Hello Boys & Girls :

I am working rebuilding a 351 Cleveland V8 to put into my 1968 FORD FALCON with a T5 - 5 Speed . The engine is a CA code Cobra Jet 2 Bolt Main 1974 Vintage motor . I am intending on putting on 4 Barrel Heads , with an Edlebrock Performer aluminum 4 Barrel Intake and most likely a 650 CFM Holley Vacumn Secondary Carburetor and Headers . This is because it is what I have to use .The lower end is going to be all stock / Standard ring size and Rod and Main bearing size . The only other change I want to make is the Camshaft and Lifters .
I only want to have that slightly loppy idle and I'm not looking to build a performance engine .

So , my question is . Can anyone tell me how far I can go with Lift
( Exhaust & Intake ) and Duration on a Cam , and still use the stock Push Rods , Rocker Arms , and Valve Springs ? Of course the aftermarket Cam manufacturers won't tell me anything , because they want to sell me more components / parts .

Thanks in advance to anyone with any input on this issue .

Boogie Man

 

stay under 500 lift cam. a cam will not help you it will sound better but no HP gain. if you going this far get some preformance heads to match cam. that way you will also gain 30 to 60 HP

 

forget the loapy idle. if your not running at mid or high rpm's the engine will be a dog to drive… unless your just after the sound…. get a cam profile for what your going to use the vehicle for…. and the gearing and weight of the vehicle…
you can have a engine that will smoke tires, without sounding like you have a racing engine…

but if you insist that you have to have the loapy engine. be prepared to run the engine between 3-4000 rpm cruising…. or the engine will load up and run crap***y. highway driving will be the same unless you forget the higher gears or replace the rear end gears to 4.56 - 5.10 - 5.56 + gears to change your engine speed for the speed your driving…