My neighbor is looking for a different cam to put in his 302 from his '69 camaro. He has the engine out and apart for new rings and bearings and figures this is a good time to change the cam. The engine is all stock except it has been bored .030" and has pistons that come up to about zero deck. The car has a 4 speed, factory headers and 3.73 gears. A gear swap is something that is on the way as well. Possibly 4.56's or deeper.
Previously the engine has had a bit of low rpm ping when running on pump gas. What he would like to try is to see if there is a solid roller cam that he can use in there that will help broaden the power curve a little and bleed off some of the cranking compression at the low end to help it live a little more happily on 94 octane. He would like to retain the stock valve springs so valve lift is a concern. This engine will see 8000rpm on occasion. he is looking for an idle about like the stock DZ302 cam (which is rumpety) He spent a couple hours on the phone with someone from comp cams and just kept going in circles with the guy since the guy couldn't figure out what my neighbor is trying to do. I was thinking about maybe a low lift version of one of UDHarold's cams would fit right in there, but I have no experience with roller cams so I am tossing this to you guys. What do you think?

Can't use a solid roller without using the correct springs. Z springs are out!! I know there are a lot of '69 Z/28's out there but when a DZ stamped 302 in need of a rebuild can pull in $5000 of more your friend is de-valuing his car by not building it back stock... Don't get me wrong a cam change isn't that big a deal unless you have to do machine work to the heads for proper springs and that can't really be undone...

The '70 Z/28 LT1 solid lift cam is a dual pattern cam designed to bring the power band down a bit in the rpm range and will still let you twist the little mouse like your friend wants to...

a couple of points...what is the compression ratio now? still using domed pistons? The old valve springs are not stiff enuff for a solid roller..I think anyone of the newer tight lash solid flat tappets would be good...but with rpms that high..new springs would be advised

if its a orginal z28 don't change it. Cut the value of the car so much.

He can always swap the old components back on....

roller cams take bigger springs. If he wants to update the cam, get a newer flat tappet solid cam. 11:1 compression and iron heads are hard to make live on premium fuel whatever cam you run.

Gee, the Crane Powermax F278 would work well, its done on a 114 lsa, so the intake closing has to be at near 80 ABDC. Hard to know without knowing the compression and dynamic compression to see if it 94 octane friendly.

Thanks for all the info. I don't think he wants to cut the spring seats on the heads to accomodate new springs. But new springs, stock replacement or otherwise, that will fit properly on the head without modification are not out of the question.
You have already beat me to my next question, and that was what other solid flat tappet cams would be a good choice. Has anyone here tried a tight lash solid in a shorter stroke mouse?

Is SY1 over here??

Here's what he had to say over at Little Brother, team Camaro back, in 12/23/01 if you want to look it up.

Post name is "Topic: 301 buildup - cam question - roadracing applic," by legrand198

pdq67

I have a cam I designed to replace the '30-30' Duntov, way back in 1980.
It is 292 at .020, 255 at .050, 162 at .200, and .518" gross valve lift, .500" net(.018" valve lash HOT). I normally make it on 110 or 112 LSA. The '30-30' Duntov was (measured off my blueprint) 312 At .020, 254.25 at .050, 154.6 at .200, and .485" gross valve lift, .455" net lift(.030" valve lash HOT), and on 114 LSA.
The 292F12 is available from me on special order. This is the big brother to the 272 and 282, and was my master F2, designed right after the 288F.
The 292F needs to be lashed at least once a year...

UDHarold

BTW, it works fine with those Z-28 optional valve springs, and there are 1.25-1.30 replacement springs that will allow 7500 rpm. My old part number was 574, the same spring as Comp's 941, 1.260 dia, 130 lbs at 1.75, 335 lbs at 1.25....
Lunati has the identical spring also.

Tell your buddy to pickle that engine and stick it in the corner of his garage. Build a new engine he can hammer on without the worry of destroying the value of his car. When the 302 comes apart at 8000rpms there'll be no saving it graemlins/clonk.gif

Thanks for the help. Harold, that cam sounds good. What is the best way for my neighbor to order it if he should want? I know the phone number can be found by doing a search, but there are so many posts about it now, it takes me a really long time to dig through them and find it with my really slow dial up connection.

Thanks
Dennis

My number at work is 901-365-0950, ext 135. If you get my voice mail, just call back later. The voice mail box is so full from my missed days of the last 2 weeks that I may never get it cleaned out.
I'm there from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM CST Monday to Friday.....

UDHarold