1967 Mustang cam?

[schwanz583]

Hey guys, I have a 67 with a 289. engine was just rebuilt, and is all stock except an edlebrock performer intake, and a edlebrock 800cfm carb.(I know the carb is too big, I got the car like that and plan on changing it) I was wondering what would be a good cam kit to put in it if I want to get a little better sound out of it, without making the car unreliable. I have never messed with cam's before, but wouldn't mind putting a mild cam in. Also, what carb would you guys recommend? I was thinking about putting a holley 570cfm on it. What do you guys think would work best on the 289, and edlebrock 600cfm, or a holley 570cfm? Thanks

[12second5.0]

I always liked the Comp Cam 268h. Gave a good sound and decent power for a off the shelf grind.

[Boostaholic2184]

Id say the Eddy 600cfm with the cam reccomended above

[schwanz583]

Ok cool. Thanks guys. This may be a dumb question, but is it really hard to install a new cam kit?

[Boostaholic2184]

Not really, as long as you know what youre doing.....its mostly gaskets haha.....last cam swap took me bout 2 1/2 hours(i had the AFM quick-change cam tools so I could leave the lower intake on)...

[Sonic Blue 85]

Not really, as long as you know what youre doing.....its mostly gaskets haha.....last cam swap took me bout 2 1/2 hours(i had the AFM quick-change cam tools so I could leave the lower intake on)...

That idea will not work on his car, he has a flat tappet cam, you have to change the lifters or you will flatten the cam lobes.
Changing out a cam is not hard, but you should read the installation and break in proceedures that come with the cam. Basicaly you will need to coat the cam lobes the bottom of the lifters with break in lube. you actualy need to have some type of lube on the whole lifter, cam bearing journals and cam gear, but it is very important to make sure you have cam break in lube at least on the lobes and bottom of the lifters. Then when you get it fired up, you will need to bring the engine rpm up to around 2500 rpm for a 5 to 10 minutes, then let it idle for about the same amount of time, then back up to around 2500 rpm for 5+ minutes again. You need to have the rockers adjusted before starting the engine, once the cam is broke in you should go back and readjust the valves. The break in proceedure will wear the bottem of the lifters and cam lobes some, they should not wear much at all. After a few cylces of hi rpm, then low rpm, take the car out for a drive on a freeway or high way for a 50 plus mile drive to help finnish the break in.
Ford small blocks and big blocks are not that bad about wiping out cam lobes, small block Chevys are, old Ford SOHC 2.0L and 2.3Ls are. It is possible to flatten cam lobes on a small block Ford if the cam is not broken in correctly, also make sure you get the came retaining plate bolts and the cam gear bolt tightened to the correct torque and use red lock tight on those bolts. I just had a 302 come in a while back that had cam retaining bolts that had backed out, this allowed the cam to move fowards and back wards in the cam bearings. I caused the cam lobed to get wiped out, because the lifters were not riding on the same spot on the cam lobes.
As for the carb, I would still recomend the Holley, 570 to 600 cfm, your choice of vacuum secondary or mechanical secondary. Holley used to make and sell the Econo Master carbs, they were good reliable carbs that were easy to work on and cheap, they also worked very well. Those carbs were coppies of the old Autolite 4V carbs that Ford used in the '60s on the 289s, 352s, 390s, ect. I have noticed that Summit is now selling carbs with their lable on them, they are also coppies of the old Autolite carbs, I have not head of anyone buying them, so I don't know how good of a job they had done with them.
The problems with the Edelbrocks is if they are not correct out of the box, it will cost you a good bit more money to by the kits for the Edelbrock to get it tuned to your engine. I have also worked on a few of those lately that would not run the same twice. The ones that are tuned correctly and work correctly are good carbs.

[Sonic Blue 85]

As for the cam, Larry's cam choice is not a bad one, you could have someone make you a custom grind, but it will cost a lot more money and the difference in how well it works will be small. Depending on what you plan to do with the car and how much cam you want, the 268H would be a very good choice or possibly the 270 Magnum cam if you wanted to make a little more power. With the small cubic inches of the 289, it will not take much cam before you loose a lot of manifold vacuum, low manifold vacuum will make it harder to tune and hurt fuel mileage.

