im wanting to put a bigger cam in my 460.would it hurt the rings and everything else if i installed a cam without re-ringing it and redoing the rest of the motor? the truck is a 85 with 138,000 miles on it and they all have around 140 pounds of compression? some people have told me it wont hurt it and then a few have said to leave it alone.thanks

 

if the motor runs strong and doesn't burn oil, then installing a new cam won't affect the motor at all.

as long as you don't go wild with the cam and keep it fairly conservative (no .7 lift, 300 duration stuff) it will really wake up the motor quite a bit. if you are not redoing the heads, go with a slightly longer exhaust duration cam, as stock ford heads have really weak exhaust port layouts and that will really help a lot.

of course you will have to cahnge the lifters and as long as you don't go wild on the cam, you might be able to get away with the stock springs.

you might have to get either longer or shorter pushrods after you bolt things back togather to get the correct geometry on the rockers and vavle tips.

change the timing chain to either aftermarket or the early style to get the timing straight up.

rgds
Mike

 

I run the comp 270 cam. 270 duration in/ex with just over 500 thousandths lift. Has a slight rough idle below 1000 rpm and builds good power to over 5000rpm I also have an intake, carb, headders and a few little things. Comp will custom grind you a cam for a few dollars more. If you want a more radical idle go with a tighter LSA or a wider LSA for a smoother idel. The 270 of the shelf cam I have works great with a completely stock 460 and will improve a mild one as well. Headders and exhaust will help a lot as will an aftermarket intake. The edelbrock performer is a great stock 460 intake. Its aluminum and has improved runner flow.


IIRC about 550 lift will be the max you can run with stock springs. My springs (stock) float around 6k or so with the 270. My next cam will be a comp custom grind so I can get exactly what I want. You have to really do your cam reasearch before you order so you know it will work correctly. Things like lobe seperation, lift and duration at .050 thousandths lift all come into play.

The comp 270 cam is a single pattern cam. same duration and lift on both sides. in/ex. A higher duration on the exhaust would be bennifital. Keep the lift under 550 and you will be ok using a stock valvetrain. Anything over a 275 advertised duration and you will need higher comperssion like 9.0-1 and up. A slightly higher duration on the exhause side will be ok. look on summit racing.com They have several good choices. a 270in and 280ex might do well. Good luck.
Remember a higher duration and tighter LSA (lobe seperation) will provide a rougher idle. Tight would be like 106-108 and wide would be 110-112-114 (smoother idle)

 

i basically just want something that you can hear and will help with power.im thinkin about a lunati bracket master 2. is 280/290 duration and 516/543 lift, and 1500-5000 rpm range to big for stock pistons?how big can you go before you have to get a stall converter? or aslo a comp cam with 280 duration and 530 lift and 2000-6000 rpm range.which would be better?

 

both of those are fairly big cams for a stock 460. the biggest problem is that the stock 460 only has 8 or 8.5:1 ratio,. those cams like to see higher comp of around 9 to 9:5 to get the max potential out of them.


also with the stock heads, the exhausts ports are fairly restrictive and with that much cam, you won't see the most potential without porting the heads to take advantage of that cam.

on a stock 460, i would stick to a cam around 260 duration, .45 to .5 lift, maybe 270 duration max. after that, the rest of the engine isn't capable of taking advantage of a larger cam without major work.
with cams that big in a stock 460, you are going to end up with a motor that lacks any decent low end torque and can't breathe up top to make decent hp either.

rgds
mike

 

What are you going to do with it, street, off road, strip? You haven’t given me enough info to make a good recommendation. Just adding a cam is not going to give you as big of performance improvement as doing a complete package. Replacing the timing chain and gears will help.

Bill

 

The bracket master cam is a great cam for the BB Ford, However you will need a 9.5-1 CR to see good results. The cam specs would work with stock valve train but you need a higher CR. You need a cam with less than 550 lift and a max of 270 degrees of advertised duration. Make sure thats ADVERTISED not duration at .50 thousandths. Duration at .50 will be like 240-230 or so depending.... Anything above 270 duration ADV will also require a STALL CONVERTER. The comp 268 or 270 are nice cams. The 270 has a slightly rough idle below 1000 rpm and provides a nice torque curve from 1000 to 5000 or RPM. Your heads, manifolds, intake and exhaust (if all stock) wont support much more than that.

Look through summitracing.com and see there huge selection of cams. If you want a rougher idle look for an LSA Lobe Seperation of like 106-108. A higher # like 110-112 and up will provide a smoother idle.

Keep your duration under 270 and lift under 550 and it will work for you.

 

Will the Comp 268 or 270 be ok in a efi 460. And will it run ok without a custom tune or chip?

 

I've got the comp extreme energy 262. 218/224 lift at .050". I've got a few other parts too, but my valve train is stock. I like it!

 

Is this in a EFI 460? And is power noticable

 

also how long did the install take, pretty easy?