I would like to put a new cam in. It is an 88 with EFI, and all stock. How much would this cost and is it very hard for a knoledgable guy? Is there any down sides to doing this? What cam is best?
Thanks
Lars

 

I've been pondering a new cam also. Reason for my delay is that my motor is so old and so many miles (208,000) that I think a rebuld would be better yet. Trouble is my motor runs so darn good and a rebuild is alot of work and alot of $$. It still burns no oil, and is absolutely the most dependable motor I've ever seen. I'm just uncertain about putting a high performance cam on a tired motor.

For the cams, if you put one in, and Its not a real tough job, but you need to get the head worked on. Most of the cams I checked out require some mill work (increase compression) and some new parts to accomodate the higher and longer valve movements. Some cams can tolerate the stock springs, but for me, I'd change all of it out (springs, valves,,,,) and have my head magnafluxed and milled. The CAM people will tell you what you need. So that's a an additional expensive. Cams run around $185, other costs should be an additional $200. And, if you change the compression too much, you have to start buring premium. I was thinking a .266 or .274 cam, that's a good compromise between power and fuel economy (still burns regular.) I'm still tempted though, I hear these motors do really well with a better cam set up.

 

One more thing that might be a factor if you guys decide to upgrade the cam is that you might bump yourself out of the stock ignition curve which would require a different distributor or recurving the one you have. For the 300, getting a new properly curved distributor for your cam is no problem at all. Clifford recommends the Mallory Unilite, I think MSD makes one, and Performance Distributors in Memphis could help you also. I only say this because I'm running into this problem with my old 223 six. I'll end up recurving my stock distributor to run with the .270 cam I plan to use.

Kris in Georgia