First, a little background. I am a long time car enthusiast, loved camaro's since the cradle and have spent every day since I got my license driving one. However I have yet to build an engine by myself. I have several manuals and access to the needed to tools, so this thread is more about engine combination advise. I have the following parts at my disposal:

-350 block 2 bolt
-400 block 2 bolt studded
-Forged and knife edged scat 350 crank
-Eagle H-beam forged rods
-Dart Iron Eagle heads 64cc
-Edlebrock torquer 2, and super victor intakes
-Isky cam soild flat tappet, aprox. 520 lift, mild duration. 2500-6500
-Doug Herbert solid roller lifters

So obviously I'm going to end up with either a 355 or a 377, I'm leaning more twords the 355. I plan on using the Eagle 4-bolt splayed main conversion kit with it. I am planning on having a static compression of around 9.5:1-10.0:1. The pistons will be forged, most likely Speed Pro.

My questions are as follows; can I run the solid roller lifters on a solid flat tappet cam? If not, where can I find a street friendly solid roller cam that is nitrous compatible? I am looking to stay in the 2000-7000 powerband, perhaps a bit lower than 7000 if I can. So that will probably mean using the Torquer 2. Now, when I say street friendly I mean something that I can drive and it wont wear itself out prematurely, so staying away from massive lift is probably advisable. It will be backed my a manual trans, so I can afford a lumpy idle, matter of fact I'd prefer it was.

Now I realize that I can only have so much of the comprimise (power/longevity/streetability), so somebody drop some knowledge on me and help me finalize this build...

Thanks a million,
Max

 

if you have both the 350 and 400 blocks (and do not plan on getting a new crank), i see no reason of going 355 instead of 377. same price=more cubes.

as far as cams go, flat tappet parts and roller tappet parts are not interchangable. different style.

here are some of Crane's Solid Roller nitrous cams from summit. http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...295+115+400078

here is my advice: shoot an email to a few cam companies (crane, lunati, etc.) and see what they recommend, as well as obtain flow numbers for the dart heads and determine what lift range you want for optimum performance out of your heads. as far as head flow numbers go, its not the max that matters, but where the lift on the cam is.

i dont know what you have as far as rear and trans go, but i think you will want to beef them up as well.

also, dont overlook suspension. so what if you have 400 at the rear wheels if you can never get it to hook on a launch? i tend to think suspension is the most overlooked importiant system on a car.

 

If I were in your shoes i'd buy a basic 400 cid crank. A $200 crank now is going to boost your HP by at least 30-40HP, and that's CHEEP CHEEP CHEAP HP at this point!
You can't buy 30HP for $200 when the thing is assembled, think about that.

Don't just look at the parts you have and decide how to assemble them. ie, don't use a crappy part, just because you have it.

Throw out the Torker 2 intake.
Buy a good one.

Find the exact specs of that cam, then there's still a good chance it's not worth using.

The iron eagle heads are ok to use, but make sure you get the right pistons in your 400cid engine so the CR isn't too high. ie 15cc dish or thereabouts.

 

i agree with that all the way. engines that are assembled from "spair" parts sitting around from various projects in the past RARELY perform how you want them to. however some tend to complament better than others.

the cam you have sitting around will most likely NEVER be the cam that is going to make the most power/power the way you want it. neither the Super Victor or the Torquer are going to be decent intakes for that engine. as sonix noted, torquers are not that great, and the Super Victor will most likely make power way higher than where you want it.

i can see putting together previous heads and a block (for sure) and possibly rods and crank (if it is what you want), but going all the way down to the cam is never going to turn out to be the best.

 

I wasn't aware that Forged Eagle H-beams, and Forged Scat cranks were crappy parts. I also dont think that a $200 crank is going to cut it when it gets a squeeze. I'm thinking more about the 355 because it will primarily be a street car, that way I can save the 400 block for a more radical build. It seems as though the majority of drivers dont like the Torquer 2 either.

Sooooooo, back to the question I asked in the first place....

Does anyone have any experience with a STREET FRIENDLY solid roller cam, or does that even exist? I would have already called some cam manufacturers, but I was looking for advise and experience, not just a salesman tryin to make that commission.

First, I would NEVER consider building an engine out of "leftover junk" just because I had it laying around. Second, I provided my goal compression and desired powerband for help in cam selection.

