need some info on a cam

[68GMC454]

ok,,i will have a late 70's 350 soon..i want to put a cam in it..now im not looking for a big horse power gain..just a smalll lope,,lol,,mainly the sound..
now i will be changing the push rods,,and other stuff to go with cam i think..im not that good of a mechanic,,just a shade tree...not good with technical names,,so bear with me..

what is a good reasonable cam,,now im on a real limited budget,,and it will take me another month or so to even get the parts truck paid for.(400)
so this need to be a real good price..also will be changing from timeing chain to gear drive,,i think thats what it is called...

any info is greatly appreciated,,even if i cant spell it..

billy

[71/454]

I'm looking for the same sort of suggestions for my small block in my 50 as well. What I have found so far is that budget wise crane has a Blue Racer line that sells up where i live for $125 cam and lifters. The comp sells for the same or more without lifters. I'll be watching this thread too. Dave

[1BadSS]

Crane 274 H06, PN 100172.

Very good lope, smaller lift (Read: Okay with stock springs), doesnt kill your power brakes.

$109 for the cam and lifters.

[68GMC454]

thanks for the info...
billy

[71/454]

Double thanks. Dave

[1970 CST Short Wide]

Stay away from Comp Cams; I had very bad dealings with there so called customer service after trying 3 different cams in my BB due to noise. I finally went with Lunati and it cured the noise problem and runs great. Comp keep telling me "that’s just how they are" (Noisy)

[68GMC454]

thnaks,,will stay away from them then

i got enough problems without hearing noises that shouldnt be there
billy

[jamon8]

this is a good cam for a stock 350, oh yeah 70 bucks for the cam and lifters

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

[68GMC454]

so is a hydralic cam what i got in it stock...
but this is definatly in my price range..with me being cheap and all..
thanks

billy

[Stroker]

Most likely the 70s 350 is a flat tappet hydraulic cam.


I'll throw out another option thats a little milder than the CRANE 274 H06. The 274 is a nice street performance cam and does have a great sounding lope. But, if your engine is stock with low compression 8.5 to 1 or less with an auto tranny you might need a stall converter especially if you happen to have 3.08 gearing.

The Isky 262 Super or the 264 Mega cam might be worth taking a look at. These cams have about the same lope as a Comp 268 cam but with stonger bottom end power. It's been awhile since I've bought anything from Isky so I'm not sure what their cams run.

What you want is a short duration cam with a tight Lobe Center Angle 106-108 deg. The overlap period is what gives you the cool sounding lope. The problem is they really don't make many off the shelf cams ground that way and a custom grind usually adds another $150+ on top of the price of the cam. The Crane 274 is the only 106 LCA cam I can think of with reasonable duration for street use. The Isky cams I suggested are on 108 LCAs.

[68GMC454]

i got to go look to see if i can fins out what gears i got..i couldnt get lucky enough to have 3:08's
would suck on take off,,but this truck will be more of a cruiser than anything..i still got my 84, 454 for pulling and hualing...

[jamon8]

summit has a bunch of cams avaliable

http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...s=P%5FRank%7C0

as we all know summit does not make anything I bought sum-g5000 and I think it was made by crane

you can go with a low lobe seperation and have a choppy idle but unless do not have power brakes you will have problems with the amount of vaccum that is nessesary to stop and will have to buy a vaccum pump.

the first cam I showed you will have a nice slightly choppy idle and will pull real nice through the 5500 range without killing you on gas

[Billla]

Originally Posted by 68GMC454

also will be changing from timeing chain to gear drive,,i think thats what it is called...

Stroker said it all General rule of thumb for stock heads is max .450 lift and <= 100# seat pressure - IMHO.

Why in the world would you run a gear drive on a lo-perf street engine on a budget??

[BarryB]

Let me save you some time. Summits cams are cheap for a reason. There Junk. If you get there cams don't use the lifters. They barely pump oil to the valve train. If just a small cam I would use the stock lifters (aslong as there not dished out on the bottom.) Oh lets see why don't I like summit cams. everyone that I have seen installed has been pulled back out because of the wiped lobes or eaten up lifter. a couple of cases destroyed the motor. There made by crane by the way.
Anyways,there are certain pieces and parts you don't want to chinch on. this is one of them.
Now that has been my experience with them maybe somebody else actually got lucky and got a good one. Trying not the stirr the crap up to bad here.
Now I have owned comp cams. And I have been very satisfied with them. Had one cam and lifter set in 4 rebuilds , and it is yet to show wear. And oh yeah no noise. Figure that one out on several I had and used.

