It's been a while since I studied up on cams so I figured I would ask for some input. I am looking a head on this. My 73 454 is tapping. If it is more than a simple valve adjustment and I need to replace a bad lifter I may as well replace the cam & lifters. Will look deeper next week. I am looking for something streetable not a raticle racer here. The car cruses around 2250-2500. It's a 4 spd car with 454 with 8.25 to 1 compression. Would like a snappy cam with power range from 1500-5000RPMs. Do they make something that fits that request? Thanks

 

Hard to go wrong with the tried and true 268 or 270 cam. It stump puller makes good torque, not a top end beast type cam.
I prefer the older style grinds not the fast ramp "extreme" type stuff
268 high energy (dual energy?Been awhile) comp or the 270 Isky mega cam personal all time favorite being as you have a stick.

Youll hear a slight rump but nothing heavy. Comes on real nice upper bottom to midrange

 

I remeber the isky cams. They sound like what I'm looking for. Just want to make sure it will work with my compreesion ratio. Maybe I should call Isky for a little tech support.

 

Has anyone tried this cam? Lunati Voodoo 60202 camshaft, The rpm range souds perfect -1400 to 5800 RPM..

 

4 speed, stock compression. I like this one. http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...?csid=408&sb=2

 

I was going to suggest what you mentioned, giving the major cam companies tech lines a call, as low CR may be a bit of a problem. Most modern cam designs are computer grinds now, and usually cream the old stuff. Reason I recommend calling tech, is they can usually give you a slightly varied catalog cam grind part number, such as different LSA, for better idle and vacuum.

 

The low compression is my main concern at this time. I don't want to at like a teenager and over cam the engine. Wait do teenagers still build engines? I thought they only play on their phones.

 

I too would be leary of "overcamming' for the compression but have run both in a low compression 454 with simply and intake and headers they both ran very well. Had well tuned Qjets and would jump real quick when you left a light. You would think they would be a touch sluggish.

 

The 73-75 454 used the 353040 cam which was listed as having a .440 lift, both intake and exhaust.

The 71 and 72 454/365, 270 and 240 engines, which also had 8.5:1 compression, used the 3904359 cam which was listed as having a .461 lift for the intake, and .480 lift for the exhaust. (This was the same cam used in the 1970 454/390 engine, but was 10.25:1 compression instead of 8.5:1)

I can see no reason you couldn't use that cam in your engine since all these engines used the same basic open chamber heads (although different part/casting numbers) with 2.06/1.72 valves, 113cc's and 8.5:1 compression ratio.

Now, I'm not recommending one brand of cam over another, but I've used the Summit house brand kit's in three of my engines and love them. For awhile, when I was commuting to work in my 68 Camaro (396), I was using the SUM-K1300 kit. It's great for low end torque and gas mileage. With that cam, a 6210 Holley, a Holley Street Dominator intake, 3993820 iron heads, a 2.56 axle ratio and 10.5:1 compression ratio, I was getting 17 MPG on the highway and great throttle response. A very nice cam in my opinion.

The 427 in my 69 Corvette (bone stock 427/390 but with lower 9.5:1 compression ratio and a 3.08 axle) has the SUM-K1301 kit in it. I don't get quite the mileage I did with the K1300 cam (around 13-14 on the highway), but the throttle response it a little better than the K1300. It too is a nice all around kit.

We've since pulled the 396 out of the Camaro and installed a 427 (10:1 with almost 425HP on the dyno), and it has the SUM-K1302 kit in it. Although we've only run it on the dyno so far, the throttle response is great, but you have to keep the RPM's a little higher than the other two. We're estimating that with 3.31:1 gears (we're pulling the 2.56's out), the mileage won't be very good though. Probably in the range of 10-11 on the highway. But again, that's just an estimate.

I would recommend the SUM-K1300 or the SUM-K1301 for your engine if you want it to be a little more peppy. The 1300 would probably be equivilant as the stock 71-72 3904359 cam and the K1301 would probably be a step up to that. In my opinion, the 1302 would be way too much for your engine so I wouldn't recommend that one.

By the way, the Summit house brand is apparently manufactured by Crane. More info HERE.

Ed

 

You have 454 CI and a 4 speed. A 268 duration cam is not overcamming it even if you want a torque monster.

