OK, here it is I have a ’65 Malibu SS. Current drivetrain is (to the best of my memory, it has been a long time since I built it) as follows:

’70 350 truck (C-10) 4 bolt/4bbl block
stock crank and pistons balanced
stock points distributor recurved (24deg. In by 3000rpm)
Erson Cam (see the specs that were quoted to me by Epistuff @ the bottom of this post or a pic of the actual cam card @ http://www.geocities.com/troposcuba/bu5.htm )
993 chevy heads; full port/polish, manley 2.02/1.60 stainless valves
Manton dual taper pushrods/springs
Crane 1.6 roller rockers
TRW hi vol oil pump
Stock fuel pump
Edelbrock performer
Holley 4150 600 double pump
Hooker headers (comp?)
TH350/Stock converter/b&m shiftkit
Unknown rearend gearing but runs about 4000rpm @ 70 mph.
Soon to be D&D T-56 six speed manual trans (I hope!)
Need to get recommendation on rear end gears for the T-56 trans still before I can put together final specs for the engine rebuild.

Going to be a streeter but may see the track on occasion and I want to be able to scare my wife and all the kids running around in Mustang Cobra’s etc. but would still like my pwr brakes/steering and a/c to work. It runs surprisingly strong as is. But I have lived outside the US for the last 9 years (I am in the Air Force) and the car has been in storage the whole time. I broke a lifter the last time I drove it (yes broke a lifter!) and replaced it with another lifter I had. Not good in practice I know but it got the car back on the road, and anyway I figure it is time for a good tear down and rebuild with a little more modern technology that is available today. Any and all helpful criticism and advice is welcome. I think I could use a little more cam since I know that the heads breathe good. At it’s best before I broke it it seemed to run like a raped ape to about 6200 rpm and then fall flat. I was always very happy with how it ran once I got it all sorted out the first time, but just like everyone else out there, I know there is more power to be had. Pointers, ideas, criticism, abuse are all welcome inputs at this point.

Thanks fellas

Lobe lifts are .296 intake and .299 exhaust. With a typical 1.5 SBC rocker, you get valve lifts of .444 intake and .449 exhaust.
Advertised durations are 260I/268E The .050" durations are 206 intake/ 214 exhaust and it looks like the cam is installed on a 108 C/L. LSA = 112*

I think you can use a bigger cam. Frankly, I'm surprised it pulls to 6200 with that cam. I would bet it peters out around 5000.

Well, I am no small block guy, so I can't really help on the combo stuff, but that cam is pretty mild as listed on the spec sheet. There are probably a ton of newer cams out there to better suit your needs. I see you are using 1.6 rockers, so that makes your valve lifts .473/.478 as opposed to the .444/.449 numbers I gave you earlier. The cam card is a bit confusing though. The exhaust closing is listed a -9 BTDC. The (-) sign with BTDC should equate to 9 ATDC, but then the math does not work out for the .050" duration of 214 as the card says. If you use 9ATDC you get an .050" exhaust duration of 232, not 214, so I have to assume the exhaust duration is correct as written and there is a typo on the actual closing time. Same thing goes for the intake opening point. It is listed as -5 ATDC, which really means 5 BTDC. But if you use that number in the calculation, you get an .050" duration of 216 for the intake. 216 and 232 are way to far apart, so again, I assume the 214/206 is correct, which makes it a very mild, low rpm cam. As far as the gearing goes, I think a T-56 has something like a .80 5th gear and a .62 6th gear. If that is true, you can really run some steep rear gears and still have good highway RPM's. If you are taching 4000 RPM now at 70 MPH, it sounds like you have 4.10's in the rear now. Either that or you are running midget rear tires. With a .62 6th geer trans, that would bring your RPM's down to about 2500 RPM @ 70 MPH. Timing of 24*,...is that total mechanical advance? Or is that the additional on top of your initial setting? You want at least 34 degrees total.

georgia69, your partially right. runs strong to about 5500, and starts to fall off, but just goes flat right above 6000. epistuff yeah, i knew the cam was mild cause i got that before the heads came into the picture. i was running the stock unported small valve heads for the first week after the rebuild, so that is what the cam was intended for. there were problems with those heads and then the good ones came into the picture. i also noticed the seeming discrepencies on the cam card. that was part of what was confusing me in the first place. as far as the 70 mph/4,000 deal. remember that i am still running on the th350 at this point. i have 245/60/14's so not what i would think of as midget tires really. and also that is total mechanical adv. on the distributor. I haven't run the car in 8 years now, but i set the timing by getting close to factory spec with a light and then just doing a bunch of runs and playing with it for the best times/throttle response. I have a good connection with Manton Engineering. They make pushrods and valve springs, so i will talk to them about the valvetrain reccomendations. I haven't had a chance to really work on the car yet. just thinking a lot about it at this point. but it is coming apart real soon, so just getting my mind straight on a few things at this point. thanks again

troposcuba,
The cam you have has a LSA of 114. The opening closing / times for the intake and exhaust are typical for a short duration, wide lobe center cam. This cam has "0" overlap @.050". You could go with more cam, keep .050" overlap to less than 10 degrees. (6 - 10 for a good range to maintain idle quality). You can either download the Dynamic Comp calculator from this site or have someone calculate it for you. The 350CI motors I have run in the past worked good with intake durations up to 220 deg (.050).

I don't know what your compression is, but I would run a cam with a duration of around 220-230@.50 duration. It would give you a nice idle, but still be reasonably streetable. If you have the compression for it and you don't mind a more agressive engine note add 10 more degrees of duration. I think he meant short for midget tires not small.