ABC cams are good but...
 

they are outdated. what cams would be comparable ot the ABC line?

ive been looking into cams for the past week and i think im going to go with an ed curtis custom grind. mostly due to his experience, and this way i will have a cam tailored to my specific eqiupment.

I would never go with a Letter cam. Worst ones out there for sure. They are hardly better then stock.

damn, that bad? so it would be comp, crane, ed curtis, anderson..who else makes good 5.0 cams?

They are POINTLESS, the F cam has done good in some turbo engines but thats about it. I think the only thing keeping those cams going is people are lazy and just wanna pick out a cam out of a catalog. The LS1 guys are light years ahead on cams when it comes to just getting on a website and picking one out.

damn so pritty much *>Letter cams

They really arent bad. The B cam makes great steetability and a cool sounding idle for a daily car, the X cam makes some pretty good numbers, and the E and F cams are the most copied things out there, tons of cams just like em. They are proven good runners that work for the average bolt on person and occasionally pull some huge #'s with the right setup. To say they are almost no better than stock is insane...

Comp and Crane make some excellent cams if your looking for something OTS.
For mild performance I would look at something like a 276HR, XE270/274HR from comp. You can never go wrong with a TFS stage 1 or 2 cam. Crane part #449591, #449601 (strikingly similar to a TFS stage 2), #449651.

That should be enough to get you started!

There's no arguing the alphabet cams work, but there's so many cam profiles that just work "better" for a given combination. There's so much more to a cam profile than just duration @ .050" and lift.

Lets compare the TFS stage 1 (TFS-51402000)....
Duration at .002 in: 275 intake/279 exhaust
Duration at .050 in: 221 intake/225 exhaust
Lobe Lift: .312 in. intake/.319 in. exhaust
Valve Lift with 1.6 Rockers: .499 in. intake/.510 in. exhaust
Lobe Separation (Degrees): 112

to the B-303
Duration at .002 in: 284 intake/284 exhaust
Duration at .050 in: 224 intake/224 exhaust
Lobe Lift: .267 in. intake/.267 in. exhaust
Valve Lift with 1.6 Rockers: .480 in. intake/.480 in. exhaust
Lobe Separation (Degrees): 107

At first glance, most people look at the duration @ .050 .. In that case the B cam looks a little bigger, save for that 1 degree exhaust difference. But lets look at the advertised duration for a second. Look at the B cam exhaust vs the TFS cam exhaust. The TFS cam is obviousy ramping the lobe much faster, since with one MORE degree @ .050, the total time the valve is open is actually 5 degrees LESS than the B-cam! The faster you can get the valve off the seat and into the lift range where the heads actually flow some good air, the more power you're going to make. Another thing to notice is the lobe separation angle. B-cam 107 vs. the TFS cam 112 -- that B cam is a nice rumpy cam at idle, while the TFS cam is going to purr. So, you've got a much more "mild" feeling cam, that makes more power than the B cam.

Who cares if the alphabet cams work, you could still go faster with something else. No sense in staying in the cave man era. This is another reason why the LS1 guys are LIGHT YEARS ahead on n/a street engines, their wild heads help also. ;)

that why you have an abc cam in ur 89? anyone else have anything to help this dude out or we just goona sit around and chat about LS1's?

Ummm, it was in the car when I bought it and since it says All Sold under that, I dont have that car anymore. If I had kept it, the F Cam would have came out.

Cylinder heads are the sole reason why they are SO much better then the 5.0. But, luckily, many aftermarket companies are FINALLY producing cylinder heads that create flow.

What I mean is the LS1 guys try alot more stuff and actually go alot further with cam technology than the average street 5.0 guys.

I personaly feel that every single time an LS based motor has rolled off the assembly line, an honest to goodness Miracle has occured. What do you guys say to us droppin Ratzinger a holler and get the Vatican over here to investigate? :secret2:

hehehe.. yeah, its almost that good... :D

Speeds8er nailed it though, the part of the LS1 community that actually digs into their motors is extremely broad -- heck you can't drive around Houston without seeing at least a couple cammed Camaros or Corvettes. The Mustang community by and large sticks to bolt-ons. A Mustang is guaranteed to have a K&N and a pair of Flowmaster 2 chambers, and maybe some underdrive pulleys, but not often much beyond that. I personally attribute that to a lack of readily-available knowledge. Lets face it, most everyone with a performance car that WOULD mod it, would like to do it himself in his own garage. We are by nature tinkerers. But, you take one look at a modular motor and most people get intimidated by it and fear they can't accomplish some of the more "internal" tasks. So, you don't see things like cam swaps unless they were done by a shop.

We aim to change that around here ;)

very, very well said

I thought this was the Windsor forum?

Just so I get this straight. Its your assertion that LS1 guys are more willing to do internal engine modification over 5.0 guys?

I'd say there's a lot more "non-technical" LS1 guys doing internal mods than the average any other group of car folk. Now keep in mind, I'm not talking about the upper eschelon who modify everything they own themselves (including spraying the lawnmower, not that I'd know anything about that). I'm talking about the average Joe you'll find cruising out to a street meet on the weekends. The internet is changing things rapidly, and the LS1 community really took off with the rapid transfer of knowledge. There's a large number of VERY talented and knowledgable Ford guys, but many tend to either not share their knowledge, or not share it on the internet because they've "been there done that." The thing is, there's a lot of very curious, eager, and capable folks out there who only need a little access to info.

hmm, spray the lawn mower :devil:
anyways, you have a point with that. a LOT of the fox/sn95 cars ive seen have either nothing or just bolt ons. the thing is the 5.0 has been around a lot longer and there seems to be less about em on the interenet, its weird.

the word 'bolt' followed by the word 'on' when talking about cars is rather subjective in nature. I personally wrenched on a few bolts on my stang and wow......how'd those heads from AFR get there? ARP rod bolts arent a factory option from ford? what is that nonsence about? :jest:

everyones a comedian :eyes: :jest: ok, the most theyve done is everything that didnt require opening up the engine itself:) yeesh.. damn peanut gallery:lol:

I would heavily disagree with that assesment. The amount of knowledge available to the average enthusiast even on plebeian sites like the Corral is staggering. I have waited days to get questions answered on LS1Tech and back in the day on LS1.com vs the 2 seconds to refresh and 20 responses on the Corral. And there are plenty of non-technical guys modding Mustangs, I certianly answer enough idiotic questions to account for that.

Now if you were referring to the Modular community I would be more likely to agree. Although sites like ModularFords and the Depot are very good I would agree the majority of that community is more about bolt-ons at this point.