I have a 400 out of a 79 pickup. 4 barrels edelbrach intake 650 cfm edelbrach carb, mds ignition system, hooker competition heads with dual exhaust. I am looking to put a cam in it as i am doing a frame off restoration and everything is easily accessible. I dont want to mess with the pushrods or valves. I read with the stock springs a person doesn't want to go more than .450 lift. The engine was recently overhauled but if it has the stock timing system in it I am replacing that. Anyways back to the cam I am looking at this one

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cca-32-218-3/make/ford/model/f-150/year/1978

i am after a little extra snort with some lobe sound when idling. Also would get the comp cam lifters at the same time. This puts me in the rpm range for driving around, not doing any racing and don't want it dying at the stop light. If I do the extra lift than recommended what kind of springs should I install?

I guess I am wondering if I am on the right track with this cam? I am running a c6 transmission. What springs are recommended? Any info would be great! Thanks!.

 

That cam should run very well in your mostly stock engine. It will have an idle that is close to stock. Those Comp High Energy lobes are good designs that run quietly too.

 

Unless your engine has the exhaust valve rotators that was used on some models you factory springs will handle up to .500 lift
I don’t see enough gain in that cam to justify the cost and work involved in changing it

 

That might depend on which stock cam is in the engine. Some 400's came with a cam that's about 194/199 @ .050 with .407 lift on a 110 lobe sep which is probably reasonably effective. Other ones came with a cam that's 190/190 with .385 lift on a 113. If that's the case the Comp Cam should easily out run it. I don't know what intake centerline was used for sure on the stock cams the seat timing would probably make a bit of a difference in the torque too.

 

I never cared for a straight duration cam in a Ford, I could always get a little more out of one with a split duration cam favoring the exhaust side
I’d rather have a Melling SYB29 when staying under .500 lift

 

It all depends on the engine and cams are always a compromise. Low compression engines generally do better with less exhaust duration because the burn is slower and a later exhaust opening makes more torque and a lower EGT.

 

Installed a Crane Fireball cam in the late 1980s, I think was ordered from Summitt maybe, is same spec as their 350-2172 cam sold now. My '77 did not have rotators on the valves, so I used new lifters with original springs, rockers, etc ... and slathered lifter bases and the cam with grey Crane Cams assembly lube. Did a by the book break-in, box fan, lawn chair, probably 30 minutes, >2K rpm, NO idling. Oil then was Kendall GT-1 20w50 as was "my go to" then.

• Basic Operating RPM Range: Idle-5,500 (has seen 4,500 in passing gear a time or two at most)
• Duration at .050 inch Lift: 204 int./214 exh.
• Advertised Duration was 282 int./292 exh.
• Valve Lift with Factory Rocker Arm Ratio: 0.484 int./0.510 exh.
• Lobe Separation (degrees): 112

No degree wheel checking, just the specs. New straight up timing set then.

Did later burn a valve .... I think was because of a long road camping tour along Atlantic coast and some WVa. mtns in late '89 or '90 as I was messing with the jets (changing often like "2 LnBT" / B. Wilson), timing too, etc ... at gas stops, etc ... chasing better MPGs.
A miss developed not too long after getting home, vac gauge first told me where to look. Swapped heads (I had them freshened up, they had obviously been done not long before the wreck according to my machine shop guru "Brownie", 16 new guides, new exh. valves, etc) from a wrecked '79 T-bird's 351M or 400 onto it one afternoon. Also no rotators.

It has been fine.

 

351M and 400 engines were built a couple different ways. A lot of them use the "free valve" setup with multi groove keepers on all valves that are made to butt together and not grip the valve stem directly. This is supposed to allow the valve to rotate. Later versions used a conventional retainer and keepers on the intake side and a rotator with standard single groove locks on the exhaust. Those engines used 2 different valve springs to allow for the difference in installed height because of the rotator. The loads from those springs are very similar intake and exhaust but there is less room for lift on the exhaust side.

