Hey I searched the answer but found nothing usefull I was curious as to what the best cam to use with a near stock 305 running Edlebrock performer intake eps, Edlebrock 600 cfm carb, Header back exhaust with no cats, The engine is Pre-87 and I dont want to do alot of work and dont want pay over 200 for the cam and lifters, Hydraulic Flat tappet is best for me. What cams should I look at? Thanks for any help guys!

 

"Best" depends on the rest of your combination and what you intend to do with it. If it's truly a daily driver and you're using the stock converter and tall rear gears then something very mild would probably be your best bet (Edelbrock makes a matching camshaft for the Performer package but you can buy the exact same one for less from Summit under part number K1102). If your 305 was originally an LG4 motor this can can give some BIG increases over your stock stick (mostly becuase the stock cam in the LG4 was pathetically small).

If you have something more in mind and you plan on running a higher stall converter and steeper rear gears then you can go a fair bit bigger and more aggressive than that. Something like the Comp Cams XE268 would be on the "big" end of the spectrum for a mostly-stock 305 and it would require better valve springs and possibly some machine work to the heads to handle the lift of that cam. Plus it's going to need a good flowing exhaust system to work properly.

Those choices would basically bracket the low and high end of the spectrum of what might be considered the field of "best" choices for a flat tappet hydraulic given what you're told us so far about your combo. From cheap, easy and mild to more expensive, more work and more aggressive.

There's a lot of choices when you talk about the "best" cam.

 

Ah, Thank you for the input! Im running 3.55 Gears right now I think im on the stock converter. And I plan on running a 125 shot of nitrous within the next 3 month, Is there any way to tell which model engine i have as in LG4 and the such as my car was orginally a 350 but the last owner swapped it out for a 305 All I could figure out was that the engine is from 1983

Also will the cam that goes with the performer give me power gains over stock? If I need to put out a little more cash for more power from the cam then im willing to seeing as that cam+lifter set is only 89.95!

 

Many 305s from 1983 were the low-po LG4. But the L69HO version of the motor DID exist in 1983 as well. Not sure how to tell them apart externally given how much has been changed around before you got the car.

I posted that Summit cam for a reason- it's dirt cheap and is a good "one up" from stock. It's a considerable kick in the pants vs. a stock LG4 cam.

I use it's bigger brother the K1103 in my 383 blower motor and it works well. I mention this to let you know that I wouldn't recommend something just becuase it's cheap- it still has to work well and come with my good housekeeping seal of approval!

 

Sweet thanks man! Went to summit today bought some new brakes rust bullet and the Edlebrock performer EPS ( Supposedly a 5 Hp gain over the normal edlebrock for the 10 more dollars). And wedenseday when i get my check that cam, It sounds like it will work well for my application with a good bang for the buck!! Thanks for the info I really appreciate it.

 

Another vote for the Summit cam, it works very nicely in my 305, builds power to about 5200rpm with a performer intake.

 

What do you run in the 1/4

 

Good question. I never made it to the drag-strip with this car this year, something about getting married and buying a house ate up a lot of my free time. But I race around a-lot on Friday nights, and have a pretty good estimate of abotu a 14.7 @ 92 mph. Probably could go a few tenths and mph either way. The car leaves the line very well, I can 60' and go neck and neck through 90mph with my cousins Audi TT, which is running 9.6 in the 1/8th mile, which ought to be aprx 14.7 in the 1/4. I shift at 5500rpm with the stock valvetrain, and the summit K1102 cam, which works pretty well. If I short shift it at 4700rpm like the stock govenor in my 700R4 it'll be on the dead side of the power curve in the next gear.

To be honest, it wasn't my build, if it had been, I probably would have gone with the K1103, still low enough lift for stock heads, but a little more duration. My idle quality is near stock, could defintely tolerate a little more life without driveability problems.

And BTW, you can bet you'll have to jet up that Edelbrock 1406 if you go with more cam. I ended up with .101 secondary jets to get it to pull right on the topend, and fatter rods too. But don't let anybody tell you thats a junk carb (some board members might) because it'll run just fine with some tuning.