Hi guys,Im new to the board!!I could use your help.My dad picked up a free truck from his buddy at work.The truck(an 84 Chevy)belonged to his wifes father and had 72k on the clock.It had rounded a cam and during replacement,I guess in trying to find tdc,he bumped the starter and broke off a punch in the cylinder,I guess he gave up on it and gifted it to my old man.After talking to dad we decided to swap in the engine from my old 84 Trans Am.The engine is a Component Machine short block with rebuilt HO heads.The engine was originally behind a 5peed and the cam I was running in the T/A has made the truck a dog.I would guess that the shortblock didnt have the flat tops so I have about an 8.5 comp ratio?The big question is,what cam will respond best with this combo?I have a performer and a performer rpm,the carb is one of the new summit 600s(kinda like a Holley 4010),the RPM is on it now and with the current cam it screams from about 3k-6500k,(it has heddman long tubes and 2.5" exhaust with recycled Thrush 27" glass packs with turn downs).Im looking to get it all in by 5-5500.I have an extra elec fan from an 86 T/A that Im gonna install with some left over under drive pulleys.It has something like 3.08s now,but I bought him a 2004r for Christmas and I would like to get some 3.73s or 4.10s under it to help with pulling a light trailor. I was thinking about an XE250 or XE256?What do you guys think?Sorry for the long post.

 

That's a wall of txt i don't feel like reading, just get an lt1 cam and heads and have it tuned. should run like a top.

 

XE250 or similar would work fine. Even the "top of the page cam" (smallest aftermarket cam) is going to bigger than the "penut cam" that 305 came with originally.

Another option if you're looking to do things on the cheap is the Summit house brand K1102 kit. It's exactly the same cam as the Edelbrock Performer but sold by Summit. It's 204/214* @ .050 on a 112* LSA so it's roughly equivalent to the L69 HO cam, maybe half a notch more aggressive. Nothing that wouldn't work well in a dished-piston 305. Plenty of low end torque, pulls good up to about 5500. It'll even work with stock valve springs if you aren't planning to upgrade yours.

And you can't argue with the price- $90 including a set of lifters.

I've used Summit house brand cams several times over the years and they've all worked just fine. In fact, I have the slightly larger K1103 in my mild 383 blower motor right now!

 

I've got a summit 1102 in the 305 that's in my old truck. Sounds good and runs fine. It doesn't seem to be robbing the engine of bottom end torque, but I really didn't compare it to anything else. Idles fine and lopes just enough to sound cool.

Since it's in front of a powerglide, highway gears and suburban wheels and tires, it's hard to brag about tire-roasting performance.

 

I agree, the XE250 would be a great fit

With a compression ratio of 8.5:1 you don't want to get a cam that has a lot of valve overlap reducing your dynamic compression ratio.

 

Crane 272H10 ran very well in a 9:1 305 when advanced 4*. Towed like a beast on the highway and pulled really well around 2,500 rpm through 5,500.

 

I ran an Erson TQ20 in a low compression smog motor(1975 Impala), but it was a 350. It changed the car dramatically. I installed it 4* advanced and it made that car come alive. The car weighed in at 4500 pounds and it would fly away from a traffic light. It had a really smooth idle and plenty of vacuum. I remember advancing the distributor an extra 4 or 5 degrees too to make it happy. Kind of like the TPI it ran out of steam when the revs got much above 4500 RPM, but like the TPI it was a tire-roasting torque monster down low. I couldn't believe it was the same engine, neither could any of my friends.

 

I'm running the Crane 2050 cam in my T/A, just a little more lift and duration on the exhaust compared to the 272H10 cam.

 

Will the GMPP 350HO springs work with the xe256h?I have a set with low miles if theyll work,thanks for the responses,I appreciate it!

 

I think so. They should be the same diameter and take the same installed height as your stock ones. I have no idea how much stiffer they would be than stock, but probably a little better, I would guess.

If in doubt, a set of Comp 981-16 springs works with almost any mild flat tappet performance cam in stock factory heads. A drop-in upgrade. Reuse all your existing valves, locks and retainers (yes, even the factory rotator-retainers used on the exhaust valves).

 

I have a HO TBI 305 out of a 91 Camaro i'm putting in my 87 Camaro. I have those same valve springs already installed in my heads. I have brand new roller lifters...everything is ready to go. I'm just needing a cheap way out on a cam. Summit gave me a part number to a $300 comp cam. I'm running stock everything just wanting a mild cam & then work my way up...any suggestions?