[Stang_1973]

The comp XE cams get very good reviews. depends also what your gonna be using the casr for and what kind of power accesories your running. PS, Brakes?i think with a 289 and mild cam any 600 cfm range holley or eddlebrock will do just fine. ive used holley and havent had any problems with them really, however some people say the ddlebrocks are easier to tune and that you dont have to mess with them as much. Personally, now i went over to a F.A.S.T. efi setup that was real easy to install. made my '73 much more realiable and efficient.

[racer99]

Either of these,probably the second one
for your current setup.

Summit Racing SUM-K3601 - Summit Racing® Cam and Lifter Kits - Overview - SummitRacing.com

Summit Racing SUM-K3600 - Summit Racing® Cam and Lifter Kits - Overview - SummitRacing.com

and a Holley 600 vac secondary carb,

Holley 0-80457S - Holley Model 4160 Non-Adjustable Float Carburetors - Overview - SummitRacing.com

Note,this carb has a non adjustable float level.

[Stang_1973]

I had a cam identical to the the second one racer99 suggested. the split profile is good for daily drivers and good street manners. youll feel the torque abit better and you wont have to change you torque converter, and it definately will not affect any power accesories. didnt really notice much change in the idle though.

I have a 600 cfm holley, vac secondary, laying around that was rebuilt last year by Ron Bell, hes a sponsor here. Currently he and another lss member are using it to test another car. Id consider selling it. just needs to be cleaned up really.

[racer99]

I had the first one in my wagon,it was cheap and
with it on a 114 c/l it was nitrous friendly.

[schwanz583]

My car has no power accessories, only three pullys. Crankshaft, altenator, and water pump. I've never installed a cam before but really like how they sound. I just want a good running car that I can drive every once in a while, maybe take to some shows, and keep for a long time. How much would it cost to have someone put the cam in?

[Stang_1973]

sounds to me than your gonna want something more agressive. If its the sound your after and you have no power accessories, than you can turn that little 289 into a real screamer. but your gonna need to go more performance on other aspects to get the full potential out of a agressive cam. converter, longtubes, and some heads to pull it all together.

DO GT40's fit on 289's, id like to say they do but not sure. those are some decent street heads that help with any cam and intake combo.

you also have to look at the condition of your drivetrain when modding.

[Sonic Blue 85]

My car has no power accessories, only three pullys. Crankshaft, altenator, and water pump. I've never installed a cam before but really like how they sound. I just want a good running car that I can drive every once in a while, maybe take to some shows, and keep for a long time. How much would it cost to have someone put the cam in?

You did not list the type of transmission you have in the car, what intake and exhaust. You can do just a cam change and see some improvements in power. Even not having power brakes, you will most likely not want to install much cam if you have a C4 and or stock manifolds. If you would like to get a bit larger cam installed, you should have long tube headers, good intake and if you have a C4 you will need a higher stall convertor, a tight convertor makes it hard to get a car with a large cam to idle while in gear. These are just some of the things to consider when you are picking a cam. You also may need to change the valve springs out. I think the '67 289 heads were the last year of adjustable rockers on a small block inline valve Ford engine. You will need adjustable rockers. You could also swap out the heads with something like GT-40 heads, but you will also need to change the rockers and push rods out if you do that. If you do deside to swap out the heads, stick to a small head, something in the 170 cc or less range with the smallest combustion chamber possible prefferably 58 cc or smaller. A list of small heads would be the iron GT-40, Dart Jr., Edelbrock Performer or possibly the Performer RPM, GT-40 aluminum Y or X head, AFR 165 and I think RHS may make a 165 or 170 cc head, I am not sure of that. The TFS High Port is a very good choice for if you wanted to make some serious power with a 289.
If you do consider replacing the heads, you might also consider replacing the pistons with a modern higher quality piston, those old engines used some cheap weak cast pistons, near stock power levels, they are ok, but even then they can break and rob you of power. The crank and rods are fine for a mild build, you might change out the rod bolts and many of the better pistons available require full floating piston pins, which means you would have to replace the rods. You can get sportsman rods for a little over $200 that are a little lighter and stronger and come with ARP rod bolts. I know I have gone overboard here, but just trying to show you what you can do to make your engine run stronger and what types of things you can get into once you start changing things out, basicaly give you an idea of what you may need to replace if you want to noticeably step up the power. As for getting the work done, I can change the cam all the way up to building a completely different combo. I currently have two customers that have '66 Mustangs I am building 347s for, one was building a 289 and then desided he really wanted to step up the power and wanted a 347, the other had a fairly strong 306 and desided he also wanted to go faster and also desided a 347 was the way to go. I tried to talk both of them into building 306s, because I knew I can make all the power either of them wants with a 306, but they both have desided on 347s. They both should have very quick cars.

