DINO XANTHAKYS

I am thinking of changing out my stock cam to get mor power something with some lobe at idle without affecting my lights etc...

Currently I have:
-4spd, L48

-Edelbrock performer intake manifold with the stock ait cleaner and
cowl induction set up.

-Stock Q-jet, working fine

-True dual 2 1/2 inch pipes with 2chambered flowmasters (cats
eliminated (no emission test in NVA)).

-Stock 3.36 rear (would like to increase to 3.70's in future)

-Have but not installed: tight tuck headers

What is the best cam with a substantial increase in power with a nice lobe at idle without affecting headlihgts etc...

Please help!!
Dino X.

Durango_Boy

The L82 cam for your same year will help things a little bit but your lack of power is mostly caused by low compression and restrictive air flow.

The cam is a start though.

mackeyk3

It all depends on the use of the car.
I would probably change the heads first.
More power, lighter weight, still idles like a stocker.
ALso, if you do change the cam, you should consider a hydraulic roller. Much less friction loss.
The carb and intake are fine for a street car, would work with afr or edelbrock heads.
Once you start, though, it is a vicious circle- more cam, need better heads, make more power, the bottom end goes south, etc etc!

lars

When considering a cam change, you need to look at the engine as an entire system. The biggest problem you have with your '75 350 is that the engine is extremely low compression with poor flow through the heads, regardless of what cam you install. So you need to keep any cam change reasonable enough that you don't loose all power and torque from excessive lift and overlap with the low compression ratio and poor head flow. You're not going to get a "substantial increase in power" just from a cam change with the rest of the engine being close to stock, but you should be able to realize a nice 15 to 30 horse improvement over your stock L48.

With that in mind, and assuming you also want to keep costs under control, the CompCams XE262H is a very nice upgrade that will produce a nice performance increase when combined with the headers and new intake manifold. It will idle well and produce plenty of vacuum for power brakes and accessories. It does not have a significant lope at idle, but you don't want that with your current setup - it won't work. But it has just a hint of a performance idle so most enthusiasts will be able to tell that you've done some work to the engine. This cam will produce good power from off-idle through 5,000 rpm, which is where your heads are going to give up anyway.

Good luck with the work and the tuning. If I were you, I'd work on the ignition system curve and carb setup before doing any cam work - you can gain as much from doing a good ignition curve as you can from the cam...

Alwyn678

488/272 is the cam that I have in my 74 Vette 488/272 degrees works very well

SteveG75

The L-82 cam is too big for the stock 8.5:1 compression. The cam I swapped into my stock L-48 was a Crane Powermax 272. ~212 @.050 lift and ~.480 lift total (been a long time). Really woke the car up.

Matt Gruber

i have the xe262. good pick. should change springs too.
gets 14+ mpg
will pull strong to 5700 w/ good heads

Little Mouse

You would be doing yourself a big favor while you have it torn down
to replace the heads. With a 4 speed 3.70s down the road with
more compression to work with you need more cam with 3.70 gearing. But I agree without extra compression from new heads the 262 comp cam would be as far as you would want to go with the very poor compression you have to work with.