Hello. Looking for some advice on what cam shaft to buy for my 355. The intake is an Edelbrock air gap, carburetor is an Edelbrock 1405. 5 speed transmission. Wanting a cam that provides best performance I can get from my 355. What would be my best bet? The heads are from a 327. If pictures are needed I can go and take some, thanks in advance .

 

Well since I originally posted, I found one online that looks to be the one I need. The edelbrock performer RPM camshaft. Says it's Designed for use with Performer RPM and RPM Air-Gap manifolds (#7101, #7104 & #7501) on S/B Chevys.

http://sdparts.com/details/edelbrock/e7102

what do you guys think? Is this the right choice?

 

It's not a bad choice but the technology is dated.

What exactly are you building the motor for? Street or track use? I'm judging by the Edelbrock 1405 carb that it's strictly a street motor?

 

Yes it is for street use only. Here's the deal, the motor was built a few years back and when we went to instal the new camshaft, it wouldn't fit, we could get it right up to the last few lobes and it was too tight. The motor had new cam bearings in it and we ended up putting the old cam from the 327 in it because it fit. Sounds silly and I am a little embarrassed that I let that slide but anyhoo, I need to get the right cam for this intake and it seems as though this may be the right one. Going to replace my double roller with a set of timing gears too. You either like the gears or ya don't.

 

Okay what heads are you running? Are they stock?

 

The heads I have are from an older 327. I had them rebuilt at a cylinder head machinist shop when the rebuild was done on the engine. Do that answer the question, if not I can get some pics of the heads. Is there a stamping or marking on the head that will help me figure out what heads I have exactly?

 

There were a lot of heads used on those. Some were garbage and some were actually pretty decent. On the top of the head under the valve cover there's a casting number and a date code beneath it (most likely)

 

This cam would probably work pretty well for you with some decent heads:

http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...x?csid=87&sb=2

It'll be streetable and work well with the performer rpm intake.

 

it would help to know what rear gear ratio you have
(. if its the 3.27:1 in the avatar Id suggest a smaller cam than the one above)
and what a compression test says your compression ratio range is.
post the casting number on your current heads, and a basic budget would be nice?
are you going to do the cam instal?
what your spring bind height?
do you need to pass emission testing?
is fuel mileage a big concern?
are you willing to upgrade to a hydraulic roller cam and decent roller rockers? (it will cost about $800-$1100 more but add 20-40 PLUS more hp over most of the power band)


do yourself a big favor and call all four tech departments and get advice

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/...lit=+fool#p105

crane (386) 258-6174

crower 619.661.6477

erson 800-641-7920

lunati..662-892-1500

 

okay well I will get back to you about the casting numbers on the heads asap. I do not need to pass emissions. Fuel mileage is not a big concern. I am willing and eager to upgrade to hydraulic roller cam and decent roller rockers, Thanks urban hunter for the link to the cam, got it in my bookmarks for now as a possible. What do you guys think about the timing gears?

 

If you're willing to go to a roller there's a similar cam:

http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...?csid=160&sb=2

A friend of mine has it and he says he likes it. From what I've seen I think it'll work great with your combo. If you don't need to worry about smog/mpg this one will be the way to go imo. Let me know what the casting number is on those heads and I'll tell you what they are exactly.

As far as a gear drive goes I've never used one. I've heard them on other cars and they're loud. I honestly don't know what the benefit would be over a nice double roller timing chain. I've always used a chain, nice and quiet. I let my exhaust do the talking

 

Thanks Urbanhunter, yeah I do agree it's nice to let the exhaust do the talking, but there is something nice about the gears too, to each his own I suppose. As for the heads , I have severe arthritis, and I do mean severe. I need to get a buddy to remove the valve cover for me, and he is not in town today or for a few days. Is there anyway to tell from the outside of the head?

 

Some heads have markings on the outside near where the accessories bolt in, but only a few. The only way to know for sure are those casting numbers.

