TBITrucker

Can anyone tell me if I should use this cam.

I had asked a while back what would be a good cam for my carbed 305 daily driver. I was told try an RV cam. I mentined this to my buddie and his dad. His dad had a comp cams 12-231-2 that he bought for his blazer. The blazer had a 305. The truck burned in a garage fire so the cam never went in. Its a cam and lifter set and its free! Should I use it? or is it too much of an RV cam?

I have a 305 with a 650 cfm carb, performer rpm intake, headers, 601 heads performance exhaust and a new distributor and a msd box for an 88 plain jane camero with stock gears and rear end(3.42 I think)and stock converter.

What do you think?

Auggie

Well, I don't know the spec's of the cam you have in your engine now but I say "yes" use it. The cam and lifters retails for $228. The spec's are as follows:

Gross valve lift = I.432 E.453
Adv. Duration = I250 E258
Dur. at .050 = I206 E214
Lobe lift = I.288 E.302
Int. centerline = 107
Lobe Sep. = 111

Auggie

DuronClocker

iTrader: (1)

I didn't look too far into it but I didn't see anything say "roller" on CompCams site. Like I said, I didn't look through the catalog to be sure about it, but I just saw "hydraulic" which I'm assuming to be a hydraulic flat tappet setup. If your 305 is an '88 L03 like in your signature, you have a roller block and should use a hydraulic roller cam.

Auggie

I think you are right. I missed that Thanks. Take the cam and lifters and put them on e-bay. You may be able to get enough money for a new roller cam.

Auggie

DuronClocker

iTrader: (1)

I happen to have a roller cam with lifters sitting in my garage from my 305 CompCams 210*/220* and .500"/.510" lift. The lift is a bit high for stock heads, but I don't know if your engine is 100% stock or not.

TBITrucker

I should change my sig.!

The engine in the car now is a roller TBI 305 but I am replacing it with a carbed 305 motor.

The block is from an '86 so it is not a roller cam motor.
I don't know what cam is in it now. It is the cam the rebuilder put in. It is probably a stock replacement type.

Auggie

Yank that cam outta there and look for some markings or numbers. Maybe we can identify it.

Auggie

TBITrucker

I took the cam sprocket off.

There is a symbol? on it that looks like a forign letter or maybee the & sign?! and the number 37

I have not pulled it yet because I am looking for someplace to put the lifters so they don't get mixed up.

If I put this cam in a different motor (once I yank it) I can re-use the lifters as long as I put them back on the same lobes right? Just wondering because if my 88 motor has bad heads like I think it does, I have a set of '70's smog heads and a q-jet and q-jet intake I could put on that motor and maybee sell it for a few hundred.

Auggie

Right.

Auggie

Apeiron

In the same engine maybe. In a different engine I wouldn't take the chance. Lifters are cheap enough that it's not worth it.

Auggie

What would be the differance of putting it in the same block or in a differant block? The cam and lifters wouldn't know the differance.

Auggie

Apeiron

Unless both blocks were blueprinted, you don't know if the cam and lifter bores are in the exact same relative positions in both blocks.

Auggie

That is true but I and I am sure a lot of other people have done it without any problems. When your on a buget sometimes you have to take a chance

Auggie

Apeiron

What costs less, doing it the wrong way once and then the right way, or just doing it the right way in the first place?

If it doesn't work, you won't just lose the lifters, you'll lose the cam as well, and all the bearings when the glitter makes its way through the engine.

Auggie

OK, all that I am saying is that I have done this on three differant times and them engines are still running. People buy used cams and lifters all the time with very good luck. I haven't looked but I bet you could go to e-bay and there would cams and lifters for sale. If funds are short sometimes you just have to take a chance.

Auggie

iroczracer07

iTrader: (2)

These Specs Are For The Cam your buddy gave you when it's

Installed At 107 Intake CL
Intake Exhaust Duration At 0.05 206 214
Lobe Lift 0.288 0.302
Lobe Separation 111

As for the swapping of the lifters between blocks, are you thinking about putting the roller lifters in the non-roller block you got? If you are, forget about it. The non-roller block won't have the bosses for installing the lifter spider in the lifter valley. Without it your roller lifters will not be secured like they're supposed to be. This will cause some valvetrain problems that you don't want. The cam your buddy gave you is a hydraulic grind so it will work in a non-roller cam block without a problem. The lift on the intake valve with 1.5 ratio rockers is 0.432. The exhaust will be 0.453. This is a pretty decent cam. The intake centerline is a little tight for my liking, but it'll be a nice cam. The lobe seperation angle wouldn't be liked by fuel injection, but a carb would really respond to it. Hope this helps you out.

