302 & 351 cam swap...tech answer needed
 

Can someone please explain exactly why when you interchange cams between a 302 and 351 that the firing order changes.

i dont remeber why but i remeber how. is seems sstrange that a motor , cam swap that you have change the firing order but the change is just cylinders that are 360 degrees away from each other on the crankshaft, and the firing order follows the cam shaft anyways so...

Re: 302 & 351 cam swap...tech answer needed
 

Camshafts are ground to a certain firing order. Do you have any idea how a camshaft works? The camshaft can only work in one firing order (open the valve at the right time for one order of compression and combustion)

The 302 and 351 engines had different firing orders, and thus thier camshafts also had different designs.

The newer 5.0 HO engine uses the 351 firing order, but not the older 302.

Yeah, I know how a camshaft works but someone ask me why the firing orders were different when cams are interchanged between the two engines and I didn't know the exact words to explain it.

Because the different cams were designed for different firing orders. The 351 and the 302 had different firing orders until 1982. Since then, all the HO 5.0's had the same firing order as the 351's.

But who cares. It doesn't make any difference. You can put a 351 cam into any 302, you just have to set the firing order to match it. That's all.

Take care,
-Chris