[jamon8]

thats the first time I have heard anything bad about summit products.

It sounds like it is true on your end BarryB, I dont doubt it and I dont need to defend them because I dont see a dime.

thats why we subscribe to these threads- to get info from every angle to make informed decisions

Please buy the summit kit, I get 20 bucks if you leave number 304958

[68GMC454]

th emotor runs good stock..but i figured while i had it out i should check the timeing chain,,and been told i might as well go the gear drive,,was told it last longer..i dont plan on this motor being in this truck to long,,but it might be in there for a few years..depends on the money flow i got for the truck..im lucky as the body is in decent shape and not all rusted out..so the drive train is first on the list as it is with every project i do..
there is another option i got ,,here it is,,,i can puput the 350 im getting into my 84 and pull the 454 out of the 84 to put into the 68..i do have a 400 turbo to go behind the 454 if i do this..so the tranny is covered with either option.i do have a complete gasket kit for the 454..it was supposed to be pull ou this winter to be done..but since i sold my bussiness,,i dont drive the 84 to much..geared to low and it likes gas,,alot of gas...but if i do this,,then i need a gear change for the 84,,personaly i think a small block and 4:10 dont go together to well..since i got a few weeks to decide,,it could go that route..thanks for all the info,,will keep you all updated..
oh yeah the 454 definatly needs a carb rebuild or new on,,the timeing chain has got to be wore out,,being it is a texas truck the timeing is way off for the mountains,,but if i set the timeing to what it is supposed to be for up here in the mountains,,it wont pull..it will run,,but i got no power at all..so i set it back to where it was to start with,,and have delt with the little dieseling it does...
billy

[Billla]

Gear drive = bad idea for a street engine. Doesn't last longer, costs more, NO value, NO HP/TQ gains.

[68GMC454]

ok thanks for the info...
billy

[lilpup69chevy]

thats wierd i've been running the same comp 292 cam for 10 years lol its outlasted 2 or 3 engines, i was also very satisfied with comp's 268 cam, but my 2 cents is at the racetrack and other engine builders have told me to stay away from lunati i've seen broken camshafts and cranks made from them, but i do not have anything against crane cams i ran a crane 274 cam and liked if fairly well but i think as far as the lope the comp 268 sounded better

[1970 CST Short Wide]

10 Years ago Comp had a good cam Its there new stuff thats JUNK. AND there warrenty guy "RED" is a real JERK

[BarryB]

The quality of cams probablly has something to do with the way they are made now a days. The metal just isn't the same as it's used to be.

[Troy-Built]

As far as cams go a lot of cam problems have to do with installation and break in procedures. There is no such thing as too much lube on the cam and lifters. A 268 or 272 duration cam is the most you want to go with stock gears and torque convertor. I have used summit cams which is of course a Crane cam and haven't had any troubles. I just installed a Comp CAms Extreme energy in the 72 Blazer and am not happy with it. It pulls great but after warming up you can't here any lope what so ever.

[454_72_4X4]

Comp HE268 is my favorite all around cam

Troy-Built hit the nail on the head. If the cam lives through the break in period it's usually good to go for along time.

I destroyed the HE268 I had in put in my 454 because I had the short block assembled but had to wait 2-3 eeks foe the heads and intake. I used the thin red cam assembly lube but I think it all ran off before I got the rest of the engine assembled/installed and running.
The cam lasted 3 miles...

[EyeH8the24]

speedway motors has some good cheap cams...and they sound killer too

[Stroker]

In recent years most of the aftermarket cam manufactures have had an increase in flat tappet cam failures and they have done a lot reseach to find out what is happening. The problem is not with the cams. They determined the failures to be related to lifters and oil. The large auto manufactures switched to roller lifters in nearly all their engines and as a result a few things happened in the industry. Most of the companys that supplied the OEMs with lifter began making the new roller lifters and either quit making flat tappet lifters or sold off that part of their business. The lifters that were being made by most of the new companys were of poor quality. A less than perfect lifter coupled with the ramps and higher spring pressure of an aftermarket performance cam don't mix well. The use of roller cams in the OEM also prompted a change to the oil additives in the reformulated oil. Some of the friction reducing compounds have been reduced for the sake of the envionment since they where no longer required in the newer engines.
Here's a few links that might be worth reading. If you start searching google you will find a lot of info on this subject.

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/e...ppet_cam_tech/

http://www.compcams.com/information/...yID=1821071676

http://forums.noria.com/eve/forums/a...5/m/3011052071