with 3.25gears. As far as your torque converter goes, FoMoCo used a 2300(+-) stall to give heavier cars with small blocks a little more low end grunt and that's what I used on my last 351W build and I was very happy with it.

Thanks, I'm trying to keep it fairly standard. I don't have the money for anything crazy at the moment. I know what you mean by the cam you're talking about the older guys who taught me used to call it a Towing Cam, and they were all bottom end grunt.The Edelbrock Performer plus cam is like almost the same thing. I pretty much end up putting a towing cam in every motor I build. But, I was hoping to find something that would make it up into the 5000 rpm range. I may just go for the RV / towing cam though. Also how does your car feel with the big converter, does it feel kind of slushy when you're not really getting on it?

Not at all slushy with that higher stall. It's nothing stupid crazy, it only bumps it up like 500-700rpm over stock so it's still very streetable.