Stock Flathead Cam Specs...???

I just tore down a flatty and I think it has the stock cam in it... but I'm not sure. It's at most a regrind because it has the combination of 8ba cast in the middle of the cam. This motor was stuck when I bought it b/c someone decided to store some water in one of the cylinders, but previous to that it had just been rebuilt. I'm hoping to hone or sleeve that cylinder, deck, clean, rering, rebuild and go b/c it's so clean on the inside. Since it's apart, it's now or never for the cam swap. But... if it's been reground... I'm not gonna swap it. I think I measured the base circle successfully and measured the total lift and got a net of @ 0.295" to 0.298" (hard to measure precisely w/ a 12" caliper and 5 beers in...) With some research, it looks like a lot of the aftermarket cams are in the 0.350"-0.365" lift range... making me think mine is stock.

Lemme know your 2 cents...

 

For what it's worth, when I was helping a friend disassemble 20-30 flathead engines, we miked all of the cams to see if we were going to get lucky on any of them. Of the ones that we knew to be factory issue, there seemed to be two valve lifts: .250 and .312.

 

My '49 to '51 truck manual lists the valve lift for a 239ci at 0.328" for both intake and exhaust (with zero lash). The wear limit on the camshaft journals is 1.794", end play at 0.007" to 0.016", and maximum allowable runout at 0.005" measured at the center journal with the ends supported.

Flatman

 

That cam sure looks stock to me.

More than likely, any lift under .300" is stock. I say more than likely, but not always.

Some Weber, Smith-Jones, Clay Smith & Winfield cams had very low lift compared to other cams.

Where they differed over a stock cam was the duration, lobe seperation, and other very important specs regarding performance and cam action.

Most (read-not all) cams from back in the day were regrinds. The cam in the picture does not appear to be reground.

 

I agree... I just wanted verification. I didn't think that 0.300" valve lift was "aftermarket", but I wasn't sure. I read a while back where Bruce Lancaster said the stock cam was pretty much worthless... and it definitely needed to be replaced... I just wanted to know what stock was. I looked on the "flathead specs" page and on fordbarn.com... and couldn't find anything worthwhile.