I have a high comp 'vette headed (2 bars) 4-bolt 350 bored .030 over that I'm looking at putting a cam into, and then it's going in my Trans Am. It was rebuilt by a mechanic guy who passed away a year or so ago, so I didn't know what the specs were. I have a friend who's a Forest Service mech and I torn the engine down to inspect it, and he looked at it and we're thinking it has around 10:1 compression. I called Comp, Isky, and Crane and got their recommendations, and I'm leaning towards getting the Comp Cams 12-256-4 (hydro flat tappet... grind #XE256H-12... @.050 212/218, lift 449/456, lsa .112 w/4 degree timing). Is this a good cam for my setup? The guy said it's good from 1-5K rpm (I cruse around 2100 @ 70mph), and that I should get a custom chip from fastchip.com for it. The springs on the heads are new, so I don't think I'll have to replace them.

Would this cam work fine? I've read some forum posts here after searching and the cam specs are similar to some good running 350 setups I've read about.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

What is your setup?

 

Sorry. Mainly daily driver, once-in-a-blue-moon stoplight racing. That's what you were asking, right?

 

*bump*

After searching and reading around some more on these forums, it sounds like people are going for a bigger cam in 350/355s, the most common I've seen is the Comp Cams XE268 (dur 268/280, 224/230 @ .050, .477/480 lift, lsa 110... specs from Jegs, but I'm sure there is a 112 lsa grind available from Comp, so which to get?) or possibly the XE274, but I think the 274 might be a little much for what I want... ideas?

 

You can get the cam ground on whatever LSA you want. 112,114 etc... Just specify when you order.

 

i got that comp cam 212-218 449-456 112lsa in my 1986 305 tpi ta , works awsome with stock chip , i wouldn;t go any bigger unless you can burn proms yourself ,

 

Yes but you have a 305, so it will be less cam in the 350, so that's why I'm thinking I might want to go with something a little bigger.

 

I wouldn't run less than a 218/224 but that is my opinion. And at the rate I wouldn't even run that. Too small for me. I say at least a 224/230, which is still a mild cam IMO. I went w/ a 227/233 but only b/c of emissions.

 

224/230 is going to be too big for those heads. Stick with something in the 215-220 range max on the intake side.

 

I have the big (202) intake valves if that makes any difference?

 

Kinda depends on what the ports are like, but no factory head flows all that great even when ported. I still say that you will be happier with a slightly shorter duration cam, especially if this is a TPI setup you're using. The 224/230 cam on a TPI just doesnt work all that great, you can make close to if not the same or more power with a shorter duration cam, have a better idle, and a little better mileage.