Any recomendations for a mild cam and carb set up for a 64 F100, 3spd, 2wd w/ 292? I'm not looking to make it a Hot rod, but overall want a bit more power. Any help would be great, Thanks

 

I have the same year truck and engine. I too would like some suggestions for cam & carb. You might try posting this up on the y-blocksforever.com forums. Its quite a bit more active over there. Either way I'll be watching this thread.

--Matt

 

I would call comp cams... Your cam is directly related to your rear end gearing, Torque converter stall speed, and engine dicplacment. Your Carb is related to your engine discplacement, RPM's expectations ( cruising r's and max R's ) My opinion is, and it is the proper way to choose. These figures need to be punched into a computer, and you will be givin good reccomendations.

Every engine has its things it reacts favorbaly to, Lobe seperation, cam timing, ect... call the experts

 

I we make some assumptions......
max power band 5500

cam suggestion: Iskenderian, Sig Erson or Crower (I would avoid comp cams because they have the least senority on the block of cam mfg's and they purchase their cam billets from china; additionally Isky checks every valve spring befor it leaves the shop- unless you are a pro racer, no else does that!) 280-290 duration, 500 lift. The 280 duration will give a smoother idle, the 290 will have a little rump to it but quite streetable. Specs are approximate- call the cam guys direct cause they love to chat about their cams and specific recommendations.

Carb: Holley 4V Mechanical secondaries (stick) or vacume secondaries (for automatic). CFM calcs out at about 450- Holley does make a 450 4V mechical secondary carb, you can run up to 600 cfm but would nee to reduce the fuel jets by about 12% and this would put you within 1-2 jet sizes on being on the money.

Intake: Edelbrock air gap- I have not been a edelbrock fan since the 1980's but this intake performs as well as the Torker series and still has excellent drivability for street vehicles!

 

I can tell your a west coaster...( not a slam either) Isky was bought out by another company, scabs is what they have becaome as of late... They got rid of there seniority is what the news is at the track. ( it was a good co.) Crower is a great, great cam. If your in the right crowd they have some special grinds that arent mass preduced. Like bottom shelf beer.

as far as duration??? 280, I hope you talking about at center line of 50 cuz you wont have any vacuum for street use. I wouldnt go more then 230 maybe with the correct center line. Maybe a 480 lift but I am not sure what that engine likes.

I would reccomend edlebrock carbs.. Based off the Carter, it is very reliable out of the box. You have to becarefull when changing fuel ratio's like jetting becaus feul atomization and oxygentaion in the venturies and intake is so important to engine performance.


I am not a pro racer but work with my buddies top fuel car, and alchaol car, along with mine and I check mine 2 times during a year, unless needed but ever spring and on assemble. we do there's ever pass.

It is preffrence but it seems this person simply wants a mild cam, like an RV type cam with a little thump. I think comp makes the "thumper series".
sounds good performs well, and doesnt cost drivability.

 

As far as I know comp dont make a cam for the Y block.
Also, where is this edelbrock air gap for the Y?
Blue thunder is an airgap manifold for the 292. Try Yblocks.com for that.
Isky, Crower, and I belive crane make cams for the Y.

Anyone will grind you a custom but youll pay for it.

 

If the engine being considered is stock, best guess on its CR is 8 to 1, maybe less. So you should not get carried away with high duration cams. They will kill low rpm performance. Something like the Isky E-4, with 260 advertised duration is about the limit IMHO, unless major work is done to get the compression up. Actually given the low compression of many of these engines a stock cam would probably be best.

Lifts that exceed .460 require grinding of the top of the valve guides. No big deal unless you dont do it.

Currently there are only two choices for the 4V intake. The original Ford 1957 and later intake, or the Blue Thunder ($400).

 

Better check your reference material. You'll have him looking for things that don't exist. He also states he has a 3 speed so why make a recommendation for an automatic?

Also, a mechanical secondary carb is best left to a track. Go vacuum on the street. The 600 Holley usually works well right out of the box. Maybe some fine tuning but nothing radical is needed.

My suggestion (been researching just such an engine becuase I'm in the process of rebuilding one) is keep the stock cam, save some money and go with the '57 intake because it takes the Holley bolt pattern. Look into larger valves (up to 2.02/1.60 will fit but not necessarily be advised) and spend the money to put hardened seats on the exhaust side. Put a good exhaust system on it and improve the ignition by going electronic.

Keep is simple, don't try to get too fancy and enjoy what you have.

JMO,
SPark

 

Well, that was quite the disscussion! Didn't think I was going to stir so much up. I like the sound of keeping the stock cam and going with the 57 intake........does anyone reproduce this intake or know where I can buy one? The truck is going to be a daliy driver and I think this set up will be best. Thanks for all the help

 

If you have a teapot carb sitting around I got the earlier style intake here (1957A). This will not accept the standard holley pattern. It is for the earlier style teapot carb. I will let it go for cheep.