Some of those heads were pretty decent, like the ones that came on the 350/375hp 327 engines. There were also some that came on the lower power 250hp 327s, those ones aren't very desirable IIRC.

In any event I think you'll make good power with that 230/236 cam if they're decent heads. If they're the crappy ones you might wanna look at a 224/230 cam to move the powerband down a little.

 

I actually just did a quick search and found this:

http://www.fastnuf.com/Headguide.html


You might actually be able to ID them from outside

 

Awesome, thanks Urbanhunter,going to go and look now. Will post what I find

 

According to the head guide, mine are the M style. One triangle 882. Are these any good?


Drivers side

 

Unfortunately if they are the 882s that's one of the worst production heads out there. Big combustion chamber and made for smogger motors. They came on 350s and 400s in the 70s I believe. I had some on my Nova years ago when I bought it, I think I gave them away for a case of beer.

But they'll still work as long as the rest of your setup is matched. A cam like this one:

http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...?csid=158&sb=2

It's a 224/230 retro-fit hydraulic roller. It's totally, totally worth it to go roller. You just need to pick up some retro fit lifters with the crossbar.

You'll also want to use comp's recommended springs. Comp cams pro magnum roller rocker arms will work nicely as well. 1.5s.

You'll also want to put some gears in the rear end to give her some kick, 3.42s or numerically higher. Not really a big deal since you at least have 3.27s.

I think combined with your edelbrock rpm intake and carb it'll run very good and you'll have plenty of power. Also should have great idle quality and vacuum.

 

To be honest, I'd just as soon buy a set of new heads for the engine and be done with it. Going to have to do a lot of reading on this one first. Any recommendations? Who makes the best aftermarket heads out there? Most likely going to have these on my list,
1. Camshaft
2. double roller timing chain
3. new heads
how much will a new set of heads be? I am guessing about a thousand maybe more?

 

Well it depends on if you want to run aluminum or iron, and how much money you wanna spend.

I think pretty much everyone will agree AFR makes some of the top of the line heads, but they're around 1500-2000 a pair. Dart makes some fantastic choices as well and has a line of iron heads that's quite a bit cheaper.

If you're looking at budget choices I'd recommend Engine Quest. I'm running a set of their heads right now, although they're going to be swapped out for some AFR 220s when I stroke/supercharge this engine.

There are also some good choices in production castings like the vortec heads. You can get a set of brand new GM vortec heads for like $600 or $700 assembled IIRC.

So yeah basically:

-Do you want aluminum or iron?
-What's your budget for fully assembled heads?

 

Great information Urban, thank you. My budget for the heads, would be in the 1200 dollar range. I like the aluminum heads but think that the price of the iron ones are more my fit. The vortec heads sound like a good deal. I like the fact that they are fully assembled. Going to go and look for a set of vortec heads now. Do I get them right from GM?

 

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/...hp?f=52&t=5364

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/...hp?f=52&t=5129

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/...hp?f=52&t=5078

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/...php?f=52&t=401

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/...php?f=69&t=519

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/....php?f=44&t=38

a bit of reading would help a great deal, don,t ignore the sub linked info
yes Im well aware that 30% of you guys would rather pluck your own eyes out with a red hot fork than actually read and absorb info, but for those that rather have fast cars and are willing to do some research....the infos available
don,t be a a rush to spend money be sure you understand what your doing and WHY your selecting certain components

 

I agree with grumpy, especially regarding the vortecs. They're a fantastic performance head and I've seen them make 375-400 flywheel hp. You can expect about 350 with a milder street driven setup.

But they have some special considerations. The production castings are limited in valve lift without some machine work and they also like different timing than most other heads. Also all vortec style heads require a vortec style intake.

Despite that they're an excellent budget performance head. You can buy production castings, gm stock replacements, gm bowtie heads, or any one of a number of aftermarket reproductions like engine quest.

 

If you get Vortecs you have a few options:

1. Machine down the valve guides, use regular springs
2. Use beehive springs, cost around 3 times as much as regular springs. Use Comp 787-16 retainers for beehives. Comp 26918 are the popularb eehive springs.