[schwanz583]

My car was originaly a 200 inline 6. They changed it to the 289 with a 3spd manuel tranny. It also has the 5 lug wheels and a 9" rear end. Engine was just rebuilt before I got the car( has 15 miles on it) and runs strong as is. I want to swap the tranny out for a t5 someday down the road. The exhaust is all original minus the muffler itself. It has pro flow muflers on it. But I would like to change the exhaust as well someday.

[12second5.0]

You did not list the type of transmission you have in the car, what intake and exhaust. You can do just a cam change and see some improvements in power. Even not having power brakes, you will most likely not want to install much cam if you have a C4 and or stock manifolds. If you would like to get a bit larger cam installed, you should have long tube headers, good intake and if you have a C4 you will need a higher stall convertor, a tight convertor makes it hard to get a car with a large cam to idle while in gear. These are just some of the things to consider when you are picking a cam. You also may need to change the valve springs out. I think the '67 289 heads were the last year of adjustable rockers on a small block inline valve Ford engine. You will need adjustable rockers. You could also swap out the heads with something like GT-40 heads, but you will also need to change the rockers and push rods out if you do that. If you do deside to swap out the heads, stick to a small head, something in the 170 cc or less range with the smallest combustion chamber possible prefferably 58 cc or smaller. A list of small heads would be the iron GT-40, Dart Jr., Edelbrock Performer or possibly the Performer RPM, GT-40 aluminum Y or X head, AFR 165 and I think RHS may make a 165 or 170 cc head, I am not sure of that. The TFS High Port is a very good choice for if you wanted to make some serious power with a 289.
If you do consider replacing the heads, you might also consider replacing the pistons with a modern higher quality piston, those old engines used some cheap weak cast pistons, near stock power levels, they are ok, but even then they can break and rob you of power. The crank and rods are fine for a mild build, you might change out the rod bolts and many of the better pistons available require full floating piston pins, which means you would have to replace the rods. You can get sportsman rods for a little over $200 that are a little lighter and stronger and come with ARP rod bolts. I know I have gone overboard here, but just trying to show you what you can do to make your engine run stronger and what types of things you can get into once you start changing things out, basicaly give you an idea of what you may need to replace if you want to noticeably step up the power. As for getting the work done, I can change the cam all the way up to building a completely different combo. I currently have two customers that have '66 Mustangs I am building 347s for, one was building a 289 and then desided he really wanted to step up the power and wanted a 347, the other had a fairly strong 306 and desided he also wanted to go faster and also desided a 347 was the way to go. I tried to talk both of them into building 306s, because I knew I can make all the power either of them wants with a 306, but they both have desided on 347s. They both should have very quick cars.

Sorry to get off topic to the OP. Adam is giving up on my old 306?

[Sonic Blue 85]

Yes, he has talked about building a 347 ever since he brought the car in. I have tried to tell him that with some changes we could build easily over 300 hp to the wheels. In that car, it would be a rocket, but he called a couple of months ago to tell me that the car had a problem. He brought it to me, he told me it was running rough, like it had a dead cylinder and was spraying anitfreeze all over the place and that part of the carb stud was missing. I took the engine appart, found that there were two pieces of steel in the no. 8 cylinder. Those old TRW pistons are pretty tough, the no. 8 piston smashed the piece of the carb stud and broke it into two pieces, to the point you could not tell what those two pieces ever started out being. After flattening the two pieces of the stud, they got between the side of the piston and cylinder wall and popped a section of the cylinder wall outwards, so that block is done. The piston does not have a hole in the top, just beat up on top.
So right now I have another customer who has a 347 that I have pulled, it needs a little work, but most of the parts to build a 347 are there, so I am supposed to make some changes and put that engine in Adam's car. I have neve seen a carb stud break, but that one did about an 1" above the top of the carb, the upper piece fell into the engine.

[racer99]

So how did the stud get into the carb?

No air cleaner?

Or was it the air cleaner hold down stud?

[Sonic Blue 85]

The air cleaner stud snapped in half, the top half dropped into the engine. I have seen many dents in hoods from air cleaner studs, previously I had never seen one break off and the top half drop into the engine, but now I have.