Don't fret too much on the camshaft. I would go with what Conanski suggested above. I would consider him the czar of EFI compatible camshaft knowledge.

 

Somehow I glossed over the cam recommendation. I have added it to my notes. I still wish I could find a roller 5.8, but they seem to be a hot commodity in the northwest right now.

 

I scooped up a handful of roller 351w's over the last few years. They are extremely hard to find here in the midwest as well, or at least for a reasonable price. Still have one complete one in the garage as a back up, and a bare block that I'm currently putting together. I try to pick up any of them that come along for cheap. We wiped out one flat tappet cam on break-in a few years ago and I haven't put a flat tappet motor together since.

 

I was happy to score the saginaw setup out of a van last week. I cant wait to install that. This truck is going to take me a couple of years to build, but it should be a fun process. I used to build full size jeeps, way back 20 years ago. This is going to be my camping/hunting/exploring rig for the backwoods here in Montana. I had a big 6.7 cummins Ram, but had a bad day with a stock hauler on a dirt road. This truck was the replacement

 

I didn't mean to mess up your thread but I'm not going to just let it be filled up with this guy's nonsense, sorry.


Show me where they found otherwise. I'm discounting your information because it is incorrect and easily proven so.

 

The AFR 185 is going to outperform the GT40 by well over the $123 difference in price. I would go for that upgrade in a heartbeat.

 

I haven't run them yet as I'm still building the engine for my truck, but based on my inspections of the AFR Enforcers, they are well worth the $523 per head. Like it was stated before, they are a China casting, however they are filled AFR parts, I believe actually the same parts as their Renegade line of heads. And the castings actually are pretty damn good, too. Granted, the deck is only 0.375" thick, but I really think that's only an issue if you plan on boosting your engine. Overall, the castings do seem to be high quality for the price, no rough spots in the ports that I saw or anything like that.

 

So here is where I am at currently with plans
Inspect the block and pistons - reuse with as little machine work as possible, so hopefully just hone barrels and do a ring kit
AFR 185 heads
Comp 35-349-8 cam
1.7 roller rockers
shorty headers into 3" exhaust

 

What year is the 302? You may not need to hone and re-ring it. There's a guy in Kentucky or Tennessee...can't remember...that rebuilds GT40 and GT40p heads and all you have to do is order a set and have them delivered to your doorstep. I like the GT40p heads as they have smaller combustion chambers...more low end umpf...and don't have the emissions given they are that efficient. Putting aluminum heads on even a mild motor that you are going to let your 17 yo loose with may be asking for trouble...the oem iron heads are much more forgiving. I did this on my 1985 roller 302...factory forged slugs with moly rings...with a mild alphabet E cam with 110* lsa but it's a stick tranny with a carb.

 

This truck is for me, the 17 year old is getting a '99 with a 5.4 with just a top end rebuild.

 

My last build was a 302 with that cam, those heads, headers, exhaust, and 4.10's with a little larger tires. Screamed up past 5k with decent mid band torque for the 5.0. Fun truck. Converted to MAF and tuned to the right A/F ratios, well worth it!

 

So as tends to happen, life got in the way. This took a back burner, until two weeks ago. My 302 started showing signs of a head gasket issue. I decided to replace all the gaskets all the way around the top end, and remove the smog pump. In the process an intake manifold stud broke off in the head, so the heads both came off too. Thank fully I work with some talented folks in a well outfit welding and machine shop and we got it out. At that point I just went through the heads and re lapped the valves and put new seals all the way around. I needed to get it done as I have a big family and being down a vehicle was a real pain. It runs great now.

Of course after all that work, a week later, I found a complete, running, soup to nuts '95 351 for a song. I picked up yesterday and plan to start going through it. For now I think heads are going to have to wait, unless my side jobs welding start to take off. I want to go through all the gaskets, supposedly it was rebuilt 10K ago, 144K on the clock, but I just want to make sure everything is good to go. I would also like to get a cam in it while I have it out. It seems like the comp cam roller cam I have seen Conanski recommend on other threads is evading me for some reason..... This thing is a daily driver with 3.55's, and we are hoping to get a smallish pop up style camper next summer. Whats going to be the best cam to run in it? And are shorty headers worth it?

I have the flex plate on the 351, and pretty much EVERYTHING that was attached to the motor. They cut the Y pipe which I wasnt happy about, but I am a welder and may try building my own and running a modern high flow cat. Anything else I should do to get decent power out of this motor? I am hoping my buddy sells his built T19 manual, but I am shopping for other options also. I plan to get rid of the auto sooner than later.

 

^^^...So is the 95 351 a roller or slide bump stick...I think that year came both ways...

 

I’m 99% sure it’s a roller. Regardless the block should be provisioned for a roller cam, which is the direction I plan to go. It came out of a 95 f150. I don’t think there is an easy way to tell until I get the intake manifold off

 

If it's not a roller I believe you'll have to tap holes for the spiders...