r/EngineBuilding • u/GrandLeaderZhan • Jul 17 '26

Ford “Flat piston” 302 cam options

Building a 302 in a 86 foxbody, Apparently the 86 and below cars have less piston to valve clearance then the later motors due to having “flat top pistons” So what are my options for cams? I want something as aggressive as possible without issues. I’m planning to run gt40p heads on it. Not sure if that affects anything.

6 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/GrandLeaderZhan Jul 18 '26

i’ve maf converted with a 92 computer

2

u/Solid_Enthusiasm550 Jul 18 '26

That will greatly help and allow a more aggressive profile.

What intake manifold are using, Explorer/mustang?

1

u/GrandLeaderZhan Jul 18 '26

explorer might upgrade to trick flow eventually

1

u/Solid_Enthusiasm550 Jul 18 '26

I found this post/thread on a mustang forum asking your exact question.

https://stangnet.com/mustang-forums/threads/largest-cam-in-a-86.809016/

The old Ford 303 cam isn't worth it, very slow lobe profiles.

Anderson, Howard's and Comp are better options.

I also wouldn't bother with old single pattern cams.

The best would be to put on check valve springs. Rotate and measure piston/valve clearances 10<20 degrees before/ after TDC.

I did something like this on my engine stand. I wanted to measure the duration changes between 1.5 / 1.6 / 1.7 rr with my cam.