ME Leigh

You can reuse a roller cam, but reusing a flat-tappet cam is just stupid and asking for trouble. Of course you can find cams and lifters for sale on ebay. You can also find a bunch of other worthless junk.

Never reuse a flat-tappet cam in a different motor no matter how many miles are on it. The parts have worn togther specifically for that application and motor. Once you put them in a new home they will wear differently and the parts will be gone.

Auggie

Well OK, this is my last word on this subject because I am not going to convince you and your not going to convince me. The reason that I say this can be done is #1 experiance and #2 is the valve sp. pressure on a stock 305. Pressure closed = 76-84. Open = 194-206. Now that is not a lot of pressure and the main reason that this swap can and is done often

Auggie

Lo-tec

Still running or still running with a couple of wiped lobes??

My stock L69 ran fine with a couple of wiped lobes. Not to be a complete cheap ***, but lifters are cheap, and for the cost of redoing the job (not counting the cam you will have to replace), just get a new set. I've reused a hydraulic cam, but went ahead and got new lifters and broke it in. I think a full set of "name brand" ones costs $60. Theres cheap and then theres cheap.

Auggie

Well, I do all my owen work so I guss guys like you with the big bucks just bring it into a shop and say fix it.

Auggie

8Mike9

Geez, give Auggie some slack...not like (I'm sure) he bought a used cam and a bucket full of lifters and said "geez, hope it all works out".

I've done exactly what he's done, not over the internet though, but with guy's I knew and had no issues.

Auggie

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you

Auggie

Lo-tec

If I came on here and had big bucks , do you think I would even post about this cheapo used cam swap?

And as far as I know, owen works in my garage. (the "e" is silent, not used in the spelling i.e "own")

...and I have done this more than once. Just not with used lifters.

Ray87Z

To answer the basic question I think that cam would work great in the 86 305, provided it doesn't already have a better cam in it.

It's a heck of alot better than the peanut cam and will provide a massive power increase if it indeed still has the stock peanut in it now. I ran a very similar cam i (204/214 dur, lift of .420/.442) n 86 IROC's 305 TPI and it worked quite well IMO. It couldn't hurt to swap out the valve springs for some cheap under $50 "Z28" valve springs or something similar while you're at it though, cheap insurance...

ME Leigh

I know it can be done. Is it smart, hell freakin no. You car will still run will all the lobes wiped out, so that means absolutely freakin ****.

Auggie

Man you have nothing smart to say so now your picking on my spelling???

Auggie

8Mike9

C'mon guys, back in the "the day". GM had like 3 machines that did all the work on all the blocks...abut a third came out bad (after all the use) with bad lifter bores, etc...doa search on "The Problem"...chances are though you had a 2 out of 3 chance when you did a swap, it would be okay, or a 1 out of 3, depending on how you look at it...most of the bad machining of the lifter bores/etc, showed up on the original engines, those are probably long since scrapped and made into your favorite flavor of jackstand by now.

Yes, smart/best thing to do is buy everything new...

Problem is the average enthusiast can't, so is always looking for a deal.

I very well remember the days of being 16/17/18/19 when minimun wage was under 3 bucks an hour...the choice of parts and information was so much less than it was today...so we had a choice of used for 25 bucks, or new for 200.

Whatcha gonna do? Let the car sit for 6 months until you scarped together the funds to put it together?

Naw, rely on your buds who were swapping things out and grab thier left overs. Everything workd out well then...why not now?

Back on topic though...original poster is talking about a new/unused piece..so all of this really isn't helping the guy out.

But I'm having fun

Auggie

Me too

Auggie

iroczracer07

iTrader: (2)

I thought everything was new. Didn't he say his buddy's dad bought the cam with the intention of installing it, but due to a fire the install never happened?

Auggie

Reread post #8.

Auggie

iroczracer07

iTrader: (2)

OOPS!! My bad,lol.