Hi, Just finished the cam install to replace the peanut on an 88 T/A 305 Auto. Replaced it with comp cams 08-408-8. I Know. too much cam, but I screwed up on the first one I ordered and had the car apart- all I could get @ short notice. lift is .480/.487 dur @ .050 is 206/212 sep 110deg. I started the car last night (with the valves improperly adjusted) and it ran fine. Adjusted the valves this morn, started it- sounded like it was running not on all 8 cyl- adjusted the timing- got better- then took it for a small drive- died just before I pulled in the driveway- check engine light, etc. NOW WON'T START, just kind of backfires through the exhaust. what happened? could my new chain have jumped a tooth or something? sorry for the long post, but I'm lost.

 

Sounds like the distributor is loose, and your timing has retarded itself about 100°.

That's not really too much cam, it should work OK I would expect.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

That is pretty much the cam comp recomended for my 305, I wouldnt think its too big. I would check that dist w/ a light...same type of thing happened on a friends firebird after we did a cam change.
Keep us posted on how its running once you get the bugs worked out!
Good luck

 

Checked everything, and all looks okay. I have just taken the whole thing apart and am currently in the process of putting it all back together. With anyluck the thing will run better than this morning. Otherwise I'll be back with many many more question. If anyone has any ideas about what went wrong ???? Thanks Jeff

 

Rotor look ok?

 

SOLVED! It turned out to be the valves being adjusted wrong. What a relief. Pulls ALOT better at upper RPM now. Still haven't played with the timing, etc. have it set @ 6 deg BTDC. also, the idle in park is perfect, and at about 650 or so, but in Park in tends to hunt a little up and down sometimes, even stall. Any suggestions for this, or should I just crank the idle up?

 

In a lot of cases a bigger cam requires a bit more idle speed. My engine did and I have less of a cam than you do.
bsa