I'm in the process of adding a new Edelbrock manifold, heads, and cam to my 85 GT. Since my motor was the first year for the roller cam and last year for the Holley carb I am running into some confusing numbers regarding a cam. I have narrowed my choices to the Edelbrock 3722 roller cam or the E-303 Ford Racing cam. They both have the same duration and lift but say that they will only work with 86 and up EFI engines that have Mass Air Induction. My question is, how does the cam know the difference from a Mass Air EFI to a Holley carb? Crain and Comp Cams say not to worry about it then give me the hard sell trying to get me to buy direct from them. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

The came doesn't know the difference. I'm wondering if the firing order changed on EFI engines. Anyone, Anyone, Bueller?

 

The firing order is the same on all small block Fords.

 

Nope, not all of them have the same firing order.

260/289/302 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8

5.0L H.O. / 351 W 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8

 

i would say it will work fine, just have to get the jetting set correctly for it to run smoothly. carb motor just dont have the computer to automatically adjust for changes. and even the 86-88 computer have a hard time with induction changes. all of the ford motorsport cams E303, B303 etc will work on carb motors. dont know about other manuf. but i would imagine they are comparable

 

Right, the cam doesn't care what sort of induction you have. The firing order is the main concern.

However EFI cams will probably idle a bit smoother. EFI is more sensetive to overlap and reversion into the intake than carbs are.

 

The cam will work fine. I had an '85 GT Cobra(Canadian GT) and installed a '93 HO engine with a E303 cam and kept all the carb stuff on the car. Ran great, never any trouble.

You run into trouble when you get into computer controlled cars that fire the injectors based on the programmed firing order....with a carb it doesn't matter but you do need to have the firing order correct for the camshaft. The HO 5.0 uses the 351W firing order.

 

the warning on the cam is because mustang that have a speed density computer will not run correct with your cam that computer can not measure the amount of air entering the motor. you carb setup will work fine just make sure that you cheack your valve clearnce