What is a perfect cam #

[Pardue'sCustoms]

i wont a lot of sound and power my heads are 441 with 202 intake valves just put in and guide plates and 3/8 screw in studes it had 194 valves in it and we left the exhust vavles in it and new valve gudies abd seats and a little pocket porting was done and the bottom end stock i thank i know the crank is so what would be a good cam with as much power and lot of sound

[junkyardjohn]

SOUNDS LIKE A TRICK QUESTION TONY. YOU'LL NEED TO SUPPLY A FEW MORE DETAILS FOR ANYONE TO MAKE AN EDUCATED GUESS.

[Stroker]

I sure wished there was a perfect cam! About all we can do is point you in the dirrection of the best compromise. But as junkyardjohn already pointed out we'll need some more information to even do that. From your post I gather you want more power and a noticable lope at idle. Important information we would need. Exhaust system? Tranny, stall speed if auto? Rear end gear ratio? Compression ratio? Intake manifold and carb? What type of fuel you plan to use? What type of cam you want to use flat tappet, hydralic, solid, roller, ect. And probably the most important how do you plan to use your truck, daily driver, towing, street/strip, weekend cruiser? With fuel prices edging up is mileage important to you? Fill in the blanks as best you can and I think we can point you in the right dirrection....Stroker

[bigjimzlll]

what they said

[breeh]

Asking for the perfect cam is like asking for a perfect stock market recommendation

[Class of 69]

....or the perfect woman....

[Pardue'sCustoms]

I sure wished there was a perfect cam! About all we can do is point you in the dirrection of the best compromise. But as junkyardjohn already pointed out we'll need some more information to even do that. From your post I gather you want more power and a noticable lope at idle. Important information we would need. Exhaust system? Tranny, stall speed if auto? Rear end gear ratio? Compression ratio? Intake manifold and carb? What type of fuel you plan to use? What type of cam you want to use flat tappet, hydralic, solid, roller, ect. And probably the most important how do you plan to use your truck, daily driver, towing, street/strip, weekend cruiser? With fuel prices edging up is mileage important to you? Fill in the blanks as best you can and I think we can point you in the right dirrection....Stroker

I want noticable lope at idle. Important information . Exhaust system. small tube full lenght headers 2 1/4 size pipe with stage one flow master. Tranny, turbo 350 and it is a good one shifts hard and changes good. No stall . Rear end gear ratio i got a 308 posi iam installing . Compression ratio it should be 8.1. Intake manifold edelbrock performer and Q jet carb. What type of fuel you plan to use. reg gas . want to use hydralic, And probably the most important how do you plan to use your truck, daily driver, towing, street, weekend cruiser? With fuel prices edging up is mileage important to you? NO Fill in the blanks as best you can and I think we can point you in the right dirrection....Stroker

[bigjimzlll]

with the low compression and no stall converter it will be hard to have a lopey cam that performs well. The comp cam 268h has a lope, but is way to big for your application. something like the xe256 or 260 would be a good choice....but call the cam manufactuers and get there suggestions

[Class of 69]

I second bigjim... you don't have enough compression for a cam with lope... you'll drown it! Most cams that lope idle around 1,000 rpm, and would be a problem with the stock converter too. Sorry to say, but you need to stay on the mild side with your present configuration.

[crazy longhorn]

8 to 1 comp? put a low profile blower on it (Weiand, or B&M) holley has B&M now i think. You can shut the hood & call it a stocker........some guys wont know what smoked them till its too late crazyL

[Stroker]

The gear, stall and compression ratio are all going against you. But remember cam selection is all about compromise. I think there may be a way but it will most likely require a custom ground cam and possibly a looser converter. The lopey idle your after is the result of a cam with a lot of overlap and is generally associated with cams having long durations. You can't use a long duration cam because of your 8/1 compression ratio (a late intake valve closing event will make your dynamic compression to low and intake reversion will become a problem). My suggestion is to use a short duration cam with a tight LCA of about 106 deg. This will give you the lope and make exellent mid range power as long as you have an exhaust system with very low back pressure. This type of cam will make your engine very peaky, you will have a loss of low rpm power untill you come up on the cam and it will suck gas. If this sounds like something you're interested in we can go on to the next step and try to determine the proper intake valve closeing point and get to a more specific duration....Stroker

