Hey everyone, here is what my setup consists of:
400 .030 over
9.6:1 CR
Edelbrock RPM heads
SLP 1 3/4 headers
3in edelbrock cat back
LT1 intake
24lb injectors

now here's the important part
i purchased a 2050 compucam
Specifications:
* Advertised duration: 272 intake/284 exhaust
* Duration at .050 in. cam lift: 216 intake/228 exhaust
* Gross valve lift: .454 in. intake/.480 in. exhaust
* Lobe separation: 112 degrees
* RPM range: 2,200 to 5,200
* Must use adjustable fuel pressure regulator.
* Good mid and top end torque and horsepower.
* Axle ratios of 3.73 or numerically higher recommended

and i also have 1.6 rockers.
now i was wondering is this not enough cam for mysetup or is it too much? i dont want to go over 5500 with this engine and its my street car. im wondering this because i have about 3100 miles on the car since i put the motor in and a cam lobe wore off of it and im wondering if i should purchase a different cam or just get the same thing? i would like to get a roller cam setup but the cost might be out of my league

 

That is an awfully mild cam for a 400.
Damn, thats a mild cam for a 350.
How did the cam lobe wear only after 3100 miles?

 

non proper brake in period......

 

That would be a good cam for a 305. WAY too mild for a 400.

 

that is a really mild cam for a 400 as compared to the one I used in my 305.See sig.
BD3

 

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but that is a very mild cam for a 400...

My advice...call compucam, tell their tech support what your setup is and they will be able to suggest a good cam for you. Also, if you have the money for a roller cam, spring for it!!!

Did I mention that is a mild cam for a 400...sorry couldn't help it .

 

lol iv got a roller setup now, i dont know all the specs on it but ill find out this week.

 

I agree for a flat tappet cam that is on the to small side. Now if that was a roller cam I would say the duration would not be to bad for a street machine but the lift should be around .525" or higher. There is an interesting theory floating around about a "small" cam with a high lift for a street car. You still get the good low end torque of the small cam but still get some good flow with the high lift. Allen

 

small

 

Its small for your 400, remember your extra cubic inches allow you to go bigger with less ill effects. But I think the Edelbrock RPM heads are the thing to be worried about more.

Your 400 needs flow to make HP. Your setup for TQ not HP. The setup you have with 166cc or so intake runners along with a mild cam should make an awesome street machine, but probably suffers in the upper rpm range.

Just thinking about it a little more, you have a small intake port with lots of velocity, a cam with no overlap, and slowed exhaust velocity because of larger headers. Again a great street motor, but a few simple changes would make it a high(er) HP engine.

It all depends on how you want it...

 

you are right on that, i just wanted something very streetable, but im beggining to encounter faster cars on the road so i gotta step up a little, i might in the near futur get some AFR 190's or something like that but not sure. its all about budget.... the car pulls pretty hard for the setup that i have, i could almost hold my own vs. a 2004 SVT cobra...so i dont know, im pretty happy, maybe ill have to look at some kind of power adder....

 

With a real cam and those AFR's (however i would go with the AFR 210 with a 400), u should pretty much smoke any cobra out there

 

i also was refering to the cobra that is supercharged.....stock 12.6's..... also, took my parts off my car, last took the intake off... i couldnt beleive what i saw...... a pushrod was bent ...looked about 150degree's instead of 180(straight line) and about 5-6 lobes wore off the cam almost half of the rockers were loose, i guess when the cam wanted to go it made sure it went.

 

i pulled one out of my motor just like that

http://www.angelfire.com/scary/cashm...s/Image055.jpg

you definitely need a cam in the lift range of high 500's or low 600's, and go with AFR 210's like cali92rs said.

 

Dude, 12.6 is extremely easy with a 400.

 

that pushrod you showed is hardly bent compaired to this one....ill take a pic and post it. it was bent too bad to get it out of the hole without hamering with it a little and as you say a 600 lift cam in my mind is way too much to run as a daily driver...

 

I agree 600 lift would be overkill for a dailydriver with dependablity factor. and i dont think it will work wth those heads either. if u got new heads yes. I say call compcams and ask them thier opinion. Go with a cam that will go to 6000rpms and around 525 lift with 1.6 rockers on intake side. I think that would be ideal. and You would be able to dust those new cobras without any problems and not sacraficing dependablity. Since your car is a daily driver this is off the subject but does it overheat in traffic? stop and go traffic? mine did and I hated it. If yours didnt then whats your secret? later man

 

no it didnt over heat, i only have 9.6:1 CR and stock coolant system but the steam holes are drilled in the edelbrock heads, but other than that, i dont have any problems, maybe the heads help with cooling it. if anything ill take these heads off and send them to a guy in VT and he's really good at porting, and id have him open them up a little bit. i know i can get a roller cam with i think 525/560ish lift...but that is a little high for me.

