does anybody know what the ex274 is like on the street like for daily driving, right now i run the xe268 and its not so bad but im upgrading the heads and want to go with a bigger cam too. my goal is to hit 8's in the 1/8 mile. right now i run 10's with 882 heads and freeway gears. i got 3.73's waiting to go in next weekend i think any way any info would be appreciated.

 

What heads? what pistons?

What converter?

I ran that cam for a while, but in a bigger motor than yours with fairly high compression and a T-5. It ran like a scalded dog. I rather liked it.

 

i dont think its too big, after i get a few initial bugs ironed out, ill be running a XE294 on the street

 

XE274 is great for a street 350. Gas milage kinda sucks. Even with 200cc runner heads mine has great low end which makes it nice for just cruising down the road, and will idle around town all day in traffic.

 

When cams start getting in the 250*-260* @.050 they start to be a bit much for everyday driving but if its a weekend car it doesnt matter as long as you dont care about a high stall speed and no gas milage.
My old car:
80 camaro 454 12.5-1 compression 268* 272* .670 roller 1050 carb 4.10 gear 4500 stall best et 10.33 @130 mph weekend driven 3-4 mpg

 

3-4mpg eh? HOLY COW!!! hahaha, yea, weekend driven is right, haha, that's your gas budget for the month right there! just barely make it from station to station eh?

 

First I am going to answer your initial question. The XE-274 is a very streetable cam when in a properly matched combo. I had it in a 305, pulling a 5,500# G20 with a 700r4 and 3.08 gears. It was slightly doggy in OD cruising 60 MPH, but a little more throttle and a down shift into 3rd felt ALOT stronger than the stock "929" cam that was in it. Fuel mileage was not too bad, the power brakes worked fine, torque was good right off idle, and it pulled the A/C and power steering fine.

The 882s, stock LG4 manifolds, and stock LG4 exhaust will never support it properly. Without good flow through the rest of the combo, all you will do is make the idle rougher, lose peak torque, and raise the RPM for peak HP/TQ.

10s? With a carbed 350? Ouch! Is this the car in your sig?

I would like to see your timeslips? Something is not right here! What is your 60' time? Do you run at Kennedale? Denton? Redline? How are you hooking? I mainly do Kennedale as it is only 15 miles from Hurst. Its a slick SOB on street nights though due to, too many people driving through the water box on street tires. Sunday afternoon, I was running 11.50s (Fullsize Van w/ 350 TBI(Stock 193s & "929" cam)/700r4/3.08s) until they wet down the water box, then the track turned to crap (best was 11.41 @ 59.93). Next time I am confident that I will run 10s. With all the water on the track, I ran a 13.033 @ 57.58 pedaling out of the hole and spinning through 2 gears.

 

at kennedale it runs 10's its got headers and true duals and a performer rpm intake

 

Ive got that same cam (see sig for motor details). The only problem I have with it as far as daily driving is it would be better for an auto. I personally dont like driving decent sized-cam'd motors with a stick. But my car isnt a street car. I love it though, tremendous low end. I got 3.70s and itll smoke em through 3rd no problem.

 

I run the 268XE in a 355 with about 8.3:1 CR. It was the first SBC I had ever assembled, and I didn't know any better- When I talked to COMP I told them it was a 9.5:1 engine, that's probably why the advised the 268XE.

But anyway with that cam and bone stock 882 heads (engine was yanked from a rust gutted '74 Malibu, rebuilt with cast flat tops, no decking no torque plate hone) and a Wieand intake, Hedman shortys and really crappy crush bent exhaust it runs low 14's in a shortbed standard cab S10 with 3.73's and a real mild converter. Best of 14.12@97. Fortunately the truck is light at 3200lbs, I'd think it would be a real dog under 2,000 rpm in a heavier vehicle.

I have more cam than I have heads to flow with, the cam is rated to 5800 and the 882's crap out about 5g's.

 

can you elaborate? This is my first high perf motor, with a bit of cam, 224/230, and a stick, and i'm wondering if the "weirdness" is just cam "woes" or tuning..?
Just wondering what it'd do, and specifically in a stickshift.

 

I have experienced this as well. When you get a little cam in them, they start to buck and jerk a little at lower RPMs. The automatics converter absorbs alot of this. After a while, it just gets annoying on a daily driver. BTW, lock-up style converters transmit this jerk as well.

 

rrrrreeeeeaaaaaaaalllllllyyy????
I have that, and I thought I just couldn't tune worth sh***.... hmm, can anyone else confirm this? I just want to know if that's normal in a medium sized cam like a xe268...
Particularly cruising through a parking lot, it looks like i'm learning to drive a stick, and boy it's kinda embarassing considering i've built the engine, and done most of a "frame off" on this car...

 

My combo:

- 350" sbc
- Holley 650 DP (4150)
- RPM air gap
- MSD ignition
- Hedman 1-5/8" shorties
- #601 heads, 1.94/1.50 valves (11:1 CR)
- XE274 cam
- Comp ProMagnum 1.52 rockers

I like it... its got a bit of a rough idle, but it starts easy, gets 14" vacuum at 800rpm idle, doesn't really seem to use much more fuel than my old combo did, which used a noticeably tamer cam and less compression.

I do however, use a 4-spd manual trans and 3.23 rear end. It works just fine with these, but would really be happier with more gear... like a 3.73 or 4.10 gear set. I like driving it with a manual trans alot, but you do knda have to get used to keeping the rpm a little higher to keep the motor happy. It doesn't really like cruising at 1000 rpm anymore... happier around 1500 or more.