Hi Guys,

Up to the last stages of purchases for my new motor and need a cam to suit.

Heads are 215cc AFR eliminators, holley stealth ram efi intake, running T700r4 auto stock rotating assembly, and currently with 2.73 gears.

I'll be upgrading the diff with a 3.45 set and carrier eventually, but would like a cam that will work with those gears, but see a big improvement with 3.45s.

Looking for tough street car with occasional 1/4 mile runs, something with some lump but still drivable day to day, looking for around 450hp.

Doable or dreaming?
Currently looking around the XE274 range, was originally going to go roller cam, but as I'm not looking for high rpms most people i've talked to say it's not going to be worth the extra cost.

Also heads have 1.6 roller rockers and triple springs.
Don't want to go too pricey on cam and lifters

 

Ok definately go roller. Find out what springs. Beehives are single wire springs, not triple. Triples would be solid roller springs and not work for any hyd cam.

450 crank, 375 ish whp is walk in the park for that setup. Nice mild street cam easy on valve train would be comp xe282hr or other vendors equal like lunati/howards/etc. 230/236 on a 112. Easy to tune, very driveable and should make that power no sweat with 1.6 rockers. Probably 400 whp

Could even go 288hr 236/242 for abit more and still be driveable and make well over 400 whp.
I got a big 246/252 in mine and its not bad at all to drive. 400" motors can take some cam

 

Stock 215 Eliminators? If you do, I can help you with a custom one for your application (if you're wanting to go that route), or if you're wanting a shelf grind I'd call Steve at Lunati or any of the guys over at Bullet Racing.

Your torque converter is also equally important when paired with your camshaft and gearset ratio. Figure that out first before messing with the cam.

 

I think they're stock, off an x drag car so not sure.
I'll take some pics and upload them in about 30mins.

How do you identify the AFR heads?

 

They should be marked somewhere on the heads. I know AFR has casting numbers on the corners/backs of their older castings. Newer ones may be the same, but I'm not entirely sure on that.

 

Ok, here's what I got:

looks like AFR 195's sorry so that might bring my HP goals down somewhat.






These are the springs I've got, I take it they're not of any use to me for Hydraulic or HR cam?

 

Also, looks like with the pistons compression ratio will be between 10.9 and 11.1 estimated.

 

May want to tighten the lobe centers up...110 lsa to help bleed off some cyl pressure at those compression ratios for better pump gas performance. It should be fine on 92-93 oct

And those are not beehive springs. Id have a machine shop test the springs for pressure and coil bind height to see what they are

 

What octane is your gasoline? Flat tops may be ok down under. Are you using the stock GM computer to run your engine?

 

I'v seen those heads before somewhere. I think you have an older set of AFRs, but they are definitely not box-stock. Somebody's worked on them. Box-stock AFRs you can see the factory CNC machining in the ports and chambers- yours are all smoothed out.

You might have some gems there, or you might have something that's a total turd for street use. Hard to say.

cc the intake ports to get a rough idea how much they've been hogged out. I seriously doubt they are still 195cc. If they're less than 220cc, they'll still kick *** on a mild street performance 400+ ci motor. A big 'ol 400 will "eat" a much bigger port that an equivalent 350. 195cc is about big enough for a tow-truck application 400 motor. 215cc would be "mild performance use".

You may have a real gem there with those heads for you application. Or you may not. Research (call AFR, ask questions), measure and make decisions.

 

Thanks for that, needed some good news today, the shop just called and said the crank needs a regrind as when they polished it it showed up some marks that weren't visible before, so it'd need to go to 20-20 to come up.

Which probably means a new crank, which will need new rods(5.7 instead of stock 5.65) and new pistons to match.

I'll get them measure and post on here to let you know.


Octane here in Oz is 91 stock, 93 premium, and 98 performance
$1.30 per Litre, $1.50 per Litre and $1.70 per Litre approximately.

 

If it were me, I'd build the motor around 98 Octane if it's readily available. Push the compression up, put parts in that also reflect this decision, and watch it scream.

 

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

just bought this cam, reckon it will work ok with 2.73 gears and the heads/cr?

 

I think its way small but it will be torquey

 

Yeah, but with this the car gets going a few months earlier, then I can save for the 3.45 LSD and XFI280 / XFI292 cam and it'll go straight in

 

Why spend the money twice, though? Not sure I agree with your decision, but it's your ride.

 

LOL, don't worry, I know it's stupid, but if I keep being patient waiting for just the right bargain and part etc, it will end up like everyone else's project car and sit in a shed for 10 years.

I bought it to enjoy it and have been for 6 years, it's only the last 2 months when the transmission died on me that i've gotten off my *** to get this all done.

By the end of the year it should have the new drivetrain, interior back in it, all painted, new tyres, new dash, and if there's any money left at the end and i can get it without a compliance problem, a ramair2 bonnet

 

You wont notice 2.73's with the proper converter and a decent cam. Sure it will pick up abit with gear but by all means do a proper cam now while you can. I would stay closer to 230 at .050

 

The rockers are 1.6 will that bring up the cam specs much, or it doesn't work that way?

Just from whatI've gather the rocker increase the cam lifts yes/no?
Or not enough to significantly affect it?

 

It does bring up the lift and possibly 1-3 deg duration change but that cam is already very small to begin with. It will drive like stock you'll hardly notice the cam in it. On a 400, you dont really notice a cam til you get over 224-230 deg. Still fairly mild but slight lope so you know its cammed.

I just think you are leaving yourself a bit short here with such good heads and intake

 

I agree with everyone regarding the cam being too small...

 

I understand it's not as much cam as it needs to match the heads, but the bottom end is stock, the pistons are stock and I'm doing this on limited funds.

I chose this cam because it's a roller, got it for $150AU which is very good here, and the motor will be set up in the car running with the option of putting a better cam in later to give me more power.

But will the cam run fine with those heads and gears?