Ok its been a while but I have been doing some thinking since my car ahs sat all winter..... I have a chevy sb 350 with a edelbrock performer intake, and edelbrock 600cfm Carb. the whole list is below in the Signature so Ill make this short...

I am running a RPM Performer Cam Dur 296/300 Lift .539/.548 this motor has stock heads on it, am I running a far to large cam for this car, I want to wake it up not blow it up. Its been in there for a few years but i barely drove it. I now have the money and time to get it right the first time.

I dont have large dreams for this car, well not anymore than the next guy. No drag monster just a nice ride that can schoot when I need to. So should I step down the cam or up the heads and if so how far

Thanks in advance guys any questions you have I will do my best to answer

 

Come on guys I got some money here to get this thing going for the summer, but I just dont want to have the wrong parts in

 

yes. get better heads and less cam. i am personally saving up to get this comp 12-238-2. its an inexpensive hydraulic flat tappet and i can use the stock converter. i should make 400hp.

 

See right now I have a roller in and the last time I had a flat tapped, there is no way to retain it into the block i think my block is newer ill have to get the numbers off it again.... can a flat tap go into a roller

 

oh, i didn't know you had a roller. stay with a roller but yes you can use a flat tappet cam in there. keep the duration @ .050 around 220. you'll like the torque and your ability to cruise at low rpm.

 

Need to get something more mild, and this should be in the tech/general engine area or some other forum section. Keep it a roller and just get something like the 218/224 or 224/230 comp cams. Those are two of the most popular cams out for a 350 and decent streetable performance. Should work with stock heads provided you have the springs and have the valve guides machined down enoughto handle the lift. Since you have a big cam in it now, i assume you have the guides cut down to handle it all.

 

Didn't do anything to the engine at all... just put it in new push rods, and went with it..... it was a few years ago I didnt know much about cars or what to ask, and as for having them worked would i be better off geting new heads to match

 

if i had $$$ i would get the 180cc dart iron eagle heads. i have the 200cc on my race car and i love them. i also am running patriots and vortecs and the darts are the best IMO.

 

What size chamber should I be looking for again remember this isnt a race car, its a crusing car, i just want to be able to snap some necks if need be

 

i would keep the compression around 9.5:1. if you have a stock style dished piston with 0 deck clearance and a .041 head gasket you can use a 64cc chamber.

 

you know, those numbers sound big but you have to remember that the edelbrock grinds are kind of old school, their .050" numbers aren't as big as their advertized numbers seem to indicate. Based on the info that you've given, I'm guessing that you have this cam:
#2205

ENGINE: 283-400 V8 (1987-Later) wide center EFI
RPM RANGE: 1500-6500

Duration at 0.006" Lift: Intake: 296° Exhaust: 300°
Duration at 0.050" Lift: Intake: 234° Exhaust: 238°
Lift at Cam: Intake: 0.359" Exhaust: 0.365"
Lift at Valve: Intake: 0.539" Exhaust: 0.548"
Timing at 0.050" lift: Open Close
Intake: 7° BTDC 47° ABDC
Exhaust: 57° BBDC 1° ATDC
Centerlines: Lobe Separation - 114° Intake Centerline - 110°

Note: Use only stock ratio rocker arms. Use with high stall torque converter only.
********

If that's the case, then it's not _that_ big a cam, and with the 114 LSA it doesn't have that much overlap. If it's already in the car I'd probably look at matching the rest of the setup to that cam. (assuming that this thing doesn't have to pass emissions and is not used as a daily driver for alot of miles, that cam just will not be happy doing that).