If you have a roller block already and need to go cheap but good, an LT4 Hotcam, GM LS2/LS3/LS6 Yellow (now blue) beehive springs shimmed just right with Vortecs will hit 325-350hp and be streetable.

If you want to spend a little more, an XR276 and vortecs will make in the 360-380hp range, good for middle 12's in most thirdgens. You can go bigger on the cam, but Vortecs just dont respond well, you just start to lose a lot of streetability in exchange for a little more top end.

If you go with AFR's, and use an XR276 or XR282 (Id probably suggest not going to a 282 for a street engine, just a LITTLE too big, ESPECIALLY with 3.27 gears and a more normal compression ratio) you'll be hitting 400hp probably pretty easy.

Also, grumpy's posts are always awesome, read them.

 

I know I've said this 8 million times, but I'll say it again - if you're paying for a roller cam swap, why mess with a shelf cam? Get a custom ground cam, especially if you're paying a big chunk for a roller core.

It's all about optimization. It's kind of like the argument "well, we are both men, and we both wear shoes, so these MUST fit both of us!".. obviously we know that isn't true, and the same applies here. Get the cam that best fits your application. Doesn't matter if it's a 'racecar' or not; optimization = power and consistancy. These shelf cams will also work fine, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be a lot better. You're paying for it, so why not go the extra mile? Call your favorite cam manufacturer and talk to several guys there on their opinions (because EVERYONE has a differing idea on what works for them, as well as what they can tolerate).. then make a choice.

Just my .02 on the subject. Cheers.

 

I like the Vortec heads, but I just bought the new air gap intake and don't want to have to buy another intake to fit the Vortec heads. I am really in the dark here, been reading as much as I can and understanding very little of it all. Here is what I do know thus far. I need to match my intake to the cam and the heads. So far I have the intake so I need to figure out what camshaft I need to match that. Then I need to get a set of heads that best suit my application. Not looking to be spoon fed, just looking for more suggestions. I want a set of heads that are fully assembled with no machining needed at all. I am not buying these things today but want to have the best possible combination and I know you guys are good at what you do and will put me on the right track to performance. Thanks to everyone who has posted so far, if this were your engine what cam and heads would you use? and why? Here's a pair of heads from Skip White's performance. The price is right. Please advise.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SBC-CHEVY-21...79a01f&vxp=mtr

 

Avoid those procomp heads like the plague. they're garbage. You;d be better off running some old aluminum L98 heads.

That's just my opinion. they've had design issues, quality control issues, and performance issues since day 1 and some have been addressed but I dont trust them.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/afte...num-heads.html
(They are not manufactured in Australia, they are imported to australia from china then sold to the rest of the world from there because the Pro Comp company itself is based there, the manufacturing is not) Just make sure you read through that whole thread before you buy. To me $600 is still $600 and I want to know Im getting something worth $600... sometimes with procomps... you don't.

Jegs and Summit brand aluminum heads are great, though. They're Pro-filer and Brodix heads, very, very nice and are great deals under those labels. Both are American made. Also, Blueprint Engines has come out with some nice heads. There was a long post about them here and a rep from Blueprint was very straightforward about them. They're cast overseas but machined here. they're not AFR's, but they're great for the money and they're way better than aluminum L98 or Vortec heads. They're way better than Pro Comps.

Blueprint Engines heads:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MLL-H8002K/

Jegs (Pro-filer) heads:
http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS-Performan...rentProductId=

Summit (Brodix IK-200) heads:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-162112/

And if you're really dead set on cheaping out, I think you're much better off with patriots than procomps:
https://www.patriot-performance.com/...&cat=40&page=1

 

Thanks for the post Infernal, great links. I am in no way trying to be cheap here, I am wanting to get a performance set of heads for a street application. I really like the Brodix heads and the aluminum ones from Blueprint Engines are a great price at just 895 for the pair.