 

Thanks everyone. I think we are all almost saying the same thing. I just looked at the Sum-K1300 and the specs are Duration 266/276, Lift .475/.500. RPM Range 1,000-4,500 Sounds like a torque monster. If I end up going with it I 'll push it a little past that range but not often. The Comp cam is very close on duration but has a bigger lift. Again pretty close specs. The Voodoo cam again has the same duration but bigger lift. Must be something to that duration if they all have it. A friend of mine just suggested putting on a new harmonic balancer, I guess I cant' go wrong doing that. The old one is pushing 40 yrs.

 

Which ever cam you choose remember the operating range high RPM is not peak hp but the spot in RPM the cam will start falling off big time, good shift point. Your curve will generally peak and level or start to drop 5-700 RPM below that. A 4 speed will be fine with a little higher bottom operating range RPM than you think vs an automatic, especially with a 454. You get into the powerband pretty quick with gears. With the factory heads a little not a lot, of extra duration and lift will help cylinder filling. Better cylinder filling increases VE and power across the board.

 

While really not helping with the original question, curious of "restoman's" mention of using a Holley Street Dominator single plane intake. My experience with these, is pulls pretty strong up high, but not that great down in the low rpm's. Changed one out to an Edelbrock Performer on a car, and turned into a tire shredding torque monster. Don't think Holley even makes Street Dominator's anymore, but you may want to be careful in choosing one of these.

 

You can get any cam profile from any of the many cam companies. You can go with off the shelf or you can have one made to your exact specifications.

Personally I like to stick with one company be it Comp Cams, Lunati all the way to Summit or Jegs in house cams.

There are only a few cam core blank makers and all the cam companies buy there blanks from them. They then go on to machine the blanks to specs they believe most people will want.

I can't overstress this enough that there are cams made out austempered "concrete" as I like to call them with a thin layer of hardened material on the lobes, then there are billet steel cams, these are the only cams I would put in any motor.

Comp Cams at the time I built my 427ci a couple of years ago made me a custom billet cam very close to the XR286R solid roller they sell off the shelf with only a few changes like small base circle and slightly higher lift for only $40 dollars more than the off the shelf cam they make which I believe is not billet steel.

They ask you a bunch of questions and all the info is marked on the end of the cam by hand with a dremel. I can't stress enough to spend the extra and get a billet cam be it flat tappet or roller. Below gives you some idea of what I am talking about in pics. This goes for anyone building a motor

Which one would you want in your motor ?


And here's mine I didn't know whether to use it or hang it on the wall



I really fascinates me that the roller lifter can follow these cam lobes @ 7500 RPM as they look almost vertical off the center of the cam

 

Don't think they make billet flat tappet cams, only rollers. You can get them nitrided which is a good option in my opinion especially with the extra valvetrain weight in a BBC.

 

All this good advice makes it even harder to decide. I found another cam that sounded pretty good to me too. Lunati 10201LK - Lunati BareBones Camshaft and Lifter Kits Duration 280/290, Lift .501/.527, Chevy, Big Block, Kit Basic Operating RPM Range Idle-5,000 All this for $115.95 http://www.summitracing.com/parts/LUN-10201LK/

 

I am talking about a custom cam for only 40 bucks extra, I don't know if you can a custom billet flat tappet cam or not been a long time since I've used a flat tappet cam but I wouldn't be surprised at all if you can. All you have to do is phone them, it's all done over the phone at Comp.

Just looked -9 is Steel Billet Core -9W is Welded Steel Billet Flat Tappet, you'll have to call Comp to ask them what that means

 

Another thing that's seemed to escape mention, is maybe you're not needing to do much of anything at all. Recall years ago, sticky hydraulic lifters weren't that uncommon of a problem. You could, and probably still can get highly solvent oil additives that sometimes free these up. This stuff isn't meant to be left in very long, and all the oil will need to drained out within a couple days. Probably worth a shot.

 

One last question(for now) Has anyone ever put in one of the above mentioned cams without changing the valve springs?

 

Yep. All three times I stayed with the stock valve springs.

By the way, I knew someone was going to bring up the fact that the Holley Street Dominator isn't a very good intake, but I had it handy when I went from my cowl induction hood back to the stock SS hood. I was originally running a Weiand Stealth and a Holley 3310, but when I changed the hood it hit the top of the carb. So I used what I had on hand. A Holley Street Dominator and a Holley 6210. It wasn't the greatest combination in the world, but it was actually better than I throught it would be! I still had great throttle response and 17 MPG to boot. I won't complain about that!

Ed