New MEL camshafts

[Theo]

With all respect, I think those cams are a bit out dated. What car are you going to put it in? Most MEL cars are pretty heavy with a hungry demand on low end torque. The C60 is O.K.IMHO but the other one C8AX would IMO not represent an ideal mate for a land yacht. The events are too stretched, the overlap to big and the lift too low. 2 1/2 ton cars can't get enough of that short duration, high lift cams that make up for some good low end torque and velocity.
It will probably be fine but not ideal I think. It all depends on where it goes in. BTW I think your idea writing a compatibility chart to the FE / MEL engine parts is a good idea. I don't have too much time these days. We have a section for that here. Let me know if I can be of assistance.

[KULTULZ]

I think we are once again loosing something in the translation Theo. The way I would use a MEL would be as a performance engine in a fairly light chassis. You seem to be concentrating on stock autos of the period. There are needs for upgrades for both.
The cams listed are still good for street useage and once presented to the grinder I'm sure will suggest updates for the events. I myself prefer hydraulic roller, but want something fairly close to the cam I suggested for my own personal use.

Of course, very few of these cams would be suitable for a '58 Premiere. We are talikg hot street here. Remember the '58 Super Marauder? Same chain of thought. You can have a fast heavy car.

[Theo]

I simply forgot that you're looking forward to build a light car. I have to admit that I'm a little focused on street performance. There are various reasons for that which are dictated by a mix of high gas prizes (1,50 $ per liter) and my own personal driving habits. Here's how I calculate my choice of parts. In Germany my personal driving habits are 95% normal stop and go traffic plus 5% Autobahn driving. So, 95% per cent of the time street performance means acceleration from stop light to stop light with occasionally harsh acceleration. That I can achieve best w. the sort of cam I mentioned above or even smaller. There is 5 % Autobahn left which works more than fine w. an even smaller cam in my 4250 lbs T-Bird. That translates into a max. speed of appx. 95 miles/hr. on the Autobahn all day long.
That is way faster than my brakes can take if it comes to a serious situation and way too fast for those lose leaf springed chassis. For my driving habits w. my street T-Bird this slightly bigger than stock cam w. a little more lift is more than sufficient. It wouldn't make sense to have a bigger cam since it would let go acceleration together with a 30 % increase in gas consumption 95% of the time. On the 5 % Autobahn the bigger cam wouldn't give me any advantage too because I have already reached the T-Birds natural speed limits which are dictated by the aerodynamics, its` chassis and its'brakes.
Although this reflects my own personal car and driving habits I could imagine that it won't be any different w. most other enthusiast except that I remember the U.S. traffic to be a lot slower and w. the fuzz being a lot stricter.
I think for most stock MEL cars the RV cam isn't a bad idea. In your case it's different. Let us know once you put your combo together

[alternate]

Respomse by "Mark"

"And yes, I think there would be a lot of interest in these powerplants in street rods and such. Just look how many people this board is drawing out of the woodwork wanting to know more. When I first started studying MEL, there was very little info out there."

Here is one big problem I found, this is a little irrelevant to this thread. When I go to this site on my own computer, I can just click on the link in "my favorite places". When I am at another computer it takes me a long time to find this forum. I tried Lincoln engines, Mercury 430 or 462 and 383 and Edsel, in a bunch of different senarios. I end up going through the FE engine site then clicking on "more auto fourms" then finding it somewhere down the list. I even copied and pasted the title of this forum into the search box in the Network54 home page and it did not come up in the search results. Does anyone know why this is? There may be more people out there with an interest that have not found this site yet. I don't know if it would be worth putting "Ford Mercury Lincoln Engines" somewhere in the title would help. I am not sure what to do about it, but I think it is a concern that should be looked into.

Mark Piechowski
(you know my cars by now)

[alternate]

Respomse by "Mark"

Well, maybe if we keep up all this talking, Edelbrock may cast a set of aluminum heads for the MEL. ummm--------probably not.
Mark Piechowski

[KULTULZ]

I understand they are coming out with 351C heads. Just a modern 4V intake would be something.
As for the search engine failure, maybe Theo has an answer. Just think of all the LINC-MERC-EDSEL-TBIRD owners out there that have no clue as to what is under the hood and how to go about repairing it.

[JimV57]

I had Oregon Cam Grinding just regrind my 430 cam for $70.00

These are the specs I had it reground to:

220/230 @.050", 276/290 advertised, 495" lift with a 112 lobe sep.

I also found new cams here: http://stores.ebay.com/falconsalesestore
They have OEM pistons, cams, master and basic rebuild kits and many other 430 items.

[430 6V]

Sounds like a good cam Jim.

I'm a fan of the split lift/duration cams and have used regrinds on Mel as well as 392 Hemi's with good results so far.

Ford used split duration and lift on the 385 series engines from the factory.

[Theo]

Yep, I too believe that this is a great all around street cam. Smooth idle, some extra torque in the mid RPM Band and good to the springs and rocker arms. Will probably run sweet w. a 650 cfm carb, and won't get too flabby w. a 750 either.
I'd love to see it idle in a video.

[curtmann]

Has anything come of this plan yet???

Curtis