302 mild upgrade
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Junior User
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302 mild upgrade
I have a 302w in my 78 f100 I recently purchased a 600cfm carb and an intake to go with no im looking for a cam everything else is stock .I dont want to go crazy I just want something to have a little fun with and decent power impovement over stock. Its a daily driven truck with stock converter and gears etc. I was looking at Comp Cams XE250 or 256 or Crane cams Zcam256 will any of these be good for my application? Please Help!
Hotshot
Joined: May 2003
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From: south louisiana
Comp doesn't recommend using these with the stock valvetrain, meaning you'll need new springs, retainers, locks, rockers, pushrods too. A better choice would be one of their High Energy grinds.
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Joined: Mar 2003
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From: Midwest-Chicago Area
I used a Comp Cams 268H (K31-218-2) cam and kit when I rebuilt the 302 in my '78. Ran pretty strong. Just buy the whole kit. You'll need all that other stuff anyway! Really don't think I'd trust 30 year old valve springs. Besides, if your motor hasn't been gone through, the valve seals are probably shot anyway. Get new pushrods, they're cheap. As far as rocker arms go, I used Crane Energizer roller rockers on mine, but if yours are in good shape, you could probably reuse them. Check them out real closely for wear!! Anyway, I hope this helps! Like Baron said though, heads would really help! What kind of shape is the rest of the motor in? Compression ok? It's NEVER that easy, is it?
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Its the orig motor and it was rebuilt about 7yrs ago in high school eveything is stock except shorty headers. It runs really good dont have any problems with it. I just want a little bit more out of it. I dont have the money for heads right now or much else but I was thinking of pulling the stock ones off and mabey just clean them up and open them up a little. Check valves and seals etc. I might go with the 260H comp cam not sure yet still or crane energizer cam.
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Will that 268H work with my stock torque converter? Cause im actually thinking on that cam now it sounds good.
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From: Midwest-Chicago Area
Don't see why you can't use your stock converter, it's not that big of a cam. Comp recommends a higher stall converter if you need one. And they don't for that cam. I have a manual trans in mine, so it didn't matter. Concerning the cam bearings, they're normally replaced when the block is in the machine shop getting hot-tanked. I really don't think you can change them with the engine in the truck. Did you change them when you rebuilt it?
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Joined: Oct 2005
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Before you go to all that trouble swapping the cam and pushrods, which is costly and head scratching, I would either get a roller 302 motor from the 80s in that thing or get roller tipped 1.7 rockers to increase the lift of the stock cam and call that a job!
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yeah the cam bearings were definetly replaced when it was rebuilt so would I be ok not to change them this go around? I didnt want to take the engine right apart if I didnt have to. I will for sure get pushrods and valve seal and springs cause most of it all comes in the kit anyways.
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Yeah I dont know if i'll do much on the intake side just the small radius and valve guide boss but deffinetly open exhaust. Got a couple more questions, what length of pushrods are in my engine now so I can get new ones? Also are my rocker arms stud or pedestal? I want to get some roller rockers