Yes, that does sound like a good solution. I mentioned earlier that I had forgotten that I had gone to a thicker head gasket after replacing the pistons and it's now 10.6:!

 

It would be worth your time to go to Jones Cam website and fill out his form. He will probably get back to you the next day. He makes every Cam individually only for your combination. His only guarantee is that his Cam will work better than anybody else's. As of a couple months ago he couldn't get any Cam Blanks to grind due to the government shutdown. I sent him a 25 year old billet Cam and he re ground it.

 

May I ask what he charged for a regrind?
I have a GM OEM cam out of a Gen VI truck I would like to have done.
thank you.

 

I Think it was something like $280. This Cam is for a Vortec 4 Bolt Main Block with AFR 195s and a Accel Super Ram Intake. (C4,)

 

Thank you.

 

Filled out their form, now to see what I hear back.

 

I would be Leary of some company that doesn't even know what lobe lift and rocker ratio adds up to? 1.6 X .353 = .5648 not the printed .664

Regrinding cams... Locally Erson cams used to do it. But it required welding with hard rod, machining, and then retempering. Because the lobes are set on the original you can't really change LSA. The lift total and ramp rate could be changed.

 

I caught that too. In the recomendation it had the correct math.

 

Bullet offered to regrind my existing cam. But because of the change in the lobe center that I desired that was not an option.
They use computerized technology on one of their cam grinders, and can many variations, grind any duration down to a single degree, with a variety of lifts, and lobe shapes, off of a single cam physical "model". They offered me 32 variations at 233 degrees alone! But obviously using an existing cam and working within that profile there are some limitations.
They have cores, but due to the current high demand in the industry because of the industry wide blank shortage, I had a 5 week wait.
This was just last month.

 

I had a nice long conversation with Jeremy at Comp Cams today. Two bits of good information came out of that...one is that their cams are mostly all billet steel cores now including the profile I had and second, he expects their warranty department to compensate me some toward a new cam. Since I was satisfied with the characteristics of the one that failed, I just ordered a new one along with the proper distributor gear. He also made a recommendation for valve springs that will yield much higher forces are full lift so this issue should not occur again.

 

I guess I'm under the impression that most modern Hyd Roller Cams are not Billet. The Comp Cams one I bought last year was not. In the 1960s and 1970s most all Roller Cams were Billet and when the Hyd Roller Cams came out in the 1980s they followed suit. Somewhere in the 1990's they started being offered in cast by the aftermarket, after all GM never needed Billet. When You think of it, a Roller Cam should be easier to turn than a conventual one. GM put these in for MPG and Emissions. I was surprised to find that Cloyes doesn't even make a Double Row Timing Chain for a factory SBC Roller Cam. Of coarse a Billet probably has a lot more advantages than " Twist". The Cam I had reground was a 30 year old NOS still in the Tube Lingenfelter 209 Cam. Still a great Cam for a TPI but I wanted more with the Super Ram.

 

Well I've learned a bit more today while trying to get to the root cause of the failure. While I'm mostly convinced the springs should have been stronger than Comp Cams recommendation, I now know that the springs that came on the Trick Flow heads don't match their specs and are even lighter. I have a rather crude valve spring tester from Moroso and the first thing I noticed was it doesn't take any pressure at all to move the valves off their seats. They move at somewhere between 40 and 60 pounds! When I discovered that on one spring, I pushed down on others by hand and could move any of them with relative ease!

The Trick Flow data sheet doesn't state what the installed height is but provides a spring spec stating there is 110# at a height of 1.700" and 290# at 1.200". Admittedly I did not check the installed height of the springs when I purchased the heads but it was easy to assume that they were installed that that height. It also states the spring rate is 364#/in. The actual installed height in their head is 1.80" which calculates to be only 64# at that spring rate. And with a cam lift of 0.520", the full open force is only going to be about 250#, certainly not enough to avoid lifter/valve float with any kind of performance cam. And I think the actual numbers are even less based on what I measured with the Moroso tool!

So now armed with this information, I'm doing a spreadsheet with all the specs and calculations necessary to make my selection of springs.

 

I have a friend that does racing cylinder heads. His opinion is that most of the heads available today (not high end heads) come with the cheapest offshore parts available to keep their prices competitive. He recommends buying bare heads and assemble with good parts.

 

Don't know what GM's reasoning is in regard to its choice of material for its OE roller cams; but I like the result. I do Know GM chose billet steel for all OE rollers; including its mildest & tiniest. Yes, even those rollers w/ light 80 lb OE springs.

Don't necessarily believe every motor needs a double-roller chain. However, Cloyes 9-1145 is a double-roller set intended to fit (step nose) GM OE SBC roller cams. It's not a new addition. As with many blocks, some clearancing may be required in that area around the upper sprocket-chain. JME, a top quality 1/2" pitch true single-roller set is more than adequate.

65air_coupe ... if you're replacing a failing comp roller with another comp roller, suggest Verification of how the new piece is Not ground on a cast core.

as far as Mike Jones' cam card is concerned; isn't a recognized leader in the field permitted an occasional typo or two? Can't we easily adapt to such minutia?

 

New ARP studs and new springs although haven't made the final choice yet..

 

From what I've seen, the difference will be clearly apparent.

 

Oh, once in hand there's no doubt. But sometimes pics aren't so definitive

 

This thread has really got me thinking, the reason being, I am building a 327 with a Comp Cams solid roller cam and kit I've had on the shelf and never used. I have planned to use it in this build with some 23 degree TFS heads I have. The kit came with springs, retainer's, cups, roller lifters with link bars, timing chain and 268 Solid roller camshaft. Now here are some things I have turned up that you may find of interest.

Video: Looking At Different Cam Core Materials With COMP Cams (enginelabs.com)

austempered - Google Search

SADI cam core thoughts - Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

 

Thanks, read through it all and found it interesting. One piece of advice I'd offer based on what I've learned is get a tool that will allow you to accurately measure the spring force at the given lift of your cam and then shoot for the lowest value that will avoid valve float. With the linked rollers, you won't have to worry about what happened to me so start low and only go up in force as necessary. You'll likely spin that 327 faster than I do my 406 so beating on that cast core with solid rollers is something to be cautious about.

 

Interesting stuff in speed talk.
The one guy on there is pretty highly respected and has his own camshaft company. He is very active on the Chevelle forum. His opinion is US made SADI is better than many foreign billet cores and up to #200 on the seat is ok if good quality SADI.