 

Roller cams are allot more expensive. I have no idea why, it can't be any harder to manufacture one. I built the 305 in my truck with a regular cam and hyd. lifters just to keep it cheap and get it running. I'd like to swap it to a roller setup later, but I've got allot of other more important things to "fix" first.

Working your way up is going to be expensive if you start at the bottom. I suggest learning as much as you can right now and then picking one size bigger than you think you need. A cam in your 305 will act like "more cam" than the same cam installed in a 350.

 

The material and heat treatment for roller cams is different than flat tappet cams. Plus you can get more duration "at lift" (not the numbers you see advertised) with a roller cam than a flat tappet cam because the angle of lobe face can be more aggressive than what a flat tappet can handle.

 

I didn't know that they were any harder than any other cam, in fact I thought that would be less critical. I understand that they typically have more aggressive ramps, but that doesn't necessarily make it cost any more to manufacture. I think it's more a matter that the market will bear it for the performance increase, and less that they really cost more to make.

 

I never ran this motor before I tore it apart...I have an HO? 305 out of a 91 camaro it has a TBI setup on it,but now sure if it was OEM. I do know that it is a roller motor. I'm getting the block bored .30 & had 981-16 Comp Cam valve springs installed in my heads after I had them worked. I have the whole rebuild kit & new roller lifters. I'm wanting a cheap solution to a cam that I can add heads & more mods to later that will work fine with everything factory for now. Would an lt1 cam that is aftermarket work? I think it is some around .520 lift

 

The LT1 doesn't have that much lift. I believe it's more like 447/459.

 

no it's an aftermarket cam out of an lt1...any suggestions?

 

Is this your daily driver?

 

My bad. Missed the aftermarket part.

 

If that was true the flat tappet cams years back would have been costly too which they were not. I've ran a solid roller cam in our 67 Camaro for racing and they are just as expensive as the hyd. roller cams. I don't know what the difference is between the two but I do know that they are heat treated differently and have different materials in the blank before the grind the part.

 

I've ran a 218/218 cam from Lunati for the longest time on my old na 305, will never go with anything smaller than that in terms of duration, as it is very easy to tune for, and provides excellent throttle response and overall power...

 

It wasnt soggy on the bottom end?I was looking at the 246PE(203/212 .429/.438)and the 252H(206/206 .425/.425).I really dont want to give up to much down low,thats what Im dealing with now,its really gutless and not much fun.

 

The summit 1102 is in the same vicinity as what you are looking at, but allot cheaper. 204I 214E @.050 lift and .420I .442E total valve lift with 112* LSA. It's the same pattern as an edelbrock performer plus cam.

 

Not at all, I ran it a long time ago in my old naturally aspirated '86 Z28 with LG4 engine, stock heads and bottom end, installed the Lunati 218/218 on a 110 LSA, with Holley 600 w/vacuum secondaries w/carb adapter, stock transmission with stock stall, stock open ended (non posi) rear w/2.73 gears, and I still netted a decent 2.09 sixty foot on crappy street tires, running a high 14's with 91-mph trap. After the run we discovered that not only were the secondaries having a problem getting sufficient fuel (used carb), but the chip was locking the timing because the connectors to the original CC quadrajet weren't hooked up, so we fixed that problem by fixing the float level in the carb, and throwing in a distributor with vacuum advance, then ran it again the same night about an hour and a half later. Now fixed, the car just wouldn't hook up anymore off the line as I kept spinning the tires repeatedly, which should have given me much better times. That Lunati cam was very good for off idle to about 5000-RPM, and still pulled very well beyond that. I never had a chance to run it with a decent stall speed and drag radials though...

 

no I also have a chevy truck...this camaro is just for weekends & burnouts

 

The 1102 is cheaper and that may be the deciding factor.Both of the Comps have a tighter 110 lsa,I was thinking that may help with the torque and throttle response,what do you think?

 

Typically 112 will actually help more with torque and initial throttle response since the lobe separation is greater to reduce valve overlap if the duration numbers are the same compared to a 110* LSA.

Due to restrictive lift angels on flat tappet lifterss there comes a point with the increase of duration and lift numbers,e you can't help but get into more valve overlap and choppy idle.

 

Fwiw, in my carb 350 I've run the Comp xe262 directly after the 1103 generic cam, no other changes besides 981 springs. Went from lazy to peppy in the low end, and noticeably better acceleration right thru to 5k (high as I take this old bottom end). For the extra $100 or so, go for the better more modern grinds - XE, Voodoo etc.