[Pardue'sCustoms]

i was thanking about useing the 327 350 hp cam that came in 327 but a new of course you still can get those thats what the man thats buliding it says be a good choice see i bought a truck and it had a eagle ep 25 cam with a BIG lopy sound but it had no bottom end power and it broke a rocker stud and i tore it down and had the heads fixed and i did not want to put that size of cam back in it since it is mostly stock

[bigjimzlll]

the 350HP 327 is a pretty aggressive cam...and will not work well with 8-1CR..its an old design to...newer designs make more power, while still being streeable

[Stroker]

Pardue'sCustoms, do you know which one of these 441 heads you have? 441" – 3932441. This head was found on the 1969-1970 350 engines (255hp 350), it was a decent flowing large chamber head. It had 1.94/1.50" valves, 76CC combustion chambers, DO have accessory holes, intake port volume should be 161CC's, exhaust port volume should be 61CC's. Not to be confused with 3923441, which was a 1.72/1.50" valve, 327 truck head. It would make a significant difference in your comp ratio.

[Pardue'sCustoms]

3932441. This head was found on the 1969-1970 350 engines (255hp 350), it was a decent flowing large chamber head. It had 1.94/1.50" valves, 76CC


yes these is my heads but they got new 202/1.50 valves now i just had them redone and he put 202 intake valves in it

[540 Stroker]

I'm going to jump right in and suggest a cam that I think you'd be happy with. It's the 272 Energizer by Crane Cams. It's a mild cam, but that's just what you need. Bigger is not better when it comes to cams. Anyways, it has 214 degress of duration at .050, 272 degrees of total duration-this will give you a nice rumble at a 750-800rpm idle. Keep in mind that it won't idle like a "built" engine, but it won't sound stock either. The lift is .454. I had this cam in a mildly built daily driver 6 years ago and loved it. It had great low-mid range power and I wouldn't hesitate to suggest it.

[lukecp]

Isn't the 327/350 HP cam the one commonly called the RV cam? I have an RV cam in my truck, and i like it OK. The idle is pretty smooth, it is hard to notice that it has a cam at all. The specs are 204/214 duration @ seat to seat, 270/280 duration @ .050 lift, and .420/.442 valve lift. It is a good cam for a low compression engine, like the 8.5:1 350 in my truck. Best part is that you can pick one up for about $80 brand new with lifters from Summit Racing, or an auto parts store.

[bigjimzlll]

the 350HP 327 cam, I believe was the famous duntov 30-30 cam..its a solid lifter with almost 300 degrees of duration..it was called a 30-30 cam because the .030 lash adjustment. the engine had almost 11-1 CR with fuellie heads with 2.02 valves..

[mikep]

The L-79 was the 327/350 HP cam. Its a good cam in its own right . Not the most modern in design. It was built to make use of the valve springs of the day which were pretty bad so its long on duration and short on lift . Its got a decent idle and I believe was the most aggresive hydraulic small block cam offered by the factory in production vehicles in the 60's. Kind of lopey but not bad really. They put them in everyting from vettes to chevelles. Ive got a friend who's dad has an original 66 SS Nova with the L79 and 65,000 miles on the odometer. He'll let you have it ...for $22,000.
.
The Duntov 30-30 was a factory over the counter replacement cam . It never cam on anything from the factory ( maybe the 67-69 Z28 . The 375 HP 327 was a different cam as was the 350 LT-1) but in the old days they pretty much handed you the cam along with the keys to your new corvette. Its ancient . I believe it was one of the first cams Zora Arkus-Duntov came up with for the SS Corvette program around '57. Its a ROUGH idling pig of a cam with no road manners. Its got an extremely fast opening ramp compared to most modern cams .The advertised duration numbers arent that bad but theyre really misleading. I believe theyr'e in the 280-290 range but at .050" theyre upwards of 250 or so. Those valves are FLYING open. Once again as is typical with old cam designs theres a huge duration number coupled with a fairly short lift for the amount of duration to compensate for the poor springs of the day.

The closest factory cam to the "RV" cam would probably be the 300 HP 327 cam.

[540 Stroker]

Those old cams from the muscle car era were odd......"lots" of duration with relatively "low" lift on wide centerlines. Thank God for modern cam technology.

[Pardue'sCustoms]

thanks i went with and will have to see how it does

[lpaine]

There is really no such thing as a "perfect cam" Like so many other things there are always compromises, it depends what kind of driving you do, what trans you have, etc.