 

Considering the cam has such critical importance to the engine's performance and life, to me it makes sense to use a cam grinder who will talk with you directly- even modify the cam grind to fit your needs even better and to address the possibility of cam lobe failure with the new oils. With regards to price...the difference is nil- especially considering its cheap insurance to know exactly who is machining such a critical part for your engine. And remember, advertised lift/duration/lobe separation is just that- advertised and not the specific grind including ramp profile that is used on the cam.

That is why I highly recommend Iskenderian & Crower & Chet Herbert & Lunati...all are family owned, been grinding cams for decades, and both will even re-grind your oem cam if possible- saving you even more $. Who ever is closer to you, start with them 1st.

As you are probably aware, many of the cam mfgs in the past few years either sold, closed their operations to re-open elsewhere (typically with new staff) or ....... I use to very highly recommend....
Sig Erson & Crane...Both became part of corporate entities, eventually leading to periodic quality issues and closing their doors- I think Crane re-opened, but with a different staff. Typically the staff is very, very young and well- requires a learning curve.

If you do a search on the net, Harvey Crane has posted a little summary of the history of the people who made the cams at Crane, his opinion of what happened and the eventual outcome of several of the staff.

Given the criticality of the component- IMHO, I don't like speaking to a catalog parts sale person- they really don't know any more about the cam than what they are reading- companies like Summit, while their bulk purchase agreements are great for price, when it comes to making an engine breathe, there are so many variable including elevation, humidity, fuel blends/available octane, most cam mfgs will vary a "core grind pattern" to match the external impactors in addition to the internal impactors- which today IMHO makes the different between and engine that runs well, to one that just seems to run a little bit better, smoother and gets better mileage than expected.

 

It is a shame what happened to Crane. They were at the forefront of not only cam grinding and production but also camshaft lobe design. After Harvey Crane was fired from the company in the late '80's he started a new business where he did consulting and also had a school to teach camshaft design. After Crane went out of business everything was sold off/liquidated in a 2009 auction. My grinder came from that sale and sat neglected from then until about 2 years ago when I bought it and rebuilt the whole thing.

You can do a lot with the factory Ford cam cores and the ones that are ground on a 110 lobe sep are handy. Here's one I did for a customer who has a high compression 400 with Edelbrock heads in a hot rod pickup truck:

220/227 @.050 on 108 in on 106, .493/.499 lift. These lobes fit right onto the stock core.

 

Right now, Isky IMHO has the most advanced/high tech cam grinding machine in North America

 

Maybe so. It all depends on what you're trying to do. Cranking out many of the same cam or doing custom regrinds the requirements are different.

 

I know they (a few years ago) purchased a software-controlled Norton Cam Grinder which allows them to (with a push of a button so to speak) change one lobe grind for a cam in seconds with another existing spec. They use a Vinco Master Optical Dividing Head, Adcole Optical Systems to inspect a cam profile to within 10 millionths of an inch and test their valvetrain assemblies with a Spritron machine to maintain their "No Failure" guarantee. .

 

For many years Isky ground using the Norton Cam-O-Matic machines which use gang masters that allow the machine to grind up to 17 lobes at one time but I was told that at least some of those were converted to use single masters I assume because of the cost of the gang masters which were a few thousand dollars to make to only grind one cam and also to do custom one off things. I know that they bought some newer digitally controlled equipment to keep of up with demand but I wasn't sure if those were Landis 3L's or something else..

All cams have errors and all cam grinders make them but the errors are different from automated to manual machines. The biggest thing is that they check their work, mostly for having the correct taper and for base circle runout but indexing errors can also happen. I had a roller cam for a small block Chevy come in to repair some very minor damage. It had a 10 degree index error from #4 intake lobe on back. Cylinders 1-3 were fine. On cylinders 4-8 the lobes were advanced 10 degrees intake and exhaust. I can't see how an error like that would have slipped by on a Van Norman, Berco etc manual grinder but it got out the door and it was run in an engine. I'm almost 100% certain that it was ground on automated equipment and never thoroughly checked.

I don't know if Iskenderian does any design work in house. Maybe they do but I'm not sure.

 

Yes, they do it all (99%) in house- I'm sure they work externally with others who have "special needs" as well. Just an FYI- the 3rd cam Isky ever ground went into one of my dad's engines......