Technical Whats a good cam for a 351'w

It looks like I have been driving my car the last 15 years with a cam that has been installed retarded,it has a 302 firing order that has been driving me nuts so time to change. Its a mid 80s truck 351 and looking for a smooth idle.and possibly more low end torque.

 

Advance the cam that's in it.

 

I've been running a Mellings MTF-5 in my coupe for last 47000 miles. Nice idle, good vacuum. I think it has similar specs to Summit SUM-4400.

 

I second the MTF-5.

Good idle, more torque

 

One of my students used a Thumper cam
broke springs and pulled studs. I tried to warn him.
He learned s valuable lesson

 

It has a 302 firing order and want to change it.

 

I'd go roller cam as all of those use the 'late 302' firing order which is the same as the 351. Multiple kits available to do the conversion...

 

Looks like its going to be a little wait for that cam so I might look for a stock replacement for a 84 to 87 HO 351.

 

I have the OEM 5.0 GT roller if interested . It has the 351W firing order . Only issue as best as I can recall is the C/L of the cam grind is different to use in a non roller block and requires a special push rod . You may research this to verify if true or not . The GT cam grind is a good one . I removed it during the rebuild and installed the X grind . X grind and 1.7 ratio rockers , is not a smooth idle , to say it mildly .

 

Those Melling cams are not available until September and would like to get it done much sooner.

 

Melling MTF-5
204/215 @ .050 .448/.473 lift 107 LSA

Summit SUM-4400
204/214 @.050 .449/.473 lift 112 LSA

112 LSA is to run well for fuel injection. Should have plenty of vacuum and smoother idle than 107 LSA. 112 will be stronger below peak 5250 rpm and give up a little at the top - Not a bad thing.

 

I'm putting together a '77 351W with a conventional (non-roller) Edelbrock 2182 cam. It's an RV cam that gives me the torque I need in the right range for a truck yet has a little pep. I'm using it with Edelbrock's 5023 aluminum heads with the 1.90 intakes and 1.60 exhausts and adding roller rockers. Yeah, it's got the spendy Edelbrock 9636 hardened pushrods, which is a must because otherwise the guide plates in the heads will chew into the standard pushrods and send metal shreds into the bearings, etc. I haven't fired it up yet but figure this combo will give me the grunt to pull a trailer or load in the '29AA bed and still provide acceptable mpg. My machinist offered to retrofit the block to accept a roller cam for $1,000 more, but that seemed like a lot of money needed for other things. If this seems like an advertisement for Edelbrock, well, I'm putting a Holley 4160 600cfm carb on it - but with a used Edelbrock Performer (not RPM) intake that I picked up for $50 a few years ago.

 

The Mellings cam MTF-5, the Summit 4400, and the Edelbrock 2182 all have the same specs. If you can find one of those in stock somewhere, or another manufacturer with similar specs, I'm sure you'll be happy with it.

 

I would chose the Mellings Cam of the above 2 choices

On race engines we used a tighter "lobe separation" to shift the power down the RPM range.
And we advanced the cam to fine tune it.
A tighter lobe separation has more overlap, but also closes the intake earlier [causing it to run out of breath at the top end]
But it also causes more emissions, and loss of economy. Which is why the modern roller hydraulic cams are better [they get a better cylinder fill with less duration]

Below is a Cam "shootout" with 3 cams of the same lift and duration but varying lobe separations.
The tighter cam put out slightly less Hp, but at lower rpm ,and had higher Torque and Higher cylinder pressure. [but less vacuum]
Note: the slightly less Hp comes from the Torque x RPM equation [lower RPM]
https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/camshaft-shootout-lobe-separation-angle-tested-explained/



@junkyardjeff while you're playing the waiting game, get a 9 keyway true roller timing set, and do what @sdluck suggested by simply advancing the cam.

here:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-g6620r-b/make/ford

This ^^^^ timing set can advance the cam up to 8°
But dial it with a compression tester.
Do a compression test, then advance it and re-test.

Advance the cam until cylinder pressure goes up ,then drops off. [then re time the engine]

 

Here's the spec card from the MTF-5 cam I installed years ago; LSA is 112 on it too. Not sure if they've changed since then, or there's a typo above.

 

I also vote for the MTF-5 cam. I have one in my O/T E-250 and it runs great. It has an Edelbrock Performer intake with a Holley 600 and a C-6. I pull trailers with it and it does just fine.

 

Cam selection involves a lot of factors. From previous threads, I believe you have a 3.00 rear behind a C4 automatic. What intake do you have? Headers? Dual exhaust? Stock heads (69cc) with 1.84 intakes? Carb?
Both cams listed are good cams, and I have used the Summit 4400 in the past. Idled reasonably well, and had good torque with stock heads. Put a set of aftermarket large runner heads on it later and quickly realized a bad move with that cam.

 

Plenty of choices on cam manufacturers on very similar cams

Summit and Jegs both list melling it as 107 LSA. Very interesting on the 112 cam card.

https://www.jegs.com/i/Melling/689/MTF-5/10002/-1

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mel-mtf-5#overview

 

stay around 215 @ .050 on duration with a LSA of 112. Tight LSA sound cool but kill fuel milage.

 

@Algoma56 card shows the CL at 107, but LSA at 112.

 

Call the cam manufacturer and see what they say

 

An X-303 roller.... Got one in my '91 fox car..

 

It presently has a 80s truck 4 bbl intake that will be getting replaced and has dual exhaust and not EFI. Probably has typical smog era heads and will find out after the intake is pulled.

 

I think Summit/Jeg's made a mistake on their info transposition. Here's the description for Mellings themselves.



I am running mine with a C4 and 3.00 gears in the 47 Club coupe.

 

IIRC Ford quit using '351' heads around '77 on these motors, switching to the lo-po 302 heads with their smaller ports/valves in an effort to build torque for truck use. A GT40 head will be an upgrade.

 

If I can not get a cam soon I might just find another 351 to drop in,I really did not want to tear into that engine since it will be coming out and be replaced by a Y block but could be a couple years. The cam and how it was installed I think is the cause of the trans issue that I am tired of dealing with,I decided to go with a manual trans with the Y block and definately assemble the engines myself from now on so I know what I got.

 

1992 was the first year for the 351W roller block. Look for F4TE on the block, near the starter. If your engine is earlier, it will have a hydraulic flat-tappet cam.

 

That MTF-5 cam sounds very close to the original 1969 351W cam- maybe a copy. The original cam was a sweet runner, and very torquey

 

Not coming up with any so far.

 

Local parts stores can not get me a stock replacement so time to call some cam manufactures and see that thay can get for me or get a running engine.