 

On the flat tappet vs roller question, I'd just use mechanical flat tappets if you have flat tappet blocks. Roller stuff is pricey you might have to machine the block for solid roller lifters. Flat tappets are cheap. The process for converting from hydraulic flat tappets to mechanical is simple. 1) Remove hydraulic lifters. 2) Insert mechanical lifters. 3) Check for correct pushrod length. 4) lash valves cold. 5) lash vales hot.

 

Whoa whoa sparky, lets not get over zealous here. If you're trying to find insults, you'll find them when you look hard enough. You'll notice the "ie" at the beginning of the sentence. That means "don't read this word for word", take it lightly.

I didn't say all your parts are crappy, I said to watch out for that.

By all means, use your forged parts. No reason you can't.

But if you want the most HP per buck, follow my advice. If you want to brag about forged parts, do you own thing. Doesn't bother me in the slightest. For every thousand members on here that talk about "maybe later putting on nitrous" maybe 1-2 actually do. So lets be realistic. If you WILL use nitrous, buy a 400cid FORGED crank. If you honestly don't think it'll happen for a while, a cast iron/steel one is fine. They stand up to more then you think.

You can get any grind you want put on a solid roller core. There is one member on here (living in Saskatoon, can't remember his name) who has a 236/242 solid roller. Very streetable. In his 400cid IIRC. That helps with streetability BTW. Something like that, but with a wider split and wider LSA would make a great nitrous cam. You should be able to re-use your doug hebert lifters then too.

PS - 2000-7000RPM is a bit of a wide powerband to shoot for. That's like asking for your cake, and eating it too How about a 3000RPM powerband?
Is this a mostly street, rarely strip car?

 

Whoa Whoa Sparky.....

I didnt take it as an insult, lol. I was trying to provide some sarcasm in my reply.
Also, not bragging about the forged parts. I just got a hell of a deal on em a while back so I couldent pass it up. As for N2O, I allready own the kit, so yes.. I will be hittin it some time after break in.

Ok, so custom cam grinds are an option... And idea's on price?

And my lobe centers, I was to the understanding that around 112* is good for blower/nitrous? And the 5000rpm power band is where I would like to be between. I understand that it wont be that wide in reality. And yes, I am building with the bullet-proof bottom end street theory. Build a race worthy engine for the street, and when I make my trips to the track I wont be worried.


Thanks,

 

So you want the torque to be coming in a 2000 with the power dropping off but strong at 7000? That's a wide range, but it can be done. It's not gonna be done with a mild duration cam though.

So here's how I'd plan an engine.

1. Pick your target rpm range
2. Pick your heads.
3. Pick you cam to compliment the heads. (you probably can't reuse that cam unless you have the lifters that originally wore in with it)
4. Now you pick you compression.
5. Pick your intake and exahust.

Example, say I wanna build a 305
1. I wanna rev to 7000 with peak power at 6000, giving a strong power band in the 4000-7000 area.
2. I'll use 305 vortec heads, well priced, good flow.
3. I'll use a Nostalgia Plus mechanical flat tappet cam from Comp. It has 284/291 duration so it has the long duration needed to get air into the small bore engine and with more exahust duration as the exhaust side is weak on the 305 vortec heads
4. Given the IVC event of that cam, I'll need a Static Compression of 10.25-10.5:1 to get the dynamic compression around 8.2-8.3:1
5. I'll use a holley Stealth Ram TPI intake as it flows well.

 

I suppose what I should have said is, I don't want to turn any higher than 7000rpm. I want plenty of midrange, but I want my peak below 7X. I see what your saying though. I especially like the compensating for a weak exhausting head with more on that side of the cam. I suppose that is common knowledge among seasoned builders, but to me it seems quite clever.

Keep it coming,

 

That's all I've got in my bag of tricks, I haven't built an engine yet either.

But you just need to think about how all the parts of the engine interact, and you want them all to compliment each other. Start by studying OEM engines, TPI 305's an 350's, the LT1 versus LT4, the LS1 and LS2 versus the LS6 and LS7.

Just looking at the changes in the LT and LS series engines can teach you a lot about building a good engine.

 

ok ok, we're all on the same page then.
A custom ground solid roller should run you in the $400 range. Not much more than an off the shelf one. I'd look at the higher end builders for that, bullet, etc. (ask IHI's opinion on that one...)

 

I've been on the phone most of the morning, and I got it worked out. Cam companies, private engine builders, even some tech's from Banks and Lingenfelter...

Decided on what I'm going to need, with a little bit of what I want.

Thanks alot,
Max