| buford8 | -- 12-12-2009 @ 12:11 PM |
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Anyone have any info about a Howard M-8 cam shaft for a 59A engine? I want to run this in a 276" flatmotor that will look stock on the outside. Thanks, Buford8
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| Stroker | -- 12-12-2009 @ 2:54 PM |
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That's a fairly mild cam, about like a Weber F1. If you are maintaining stock motor appearance, then I would have to assume that you are talking about a single carb, stock CI exhaust manifolds, etc. About the only "improvement" you can expect is that you will lose some low end torque, and the motor will be happier at higher RPM's. I don't think your idle will suffer much. Having said that; if you want a little more "top-end", a stock 36 cam has a little more duration than the later 59A. You will have to drill and tap it to accept the later 59A timing gear, but it's a really nice all around cam for a flathead. If you want to keep it "all-Ford". Spec's on your proposed cam are: .328 lift, 230 deg. duration @ .050, Intake opens @ 5 deg. before top dead center, intake closes at 45 deg. after bottom dead center,exhaust opens @ 45 deg. before bottom dead center, and exhaust closes at 5 degrees after bottom dead center. Nice, mild flattie cam. I had a classmate in the 50's put a Potvin Eliminator in his single-bbl'd stock 40 Ford. The car would go 90 in second, but it wouldn't pull the hat off your head. Everything is a compromise. There is no "free lunch". Flatmotors do like more duration than overheads because they are like me...they have breathing difficulties. You will see much more radical spec.'s on flathead cams than you will on cams for modern 4-valve, pent-roof chambered Miller/Offy clones. It just takes longer to fill a flathead cylinder than it does a modern "state-of-the-art" semi-hemi.
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| supereal | -- 12-13-2009 @ 9:27 AM |
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I agree. The stock Ford cam has several advantages. It is designed to provide a wide power band, and is a very tough cam, hardly ever going "flat", even as zinc content of oil is reduced. Aftermarket cams usually peak at higher engine speeds, and require considerable attention to the cfm rating of the carb, if you expect the engine to idle. This is due, mostly, to the increased "overlap", the time both the intake and exhaust valves are open. If you intend to keep the engine stock on the outside, I'd stick with the stock cam. We ran into this in my stock car racing days when we could run anything not visible. Racing cams meant the cars would fly at full throttle, but had a hard time pulling to speed as the green flag went down.
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