Cam Upgrade
 

Is there a big seat of your pants difference by changing the base hydraulic roller cam in a 92 to the Comp cams 35-255-5 cam on a 302EFI engine? I want to upgrade the cam, but I really don't want to spend alot of money on one component of that engine that won't really make a difference if you guys know what I mean. I want my money to count when upgrading internal components of the engine....

The cam plays a major part in the amount of power a motor makes. It's not the only part as everything adds up to the total, but on the early Windsor motors it's easily the most restrictive part followed by the heads. If you have a roller motor, then you'll want to upgrade with a roller cam, not the flat tappet 35-255-5 cam, because you'll need different lifters, pushrods, and distributor drive gear as well as the cam, and it's generally considered a step backwords. Look at the Comp Cams and Crane catologs for EFI friendly roller cams, They have a 114deg LSA, there are a few to pick from including the CompCams 35-349-8. The bottom line is a cam will make a dramatic difference in the power developed by the motor. On an early motor like this it would be about equavelent to a good set of heads, but a cam is only going to cost maybe $300 versus $1k for the heads.

Conanski, how can I tell for sure if I have a stock roller cam in the engine right now? Everything is stock from what I know on this engine, but I would like to know for sure if the cam is in fact a roller cam? Let me know what I can do to figure this out, because a cam upgrade sounds really good right now? So a cam upgrade would be just like a heads upgrade, wow that is saying alot then from a performance staindpoint....!

Thanks for the help Conanski on this issue also...

I am looking for a good truck cam that is SD friendly, which cam would you prefer to use Conanski being that you are the 302 god on engine advice... I am looking up to you now after what you have said to me and everything... I bow to you lol! One last thing, do I need to buy new valve springs with the installation of this new cam if I do buy one?

I don't know about being an engine god.... I have built a few but others here have done much more than that. In any event.. I command you to go back and read my previous post again. :-X19 I specifically mentioned 1 cam and told you what makes it computer friendly.. the 114 lobe seperation angle. Basically you want a roller cam with specs similar to the 35-255-5 flat tappet cam.
The stock heads don't flow any more past 0.500" lift, so don't bother with a cam bigger than that. I believe the stock springs can handle a 0.500" lift cam, but if you have some miles on the motor it's not a bad idea to put fresh springs in it anyway. You need to pull a pushrod out of your motor and measure it's length, that will confirm whether you have a roller cam or not. If it is it'll be 6.25" long, the pushrods are longer in the flat tappet motors.

Is there a nice how to change out a camshaft while the engine is still in the truck? I have never changed out anything internally in a engine and wouldn't want to screw something out by fubarring a camshaft change. But sticking a good camshaft in this truck would be like sticking a set of heads on the truck, that alone has me going on sticking that upgraded roller cam in it. How much difference as far as torque goes on any of those cams, is there a whole hell of lot of difference..?

Another thing Conanski, when upgrading the stock cam and I put in a upgrade roller cam, will I need to change the lifters? I really would like to put in a new camshaft and nothing more is that possible? I will probably do the install myself if it's not going to be to hard to do..

Thanks again

To do a cam change in the truck, you will have to remove the water pump, timing cover, and anything that's attached or in the way of these two parts. You will also need to remove the radiator and possibly the grill. You'll also have to pull the upper and lower intake to access the lifter valley. The stock roller lifters will work fine. The only time they limit you with an upgrade is in the rpms. They do not work above 6000-6500 rpms. The cam Conanski listed is a big jump in specs from the 92's base roller, even though Comp says it works with the stock computer, they may have been referring to the Mustang's unit, not a pickup. Ford builds the system to be 10-15% rich at WOT, so I don't know that the cam you're talking about will work, you might at least need larger injectors, some one else here can chime in if they know.

Really so the cam that Conanski referred me to will not work because of the big jump in specs...?

Is this true Conanski, say it ain't so man!!!

To do a cam change in the truck, you will have to remove the water pump, timing cover, and anything that's attached or in the way of these two parts. You will also need to remove the radiator and possibly the grill. You'll also have to pull the upper and lower intake to access the lifter valley. The stock roller lifters will work fine. The only time they limit you with an upgrade is in the rpms. They do not work above 6000-6500 rpms. The cam Conanski listed is a big jump in specs from the 92's base roller, even though Comp says it works with the stock computer, they may have been referring to the Mustang's unit, not a pickup. Ford builds the system to be 10-15% rich at WOT, so I don't know that the cam you're talking about will work, you might at least need larger injectors, some one else here can chime in if they know.

Baddad, do I really have to remove the upper and lower intake to see the lifter valley? All I want to do is change the cam in the truck, period.... You said that the stock roller lifters will be fine....

Another thing, will roller lifters make noise at cold startup when they have some wear on them???

There are a few guys here that have put the 35-255-5 cam in the older trucks and they run fine, this cam is not a whole lot more than that. I don't see needing bigger injectors, this is a torque application and 19 lb'ers are working just fine on my 351 up to 4500rpm. If you feel this is a bit too much cam then do a little more shopping, there are loads of cams available for the 5.0.
Jrock909.. yes, you have to strip down the motor to get to the cam. It's a bunch of work and you'll want to pickup new gaskets for the parts you take off. But it's easily worth it. Literally all you need to do this job are the cam and the replacement gaskets.. and of course a few hours and your tools. I'll do a bit more searching around to see what other cams I can find like this, but you can also do that yourself and post back with your findings.

Will I need to convert over to roller lifters and everything on the block to get that cam to work? If I do already have a roller cam would that mean that I already have roller lifters...?

I think, based on your questions, that you really need to gain more experience with engines, before attempting a cam swap. Or get some one you know has done this before to help you. It's not a hard job to do, but it's a very involved job that needs attention paid to the details. If you botch something, you're going to regret tackling this. This is also a long day's job that will likely extend into a weekend job and if you have no experience in these things, your truck could be down for a week or two (or more) if things go wrong.