That said:
- performer rpm or a single plane intake, at least an open spacer on your intake
- bigger carb, maybe double pumper
- 1-3/4" hooker headers (if you can tolerate the loss in ground clearance, otherwise 1-3/4" shorties)
- healthy exhaust, at least 3" with a straight through style muffler. True duals or better wouldn't hurt
- you don't list a converter... the stall speed depends on the brand and a few other things but you're probably looking for something in the 3000-3500rpm range (make sure that the stall speed ends up below your rpm at normal cruising speed). Really, there is no good way to make this tranny combination really streetable, you'd be better off with a 700r4 or newer OD tranny and something like a yank or PI, even a TCI if you're going cheaper roughly 3600stall lockup converter
- this combination would be happier with 3.73 or steeper gears
- to take advantage of that cam you'll want cylinder heads that flow >205cfm at .500" lift and higher (more is almost always better as long as your port volumes don't go too high), and keep the compression >9.5:1 (something in the >10.5:1 range will be happier but you'll need better gas for that also).

At that point your car will be more drag car than street car... if that's not what you want then you'll have to reconsider your cam and transmission choices.

 

I'm gonna venture to say that if you didnt have new springs installed and checked for the lift of that cam, you may have damaged your pushrods and maybe lifters. Should have had coil bind with that much lift on stock heads.

Then again i'm not sure what "stock" heads you have on that car. I know most heads dont like over .480 lift stock. SOme of the old school heads may beable to handle that out the box.

 

i think I am going to kick the CAm back down and go with edelbrock heads just to give it more room to breath. I have shorty headers, and a 3" exhaust already, though not true duals. I have driven it for two years, and for one of those it was a daily driver, and didnt have any issues, all though I bet by now that its getting weak in the heads so that might be part of my issues.... though no knock or tinks. I use to have a 700r4 int here and the 350 really livened it up but i run a higher RPM cause of no over drive.
Maybe one day ill get another 700r4 and put it back in but not yet.

 

All I want is a cruiser that I can make scream when I need to, I think a smaller CAM and Tranny change out will be a good idea. Although I dont do much highway driving so maybe just a cam change....
I dont want or need a track car, I just want something that looks good, sounds good, and moves good.
I am a little concerned now, I didnt do any work to the Stock heads, and I have this cam in. Could I be doing a ton of damage and not know it?

 

there is no way that cam is in there with stock valve springs/retainers/seals... and something isn't hitting/bent, unless it was never properly adjusted to start with, and even then that would eventually cause damage. Most factory GM stuff is only good for about .470" lift, and you're almost .080" over that

 

Well I have dirven it for two years this way, last year every day, no knocks and if its bent its still running perfect.
I foudn out that the advertised lift and all very from teh actual

ENGINE: 283-400 V8 (1987-Later) wide center EFI
RPM RANGE: 1500-6500

Duration at 0.006" Lift: Intake: 296° Exhaust: 300°
Duration at 0.050" Lift: Intake: 234° Exhaust: 238°
Lift at Cam: Intake: 0.359" Exhaust: 0.365"
Lift at Valve: Intake: 0.539" Exhaust: 0.548"
Timing at 0.050" lift: Open Close
Intake: 7° BTDC 47° ABDC
Exhaust: 57° BBDC 1° ATDC
Centerlines: Lobe Separation - 114° Intake Centerline - 110°

 

You dont need to retain a flat tappet cam into the block. Thats strictly roller stuff

 

My problem was with the flat tapped, the timing chain gear didnt clear the block, it was right up against the block. Maybe there is a diffrent timing chain gear, but either way why swap out now, everything is working fine.

 

quick qus

i've iroc-z with 305

can i change the heads to corvette heads or ls1 heads ???

 

Ok so this is an old revisit, i never got around to getting anything done with the car, now I am taking it apart (motor) because I found debris in the heads. Looks like I destroyed my valve retainers.... so I need a good cam that is going to work with a stock 350 with no work to the heads, money is very tight (as it always is) and I need this for a second set of wheels....
I would like something that sounds aggressive, but I don't need a monster. Sorry if i caused offense to anyone, but it never gave me an issue, I just happened to check the heads and find all the trash in there.

So its cam hands down because of cost.... now this is going to be a daily driver, but I want some performance out of it, so MPG is going to matter more than HP going back and forth to college...

I need some real serious advice..... I can not decide which way to go with this, I have the ok and funds to do what needs to be done.

 

MPG and "sounds aggressive" are at odds, you can have either, not both...