I need some help shoosing a cam. The motor is a 010 motor with 991 casting heads going on. I want a cam that will make great power, while still maintaining some driveability(the car is driven on weekends only, so perfct driveability is not a concern) and lope real nice through the sidepipes. I will also be upgrading the rockers as well. Any suggestions on good power cams and a good set of rockers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all!

Forgot to mention that the car is an Auto.

[Modified by Pettee17, 2:21 PM 5/28/2004]


[Modified by Pettee17, 8:00 PM 5/28/2004]

 

Ask the experts. They will ask you all about your engine and what you are looking for and then recommend a cam for ya. :thumbs:
Comp Cams http://www.compcams.com/Technical/CamSelection/ 1-800-999-0853
Crane Cams http://www.cranecams.com/?show=faxForms&type=street 386-258-6174

 

Rear gear ratio?
Torque converter stall speed?
Headers? True dual exhaust? Exhuast pipe diameter? (edit- sorry, I see that you mentioned sidpipes)
What intake manifold? Cylinder heads?
Personally I'd recommend the comp cams XE262 for a 350.
I have a XE268 in my 383, and for the first year, I had the original ram's horn exhaust going into a custom true dual 2.5", with dual cats, and generic mufflers. Performer manifold, stock torque converter, and 3.363 rear gears.
I was very happy with the XE268 cam, but I think I probably should've gone with the XE262 to bump up my bottom end torque. As I added better parts to my combo, the power just increased more and more.
There is a nice lope to the cams, and they aren't too radical. I have about 14-15" of vacuum at idle. I was able to tweak the tuning a little, and pass my emission test without the cats on the car last year.
According to my machinist, the XE268 is the biggest cam that can still use the stock torque converter. If you wind up getting one of the XE cams from comp cams, make sure that you get the matching valvesprings.
I would recommend the pro-magnum full roller-rockers from comp cams too. They are made of steel versus aluminum, and are in the same price range as some of the alum roller rockers. Those rockers can be worth a good 20-30 hp. I saw a nice boost in power when going from stamped roller tip rockers to these pro-magnum full rollers.

 

My car is a bone stock 72' L48 w/Auto, stock torque converter and 3.08 rear gears. I was planning on putting in the Comp Cam XE268 full kit and Roller Tipped Rocker Arms. I just need to pep this car up a bit so it's not such a turd. Someday, funds permitting, I'll do more, but for now I'd like to just deal with the cam, rearend gearing and maybe a torque converter.

Does the XE262 have a bit of a lope? The descriptions I have read regarding the XE262 say it has a good idle, but nothing about a lope in idle. I was planning on putting in the XE268 for the lope factor alone.
I know I would be losing low end with the XE268. I just hoped it was going to be a minimal loss (I know, I know, I'm fooling myself). The XE262 would be the better choice. I just wanted a little lope.

Do you know if the Comp Cam Pro Magnum Full Roller Rockers fit under the stock valve covers? I would rather use them than the Roller Tipped Steel Rockers, but I was worried about the clearance issues.

I was also planning on using the Edelbrck Performer EPS manifold. I want to retain my stock dual snorkel air cleaner assembly and stock low rise hood. Have you used this manifold without having clearance issues.

Any info you can provide is appreciated.
Tim

 

I'm far from being an expert, so you might want to wait for someone else to give a better explanaton...
As far as I know, the 262 and 268 cams both have a lobe separation angle of 110 degrees, but the 262 doesn't open the valves as much as the 268. I think the 262 will be a little smoother than the 268, but I''m guessing that it'll be real close in the lope department.
If you're more interested in the lopey idle, versus driveablility, You might want to even consider the XE274 or XE280. Good luck passing the emission test! But then again, if i can have a 383 with the XE268, and pass without cats, then maybe with cats, you could squeek by with a more radical cam.
I personally dreamed of a lope that sounded like the beginning drum solo to Van Halen's "Hot for teacher", but that would mean that I'd need to idle around 1500, and have a stall converter over 3500 rpm. Not too street friendly.

As far as the pro-mag rockers, I can't say for sure if they'd fit under the stock valve cover. I would guess that they don't , because of the oversized rocker adjusting nuts. I have a set of tall valve covers, with baffles, and I can tell you that the rockers are skinny enough to leave the baffles in, but that may be due to the fact that I'm using tall covers.

I can't say if the old performer and the performer EPS are the same height. If they are, I know from experience that you can fit a 3"x 14" drop base under the hood, but I've no idea whatsoever if it would fit the dual snorkel.
I would guess that it would not, 'cause in my older edelbrock catalogs, the performer has the vette listed as a footnote saying that it wont fit. It fit in mine, but I obviously didn't have the stock air cleaner.

 

Thanks for your reply.

I'll give Comp Cams and Edelbrock a call on Tues. and see if I can get some solid info from them.

It would be sweet to have the "Hot for teacher" lope. One of these days.

Thanks,
Tim

 

I also love a lumpy idle but it comes at a price, the price being the loss of some low end power. The reason an engine with a large cam lopes is that it isn't running so well at idle. At low rpm, lots of overlap reduces intake and exhaust velocity, allowing exhaust exhaust gasses to push back into the combustion chamber and also preventing the carb from properly metering the fuel mixture. The trick is to select a cam that has enough overlap to "sound" the way you want but not so much that it turns your car into a dog at low rpm. How well the rest of the engine is tuned will also have a lot to do with how much overlap is streetable also. Overlap is a funtion of both lobe separation and duration.