 

daxfas my old trans am used to do that alot and my new one does it some but not as bad, it's a real common problem with them since they have no grill to get air to the radiator. I removed my ac condensor and made my own little scoop under the car and it worked great.

http://www.angelfire.com/scary/cashm.../air_damn1.jpg

You could also try water wetter. it works good from what i hear but i've never tried it myself.

 

You might want to check your pushrod geometery while you are at it. Every cam is different.

Yeah that's a mild cam for a 400, but as you stated which hasn't been addressed, you don't want to spin past 5500.

I'd go with the next step or two up from that cam. Something like a 224/230ish range. Make sure you degree it!

If I had the engine built for some RPM abuse... I'd go with something more like a 245/253. My 355 has a 239/247 but it goes to 7k. A general rule is the same cam in a smaller engine will act bigger, and vise versa. So the 216 you have now might be good for a 327, but it acts alot smaller in relation to a 400.

 

That cam might be kinda on the small side

One way to look at is you have about 15% more CID to fill. So unless you increase the valve size/lift/duration by that amount, you still only breaking even.

 

heres a pic of the pushrod that bent when the cam lobes went...

 

also about the cam i was thinking something decent for the car would be 480-510 and 1.6 rockers would be decent, considering the "rpm package" cam is .488 .510 234/244ish i think

 

haha wow that pushrod is definitely bent to hell. you break em like I do

 

I guess I'm missing something here: Why would a worn down lobe bend a pushrod? The only thing I can think of that'll do that is cheesy pushrods on stiff springs in an overrev or a bent (stuck) valve.

That cam probably would make a good daily driver, not sure how it matches the LT1 intake on a 400 though. You should dyno it and find out! The RPM heads have 170 cc intakes out of the box (close to vortec or LT1's), so I would guess it'll all come together like a slightly cammed/headered 400 LT1, so maybe 360 hp - 420 ft-lbs?

 

well what i suspect is improper oiling to the lifters, so there goes cam lobes,non pumped up lifters=alot of slack in the valve train.....thats how it came about to a bent pushrod.

 

well i got my cam, its a crane 119631 .509/.528 222/230 with crane roller lifters and crane pushrods....hopefully itll run good.here's a link to the cam http://www.cranecams.com/index.php?s...31&lvl=2&prt=5

 

I think that was a good choice. It should make up that extra 15% that grumpy mentioned. Let us know how that goes!!!

 

Ill def. fill you guys in on what happens, i should have the motor back in by the end of the week. i think this cam might be right but what would .509/.528 be with 1.6 rockers?

 

Typically you can just add .030 lift when swapping from 1.5 to 1.6(close enough generally)

To do it the right way you take your original number .509/.528 and divide them by your rocker ratio(1.5) and you get lift at the cam, which is .3393/.352. then you multiply them by hte ratio of your new rockers(1.6) which equals .543/.563

 

lol thanks for the calculations. that shouldnt be too high should it....

 

Only way to tell is to put clay on top of your pistons and roll over the motor. Im almost positive you need .100" clearance. Make sure you buy the matching springs too.

With some decent tires, and a 2500 or so converter you should be high 12s @ ~103-105mph

Im assuming many things though....lol

 

thats what im planning, i have a 5-speed which most likely is going to give out sometime in the near future, but i try to not to be hard on it. i can get some slicks from my cousin for 50 bucks. but that would put more pressure on the tranny. i just need some funding for my 6-speed lol oh, and im not worried about it hitting the piston, i have a slight dish on them.

 

With 1.6 rockers your exhaust lift will be around .563. I'd check it.

I built my 355 with Speed Pro pistons that have a .125 dome. I am running a Comp Cam 280H cam that has .480 lift that is actually .512 with my 1.6 to 1 roller rockers. The heads have 2.02/1.60 valves, and 76cc chambers.

I asked the guy at the engine shop if I should check the clearence when I put the engine together, he said that if I was running a cam with lift up near .525 - .550 he would check it, but otherwise it wouldn't be a concern. I just got the motor started last week and it is fine. Some of the lifters need re-adjusted but other than that it is OK.

 

well iv got dish pistons in my car but i did check the lift on what it was supposed to be plus it was posted as well, my springs on my edelbrock heads are supposed to be rated to .575 lift. so that is kind of cutting it close but as for clearance, i highly doubt ill have a problem but if worse comes to worse, ill turn the motor over by hand to see if it hits. i just hope the cam isnt too big for the motor.

 

To quote a wise man....lol

Dished or not, they still have valve notches cut in them, most likely. And it might not hit rolling it over by hand, but things change when it warms up. Thats where .100 comes into play