HO CFI Cam?

[Leo]

wow, that, well. hmmm... now that you mentioned that i think in the long run i'll convert to sefi.

in the mean time which cam would be best at lets say kragen. i looked at all 171 of them ranging from $600 to $180. which one would you guys recommended?
with out a doubt a ho stock cam would be purchased but i dont know which one would be best.

[1987cp]

Sealed Power CS761 is what I'm finding offhand for the HO CFI cars such as the '85 LTD LX. Lowest price I'm seeing is $60ish from Summit Racing. Specs from NAPA Online:

Cam Type : Hydraulic
Exhaust Duration : 208 Deg.
Exhaust Lift (Inches) : .278"
Exhaust Lift (mm) : 7.071 mm
Intake Duration : 198 Deg.
Intake Lift (Inches) : .260"
Intake Lift (mm) : 6.607 mm
Lobe Centerline (Exhaust) : 114 Deg.
Lobe Centerline (Intake) : 115 Deg.
Lope Separation : 114 Deg.
Overlap : 41 Deg.

[gadget73]

Times a 1.6 ratio rocker gives .444 exhaust and .416 intake, which matches up to what I show in my 85 powertrain manual.

[Lincolnmania]

yea that's the cam you need......you must change the lifters also, and follow the cam break in procedure

[1987cp]

I suppose the ultimate HO CFI solution would be to get a custom roller cam in those dimensions?

That wouldn't be happening for 60 bucks plus liftes, though. :p

[gadget73]

Would be a bit silly to spend big bucks having a custom roller cam in stock specs made. I imagine any cam grinder would first ask you why, then happily take your money to produce it tho.

[1987cp]

lol - I'd probably have any custom cam grinder flatly refuse if I were the one looking for it. :p

[Leo]

long story short: found out edlebrock manifold needed to have a hole drilled behind the cfi unit. ALSO the water pump busted, water gushing out like diaheria in a hurricane. i took out the pump. puchased wrong pump. i found out the pump i needed was a canadian version. was extremely pissed. put dead pump in car. drove 10 miles to engine mechanic. mechanic fixes problem for $200 and $150 for also installing edelbrock intake manifold. (good thing he installed it b/c he had to drill that hole somewhere behind the cfi unit.
i also found out through mechanic that my block can be converted to a roller block for $1,000 w/ roller cam and lifters included. he also said $2,600 for entire engine to be remanufacutured and upgraded to a roller cam Ho cfi... i said, fuhgetabouhit.

[gadget73]

The conversion isn't hard, just the cost of the parts. I think there may be 2 holes to drill and tap, but otherwise its a matter of putting the parts in. Cam swap, install lifters, install the dogbones between the lifters, and put the spider in. Nothing major. Intake does need to be off to swap the cam tho, so if you're still planning to do the HO cam swap, you're gonna need to remove that intake again. Ditto on the water pump. Also, I hope you put a timing chain in there while the pump was off. CFI cars used a crappy chain that flops around after a while. they also self-destuct and clog the oil pickup with plastic bits.

[Leo]

shit...... i didnt think about the chain.... it never crossed my mind...damn.

[1987cp]

What do you mean by saying the manifold needs a hole drilled in it? The only reason for an extra hole I can think of would be for EGR, and the solution for that is to just use an EGR-capable manifold.

Oh, and that's an awful lot of money for a roller conversion. The spider and retainers are like $40, and the retrofit cams are around $265. Say up to $100 for pushrods and not more than $60 for a new timing set.

[P72Ford]

The hole may have been for a vacuum source for something.

[gadget73]

Bet you a buck the hole is for the ACT.

[1987cp]

If so, I'd think the manifold vacuum port could be used for that. Or does the CFI throttle body not have a vacuum source like most carbs do?

[gadget73]

It does, but its not 3/8 NPT, and that vac port is used for the PCV and other stuff.