Twisted wedge 170s on 302 ford question

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rewguy
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Twisted wedge 170s on 302 ford question

Post by rewguy »

Stock bottom end 302, w tw 170 runner heads. Older version. NOT the 11r. Ok. We are bowl blending the heads, and doing a valve job. General touch up work and trying to make the heads as good as they can be without making them too large. Somewhere around 270cfm to 280cfm at .600 is the goal. The engine now has a carb, and an airgap dual plane intake. I've been scouring the ford forums trying to find what people have found to be the largest camshaft that can safely be run. 224@.050 is a number that gets thrown around alot. The TF stage 2 cam is spoken of. Max power with what we have is the only consideration. We want to keep max rpm at about 6700rpm. Notching factory pistons is not an option for us. Does anyone have first had experience with this? We realize that we may need to jostle the cam timing around a bit to get acceptable clearance in both sides with. Any space left over will be milled off of the heads. Thankyou.
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Re: Twisted wedge 170s on 302 ford question

Post by Chris_Hamilton »

rewguy wrote: Thu Dec 01, 2022 3:17 am Stock bottom end 302, w tw 170 runner heads. Older version. NOT the 11r. Ok. We are bowl blending the heads, and doing a valve job. General touch up work and trying to make the heads as good as they can be without making them too large. Somewhere around 270cfm to 280cfm at .600 is the goal. The engine now has a carb, and an airgap dual plane intake. I've been scouring the ford forums trying to find what people have found to be the largest camshaft that can safely be run. 224@.050 is a number that gets thrown around alot. The TF stage 2 cam is spoken of. Max power with what we have is the only consideration. We want to keep max rpm at about 6700rpm. Notching factory pistons is not an option for us. Does anyone have first had experience with this? We realize that we may need to jostle the cam timing around a bit to get acceptable clearance in both sides with. Any space left over will be milled off of the heads. Thankyou.
I think the 224@.050 recommendation is for the stock EFI of the 87-93 5.0s. At least that's what I remember from the old days. But it could also mean in relation to P/V clearance. What do you mean by "safely"? PV clearance or a good idle? I had a set of those heads (first gen) many many years ago (1995??) on a 91 5.0. Used the E303 camshaft from Ford Motorsport. The old guide was that you could run up to a .550 lift camshaft without notching the pistons. We did the clay test on mine and it had enough clearance with 1.6 rocker arms. Biggest issue I had with those heads were the valve guides. Ended up replacing them. That and getting the geometry correct. I think Mike Jones would be the guy to talk to about a cam. He could guide you better than most.

This cam is what TFS now recommends as the largest you can run without notching the pistons.
https://treperformance.com/i-653-tfs-st ... -351w.html
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Re: Twisted wedge 170s on 302 ford question

Post by EDC »

Carbed stock 302 with TW 170 heads... done plenty of them.

Not sure why you want the "biggest" camshaft rather than the profile that works. :-s
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or you can get it a hell of a lot cheaper, when it's already been through the horse.

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frnkeore
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Re: Twisted wedge 170s on 302 ford question

Post by frnkeore »

I have to note, that they don't give a ICL or are they saying it should be set at 112 ICL?

ICL can make a difference on PV clearance.
289nate
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Re: Twisted wedge 170s on 302 ford question

Post by 289nate »

Be careful when you’re listening to cam recommendations that are for the super long runners of the EFI 5.0L engine.

EDC/Ed Curtis has probably done cams for more combos like you are talking about than anyone here. Been doing it for decades now. Everything from the twisted wedge heads on 302 engines in class racing efforts, street/strip as well as daily drivers. He has handled the cam and valvetrain for my current street/strip 306 that is coming together. Different cylinder head and a fair bit more rpm though. So my cam specs would not apply to your combo.
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Re: Twisted wedge 170s on 302 ford question

Post by In-Tech »

289nate wrote: Thu Dec 01, 2022 7:15 pm Be careful when you’re listening to cam recommendations that are for the super long runners of the EFI 5.0L engine.

EDC/Ed Curtis has probably done cams for more combos like you are talking about than anyone here. Been doing it for decades now. Everything from the twisted wedge heads on 302 engines in class racing efforts, street/strip as well as daily drivers. He has handled the cam and valvetrain for my current street/strip 306 that is coming together. Different cylinder head and a fair bit more rpm though. So my cam specs would not apply to your combo.
Yes, long runner cams are a whole different world, doesn't matter Ford/Gm or whatever.
Heat is energy, energy is horsepower...but you gotta control the heat.
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