I just bought a 66 coupe. I'm what you might consider a "newbie" although i have been learning for a few years now. My car has a rebuilt 302 in it with a 351W cam. I have heard people say that cams from an early 351W can cause you to lose power because of the difference in the firing pattern? Apparently you have to rewire something.....i'm not 100% sure. Does anyone have any advice? Should I have a 302 cam put on?

 

Does it run good now? If it does then just leave it

 

the firing order between the 302 and 351 is different but the 351 uses a better firing order. the late model 5.0's use the same firing order. just keep that in mind whenever you do a tune-up.

 

I think what someone might be claiming and you are thus interpreting as a potential problem is if you replaced the CAM but did not change the firing order. Odds are who ever installed your CAM already did this or you would be noticing some ill affects. All you have to do is verify that your firing order is correct as spec'd on a 351W (that's the re-wiring you speak of) if you are unsure, and as B said, remember that (and pass it on to any future owner) when doing a tune up.

For example if you did not know about this CAM and went and bought all new plugs and wires and relied on a a manual to tell you how to rewire things for a 302 instead of marking the wires or replacing them one a time, then you would suddenly have a problem and a lousy running car instead of a better running car like you'd expect from a tune up.

 

if your FO is off (351 v 302), it will/can run, but so poorly that its hard to misinterpret. The times Ive seen it, the engine shook so badly that it was shut down immediately to find out what was wrong.

Ive read hooey in the past about Ford changing this particular FO because it better distributes the firing pattern on the crank, stops adjacent cylinders from firing consecutively, yada.....Im convinced it is meaningless in 99.9% of real-world situations.

Plus, changing your FO is but a spark-plug wire switcheroo away....
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Bubbler pipe

 

Wow.....thanks for the info guys. I'm sure that whoever put the cam in made the correct adjustments because the car is very fast and runs strong. Thanks again.