Lightning cam questions

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Oct 18, 2007 | 04:29 PM

kellar

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Lightning cam questions

I am looking in the Federal Mogul Sealed Power catalog at non-roller 351 cams and see something that confuses me a little. According to them in 93 the Lightning had a smaller cam than the other 351s.
351 HO (4bbl) and EFI until 93
Lift- .278/.283
Dur- 206/221
93-95 Lightning/ 82-85 Mustang
Lift- .260/.278
Dur- 198/208
Can anybody tell me if this is correct? If it is- why such a small cam in the Lightning?

Oct 18, 2007 | 05:19 PM

Conanski

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From: Ottawa, Ontario

That's a bit mixed up. The regular truck motor(2bbl carb and EFI) had the wimpy little cam, the 351HO and the Lightning had cams very similar to the 5.0HO but flat tappet. If you are building something for a truck forget all of them and get a Comp Cams 35-255-5.

Oct 18, 2007 | 05:39 PM

kellar

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The catalog shows the 2bbl 351:
Lift- .260/.260
Dur- 195/195
I have a cam from a 85 Mustang HO (non roller) which is supposed to be the same cam as the Lightning (may not actually be??). But I think I am going to buy the 351 HO 4bbl cam for my 351 which is currently 2bbl but will be EFI in my Mustang. Will the 351 HO cam work properly with EFI? It seems like it'd provide plenty of power especially with 1.7 rockers.

Last edited by kellar; Oct 18, 2007 at 05:44 PM.

Oct 18, 2007 | 09:31 PM

Conanski

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From: Ottawa, Ontario

Yes, the specs say it will work, but it still leaves plenty on the table. The Comp cam I mentioned above has more lift and more importantly is a dual pattern biased to the exhaust where the ford heads need it. The motor will respond to incresed lift all the way to 1/2", and those heads are more of a bottleneck on the 5.8 than the 5.0, so you need to let it breath. It won't cost you low rpm TQ either, it's still much shorter duration than the B303 you have in the car.

Oct 18, 2007 | 09:40 PM

Mr. M

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From: Redmond, WA

Comp 35-355-5 is a vast improvement... if it is in fact for a half ton pickup application.

The ford alphabet cams leave a lot to be desired for truck applications. A little die grinder work on the heads (especially on the exhaust side) will go a long way for this build as well.

Good Luck,
Mike