Largest cam in 351W without cutting the pistons (Looking at AFR185s)

[Fox Body]

Originally posted by HotRoddin
No ... Most of the time there are way to many variables ...Cam timing ? Valve size ? Deck clearance? Has the block been milled ? Whose pistons ? Which model of that companies piston ? There are so many combinations of heads/pistons/rod length/pin height/stroke/valve sizes that the most he would likely be able to do is give you a maybe ? or a probably not.
By the way ... 82GT i hope the 3rd time is a charm because you ended up with the same cam as me. Mine is still just a pile of parts so i can't tell you how it works

I understand what you're saying, to a point HotRoddin, but all the stuff on my motor is stock. Stock valves, stock ol' '87 351W deck, non-milled head, stock pistons (never removed -- didn't need to be when I got it rebuilt, it was in such good shape), stock rods, stock stroke, stock crank, etc, etc. Anyway its still a thing where even if they tell me it'll fit, I'd definitely have to check it anyway, so.....

82 GT when you got the pistons flycut, I'm assuming that the motor was already removed and you brought it in to a shop, perhaps with the heads already off the block? I think the other week I was seeing some kind of tool that allows you to notch the pistons without removing the motor from the car (i dunno, maybe I'm wrong). That is still a good price though. I'm gonna look into it.

86GT, I already have the intake I need, but you bring up a good point. If I have to pull the motor to notch the pistons, and they have to remove the pistons, I'm gonna tell them to go ahead and put in new bearings, new rings.... I need to look into a cam a little. If there is one that could be more suitable than the one I have now, even though the one I have now I think is suitable, I guess I could do better...

As far as dremeling out notches, uuuuuuuuhhhhh, I dunno. I don't know if I'd want to do that myself. Reason being is that the pistons need to be really smooth so no hot spots develop and negatively affect combustion (predetonation, variances in compression per cylinder, etc). Maybe it's easier than I think it is, don't know. Picturing it in my head just doesn't look good . ....but that's just my inexperience....