The "normal" one (1957B) goes for anywhere from $80-150 on Ebay. I got one and love it. Got a 390 CFM holley on it Gives good low speed performance an a set of secondaries to get it going when you need it.

A mech secondary is fine on the street by the way. Every GM with a 4bbl had it as a Qjet. Works fine. One has got to set it up right though. The 292 is kinda a funky engine. Hope we can help.

 

The Q-Jet is a combination of mechanical and vacuum secondaries. While the throttle blades open mechanically, the air valve at the top of the venturi is opened by vacuum and that is what actually controles the air flow. Without the vacuum portion of the air valve opening, the throttle blades are irrelevant. The reason it worked so well for so many years is it is a vacuum controlled carb, not mechanical. You got small primaries for economy and big secondaries for power that opened when air flow demanded they open.

You can run a mechanical carb, that is true. Your mileage will suffer and without proper tuning you stand a better chance of a bog off idle.

Remember, most are building a "fun" street type vehicle. What works on a race car doesn't directly transfer to a street vehicle. My Yates motor makes 735 HP and will turn 8500 all day long in a dirt late model. It would be a slug on the street. Build for the true end use, not what your "buddy" says works. Be realistic in your expectations and honest with yourself. Most people over carb, over cam and under tune their engines.

JMO,
SPark

 

I had a .060 over 292. The heads were C0AE with 1.84" intake and 1.5" exhaust valves, no porting and milled only enough to clean up. I had the 1.54 rockers. The cam was 226 @.050, 274 advertised, on 112 lobe centers with .295 lobe lift. ECZ-B 4v manifold with some minor modifications and rams horn dual exhaust. The carb was an Edelbrock 600. I had the stock 3spd and rear end, which is a 3.70.

For the sake of argument, this is pretty much your engine with a few improvements. Nothing fancy.
This engine had a little lope to it. I would not recommend this set up if you are using the truck as a truck as some bottom end is lost. It is absolutely streetable. The only thing I might change about that is to use a smaller carb, probably a Holley because I like them more.

I would consider going at least a step up from the stock cam. The engine will respond favorably. I would not get much bigger than the one I have spec'd above, since you do not want a hotrod and probably will not work well with the heads that are likely on your engine.

As for the carb, keep it smaller. The Demon Jr 525 has been used with great success by quite a few Y-block guys. I'm now using a Holley 570 on a higher performing engine than above but with the same cam and it is great.

Do you know which heads are on the engine? In the 55 years the truck has been around, it may have acquired a good set of heads.

 

The Q is limited by vaccum. Not actuated. This can be bypased and hooked up mechanicly. Had this on a 78 K10. worked fine. Yes it was a gas pig. Though there was no drivability issues.

 

For the carb, LM14 and Charlie say:

Don't mess with mechanical secondaries. For a mild driver you contemplate, they won't work as well as vacuum secondaries.

Any Holley, Edelbrock/Carter AFB, or Demon of 390 to 600 cfm or so will work fine. Pick the one you like, the one that looks best to you, and/or the one you most like to work on and go with it. All will give good results. If you want to play around with tuning, you'll be able to squeeze an mpg or two out of tweaking it.

On cams, LM14 and Charlie say:

Both have good points here. Judge which cam to use by what you think you want your end product to be. As Charlie notes, use the 1.54 rockers if yours need rebuilding and you can find a set cheaply enough.

On heads, LM14 and Charlie say:

I would lean more toward Charlie's setup here, especially if you have the stock heads. I don't see you needing to put money into big intakes, tho I would consider hard exhaust seats. If you can find G heads fairly cheaply, you can get some compression, however, and this would be a worthwhile goal for your kind of performance needs.

For the intake and exhaust, LM14 and Charlie say:

The ECZ B manifold both guys recommend will work fine and is the cheapest option here, assuming you still have the stock '64 heads.

For the exhaust, Ram's Horns or headers, take your pick.

Regarding the ignition, LM14 notes:

For your use, I don't see the need to use an electronic ignition, unless you just don't like to mess with points. My take is that I'm under the hood enough that the extra tune up regimen needed for points isn't onerous. I do have an electronic box, but it works off of the points and I have it because I have a high current coil, and the box saves the points from burning out too quickly.

But if you don't like points, go with a Pertronix or something, and keep a spare in the glove box.

I find that there is always a lot of room for street performance improvements in the stock ignition system. This includes both power and economy. The more you use the truck for driving and the less you use it for heavy work, the more improvement you can achieve. You can check my linked page for some suggestions in this area that have always worked for me on many different vehicles, including Y Blocks. Such modifications are cheap and easily accomplished with common tune up tools. All they require is time and a little testing.

Finally, LM14 advises:

which sounds like excellent advice to me.

 

I should have been clearer. I wouldn't go to all the trouble of putting in a box, all I would do is the Pertronix system. Put on in my '57 and it starts so much better there is no comparrison. I was a long holdout to keep points but that convinced me. Looks stock, starts better.

SPark