Steeda Mustang #18 Camshaft - Street/Strip (1985-1995)

Scott Boda here from Steeda Autosports to talk to you about our Steeda #18 Camshaft for your '85 to '95 GT, V8-powered, Ford Mustang. We're talking about the Steeda #18 Camshaft for the Fox Body Mustang. As most of you know, Steeda's been around since 1988, but founder Dario Orlando has been racing all of his life. And it was at that point in the late 1980's that he knew he needed a better Camshaft than the offerings from Ford Racing. He needed something with a split duration. These cylinder heads did not flow very good on the exhaust side. So, he wanted something with a little more duration, which is going to hang that exhaust valve open a little longer to maximize the efficiency of the 302 pushrod V8. So, what he did, was he got with David Bligh at Crane Cams, and he came up with the Steeda #18 camshaft. It offers a lift of 480 with a 1.6 rock run. But if you add a 1.72 that jumps up to a 516 lift and like I did say earlier, it does have a split duration. What that's going to do is try to help the poor-flowing exhaust port to try to maximize your cylinder efficiency. In fact, it was the Steeda #18 cam with our GT40 heads and intake package that allowed the Fox Body Mustang to go into the 11-second range naturally aspirated. And that's all the way back in the 1990s, which is a huge accomplishment! It actually works very good as a blower cam. Once again, we'll go back to that split duration. When we're hanging that exhaust valve open longer, we're trying to help get out that cylinder pressure with a supercharger. You're forcing air into the motor. That extra exhaust duration is really going to help you make more horsepower to those rear tires. The beauty of the #18 shaft is its awesome drivability. It's going to give you that nice lope, that chop that you like to hear. It does have a cam in it, so you hear that lope every time you come into a stop. Feels really nice, sounds good. For the same token, offer you great low End and good high RPM horsepower. We're looking at increases in horsepower from the 3000 to the 6000 RPM range. The ideal buyer for this cam is going to be that individual that wants to get a little bit more out of their car, right? They want to get a little bit more horsepower, they're thinking about adding heads and a cam. These cars came with 225 horsepower stock and only made about 180 to the rear tires. You do a good set of heads and intake on it and add that Steeda #18 cam, and you're guaranteed to make 300 horsepower to the tire through a five-speed transmission. The other thing with this camshaft is it put Dario on the map, not only in road racing but at the drag strip. At the time it was the fastest naturally-aspirated Mustang with a stock bottom end in it. It's something that we still do today, about 32 years later, in our world record-breaking Steeda Silver Bullet. So, what we got behind us here, is the owner's 1993 fox body mustang. I always like to tell people a pretty cool story about this car. It was Valdosta, Georgia, 2018. We were celebrating 30 years of being incorporated. This Absolute gem of a Fox Body rolls into the lot, 64,000 miles. Dario gives us a nudge and says, "Hey. go find out who owns that car." "What do you mean?" He goes, "I need another Fox Body. My first Fox Body was white, and I want another one." And you could tell a clean Fox Body when one rolls by you. 64,000 original miles, two owners on the car. We gave that guy a ride home that day. Dario bought the car on site, put it under our wing, we sent it in the back, did a Cobra 13-inch brake conversion, got a bunch of parts from our friends over at Late Model Restoration. Heads, Intake, Cam package from our friends at Ford Racing with their cylinder heads, an Edelbrock Intake Manifold, and that Steeda #18 camshaft, which I'm sure you want to hear with the camshaft sounds like. So, we'll go ahead and fire up and let you hear what she sounds like! If you liked what you've seen here today, enjoy the content, click subscribe - hit the notification bell, and sign up for all of our social media channels so you can stay up to date on the latest and greatest in Ford Mustang and Ford Performance from Steeda Auto Sports. Remember, Steeda - where speed matters!