OK, my car is slow and that needs to change. I was thinking of a cam swap according to my other post, then I was thinking how about 1.6 rockers. RB83L69 says that with the cam I have the rockers won't do much of anything, and I know he knows what he's talking about, I was just hoping that maybe some body might have other opinions, since I am on a limited budget and would like to avoid a cam swap and the price of labor (eventhough I could get it fairly cheap, cheaper than a shop anyways) and I won't be doing it myself, had a bad experience last time with a cam swap.

 

I say a cam....i heard that Summet TPI IROC cam wasn't too bad.......Made just for the 305 IROC TPI.

 

His car is Carburated!! why would he get a cam for a fuel injected car?? Answer: he wouldn't.

 

Yeah dude, put a 305 tpi cam in your 350 carbed engine.

But really, those will give you very little noticable gain, while a cam could be very drastic. It is nothing like a cam change unless you put a little more aggressive cam in.. and that would be a waste.

 

Mark, dude, amigo,

Do you ever read CHP magazine? They just did a budget build up on the tried and true GM Goodwrench 350. They picked the Comp Cams 268XE. It's got like 225 to 230* dur@.050" and .477/.480 lift.

I can't remember the exact specs, but I do remember them saying that with the stock, ported heads, they would step down a notch to the 262XE cam to make the car a little more street worthy.

If you would like to save quite a bit of money, then look into Summit cams. They have one that is a 204/214 dur@.050" and .420/.442 lift, LSA of 112. It's about $75 for a cam and lifters. And that lift/duration would be fine with the stock springs and press in studs.

It's a whole heck of a lot better than the stock GM Goodwrench cam. IIRC, the cam that comes in that motor is very close to the peanut cam that came in the L03's. Short of being a roller cam of course.

If you wanted to walk the fine line that the stock heads draw, then Summit also has one that's 214/224 lift and .442/.465" lift and the 112 LSA again.

Good luck on your desision.

AJ

 

If i were you and had the money i would go with the 1.6 rockers on a stock cam ONLY if you had taken care of your exhaust to reduce backpressure.

According to the PowerPro series book on camshafts you can get 16 to 20 HP on a 305 with the stock cam (smog-era engines) just by changing to 1.6 roller. (dyno test on page 145)

I am going with that option.

Good luck.

 

Sorry read it wrong. Graph shows 10 to 15 HP.

 

Thanks for all the input, I think I might just go ahead and get the cam, I'm hoping for $200 for the price of labor and I'll probably get a Summit one. I just don't want to waste my money on rockers and it not be enough. And I'm not really worried about the HP figures, I think I have enough, I just need to have something that can give my motor a kick above 3500 rpms that this cam stops putting out power at.

 

I personaly would go witha bigger cam that the summit 204/214 one. I have that in my 305 carbed car, and it isn't very radical at all. I mean it made some power difference, but it isn't super lumpy souding(if thats what you want) and in a 350 it'll be even less sound. just my opinion, my cam also has 112 lobe seperation.

 

There's only one thing that sounds better than a lopey cam, and that's the whine of blower. I want as lopey as I can get. Summit has a table to help pick the right cam, I'm getting the one that makes power from 2000-5500 rpms. Matches the intake that I have to install perfectly.

 

As far as the 1.6 rockers go,you'll get the most benifit if you use them with a stock cam (5-15 horsepower).They will be less dramatic with a performance cam because the duration and lift are already increased.As far as the 420/442 summit cam is concerned,i've got one in my carbed 350.I know it's not lumpy sounding and stuff,but i like the fact that i still have good torque and works well with my stock converter thanks to the smaller duration.It also makes about 19-20 inches of vacuum in my car as well.Ask someone that has over-cammed they're car how much fun it was to drive.Granted,i could have gone a little bigger,but it's better to error on the too small side than the too big side.I might try the 1.6 rockers myself as an experiment to gain some lift to see what will happen.Any body know where i can get a set of 1.6 self aligning type by the way?

 

Over cam? What's that?
heh
Actually, I bought a cam with 228/238 duration and .540/.540 lift. For all the duration, it didn't have much lump to it. This could partially be because you may have to up the idle speed to make up for the cam not being able to idle down so low. I broke that cam (don't ask how, it was stupid) and replaced it with a 238/248 duration, same lift. Now I have a little more lump, and can idle at 1100 if its all warmed up. (at 900 it sounds killer....) nevermind this isn't for a sb. The lesson is, if you need a new cam, get a bigger one. Also, for the auto trans. people, think about what the idle speed change that may be necessary will do. Is your converter already higher? Or will you be holding the brakes all the time?