Im not to expecienced in picking cams. what do you guys think would be a good cam for my combo. currently i have:

400 SBC bored .060 over. World product S/R Torquer heads (2.02/1.60 valves) Edelbrock performer RPM intake, 750CFM vacuum secondary Holley, Also going to be spraying a 125 Shot of nitrous as well..Havent bought a Stall converter yet as i will after i choose a good cam.

I have a built TH350 trans, long tube headers and 3:27 posi gear out back

This still needs to be a street car as that is where it will get most of its use with going to the track 5 or so times a year. What are your opinions?? im also running a flat tappet cam. Cant afford a roller setup at the moment..

 

Anyone???

 

How much do you drive this street car on the street? How much converter are you willing to go with and is keeping teh 3.27 gear set an issue?

Also do you want a nitrous grind so that its optimum for the juice or do you want the cam to be picked based on the motor combination alone?

Something with roughly 230* of duration at .050" is likely in your ballpark.

 

c/r? i'm going to be running a 234/244 .488/.510 in my car and i'm running way less cubes than you and the car will probably see more street time....10.2:1 c/r 360 with 10" ATI converter and a 4.10 gear

with yours i might look into a 224/234 cam or something along those lines.

 

EEEeeeewwwwww... the Edelbrock RPM cam....

mw, your car would run better with ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE in it, than that. You might think it runs OK now, and it really might; but I guarantee, no matter how good it runs now, it would run a whole lot better with some one of the cams designed in the last 30 years or so, instead of that ancient generic one.

406, I suggest a Comp XE274 for your 400, with 1.6 roller rockers. I had one of those in a 400 I had, and it was excellent.

 

well...the one i'm looking at is advertised as a Summit cam...and is only $80 for cam/lifters...and that is DEFINITELY a factor in my cam selection at this point....if for some reason i come up with some extra cash, the XE274H cam that i just swiped will go back in the motor.

 

Yup, buying that as a "Summit" cam is the more economically sensible way of not optimizing a motor. Edelbrock just charges more for their name on the same thing. Who knows, if you check around, you might even be able to get the same cam from Melling, Badger, AMotion, Professional Products, Crane (Blue Racer), Erson, or somebody else like that, cheaper even than Summit.

But I'd urge you not to do that. The $50 or whatever you save, will get ate up fast in the costs of taking the motor back apart and putting something decent in it, when disappointment sets in; not to mention wasted gas in the meantime.

The problem with that old cam, is that it gives you all the "huge cam" problems like low vacuum, poor idle, terrible gas mileage on the street, etc.; but relatively few of the "huge cam" benefits, like lots of power. Or put another way, any modern cam that gives the same results in engine output, extracts much less of a penalty in all those driveability issues, than that old thing from back in the days before you could buy valve springs that could control a cam with real ramps, without having to take out a 2nd mortgage.

 

hmmm...we've had GREAT success with older style grinds in a few motors we've built. went 10.8's in a monza equiped with the torker II cam AND intake...went 13.0's with a 305 with a 214/224 .442/.465 cam. those cams have been around a LONG time. and it's more like $110 that i'm saving, not $50. (that's big money when you make $7/hr)

have you ever run this cam or are you just talking because of something you heard?

 

wait, you already have a 274 cam? couldn't you just get summit lifters for $70, instead of buying the summit cam/lifters for $80?

 

swiped=killed 3 cam lobes.

 

I built a motor or 2 with it back when it was a bit newer.... never was impressed with the results. A Comp 230/.480" would slaughter it. It's been too long to remember specific times and stuff, since they weren't my own motors; but I can tell you, people figured it right out, that if you ran that, you'd get killed by somebody with something better.

The usual reason for wiping out cam lobes is something to do with valve springs. Especially the bigger XE cams. Extra installed height is your friend; and at least one step more spring than the bare minimum recommended, is a pretty good idea too, with the XE274. I ran it with either 986 or 987 springs, I forget which, set up at 1.80".

 

i ran it with the springs comp recommended...i installed it 90* advance on accident...that's how i swiped it, all the intake valves were tapping the tops of the pistons....trust me, i've already kicked myself PLENTY of times. i'm out of money and have no car right now, so i'm just trying to get it back together quickly and still have a car that will get up and go...again, if i come across the extra cash, i'll be buying another XE274 cam, but right now, i'm broke as a joke and owe lots of money.

 

I would run a moderate solid flat tappet cam if the car is a weekend car. Can't go wrong with the XE274 either.

BTW did you get the cylinder walls sonic checked to go .060? I am working on a 400 at this moment. The ridge on the top wouldn't clean up at .025 but did nicely at .028 so a 406 is what I will have. Machinist was worried about going .040 and said that was about the limit on a 400sbc.

 

That might be a problem....

Hope you get it handled.