I am getting ready to build a 350 4 bolt main motor. I am thinking about taking the "easy way out" and just using the components that Edelbrock lists on their web site showing a 350 with 420 hp and 415 ft. lbs.
The car will be almost exclusivly used for the street. Just for fun driving and driving off some imports on occassion. Has anyone used this combination before and if so how streetable is it ( i.e. idle vacuum and octaine useage ) ?
Thanks in advance.
Glenn

im running rpm heads and a victor jr intake on my 383 and they are AWESOME. If i had a 350 i would definately go rpm intake though.

i think the heads and intake are perfect for a street performance 350, but i think the cam stinks. there are much better cam grinds available from Lunati and Comp, if you're going with an off the shelf grind.

420 hp out of the box sure stinks :/

But i've never heard of anyone actually running the RPM cam heh. I had a XE274H and i loved it. It's fairly similar to the RPM cam. but people here have a thing out for comp cams so dont listen to me hehe.

The XE cam is in no way similar to the RPM cam. That's an old generic cam that's been around for about a hundred years, with real solw lazy valve action so that it would work back in the days before you could get decent valve springs. The XE cams have steep ramps, open the valves alot faster and hold them open longer and shut them faster; an altogether more "intense" cam, regardless of the numbers.

Their heads & intake are OK, maybe not the best you can do, but at least OK. But use some other cam no matter what you do. The XE274 wouldn't be a bad choice.

I was just running a setup with the performer rpm heads, performer intake, performer plus cam, and 600 edel. electric choke carb.......I must say I liked it. Great for street application/race (10:1 comp .040 327). The engine i'm currently building will have the performer rpm heads, performer rpm intake, performer rpm cam (probably) and 600cfm intake (maybe 750 later w/ 10:1 comp .040 327). I think it's a good combination, but i'm sure there are better ones, just depends what you are looking for. I know a guy who ran the whole performer rpm setup in his monte carlo and I was fairly impressed. I figure if you run that and then a little "laughing gas" ;) you'd have a great combo. At least that's my plan. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I ran the RPM cam for about a year and a half. It sounds good but with less that about 10.5:1 it is very weak below 3000 rpm. Don't forget it is a 308º cam so it wants a lot of compression. A 3000+ convertor is needed also, and gearing, too. I highly recommend using a more recent design. The heads are OK and the manifold is excellent.

heh you guys are real edelbrock haters :( But im loving my rpm heads!

i run the rpm cam in my 9.5:1 355 with vortec heads. i have a 2400 stall and 373 gears. id have to say i like the cam. it has worked very well for me and has plenty of tourqe. 364 rwtq tob be exact and has run a best of 13.12 at 103 with a 1.91 '60.

I got a lot of low 13 and high 12 second passes with the RPM cam, too. However, when I went to a shorter but more aggressive cam with a bit more compression my times dropped to the low 12's and high 11's. I still think there are much better cams out there.

i just posted this response to another post
this is my take on this kinda cam and set up.


you asked if anyone has used the rpm cam shaft..........well i think i used what i would consider the same cam............edelbrock advertises there rpm cam as .488/.510 lift and with 234/244 @ .050 so i bought the cam that was the same from P.A.W. part number 10314 advertise duration 300 and 310 duration @ .050 is 234/244 with 488/510 lift.

this is an awesome cam in the 350. with a 750 edelbrock carb.edelbrock rpm dual plane intake, 10.2 to 1 compression with the cheap 100 dollar dome pistons,stock bottom end, and some 882 heads that have 1.94 /1.50 valves with 3 angle valve job.with 20 dollar z28 springs.

combined with 3000 stall and 3.73 posi in a 81 z28......this car goes now. it can light up the 275/60-15 tires at anytime in town. and i dont mean some just barely turning the tires i mean WHAM it smokes them hard anything below 45 miles an hour.

this car has a very nice lobe to it it sounds tough and it response fast in the rpms.it has no problems running to 6500 rpms thru a stock hei unit off a 80 vette.

with out any tunning at the strip...the first outing provided a best 13.32 @ 103.44 mph with a 2.00 60 ft time. with the same street tires and thru the same exhaust as driven daily.some of the first passes was just trying to get the car to hook which resulted in some 13.5 and 13.6 but after learning how to feather it of the line it would keep dropping in e.t.

with some tunning and better traction this car will run easy 12's. and this in a 3700 lbs car with driver.and it runs just fine on 87 octane.

i myself dont see what the big difference between the edelbrock name and the paw and summit and all the others who advertise this same cam.

the advertise duration numbers are just that.....the only way to campare the advertise numbers are if they are taken from the same height/rise......to many companys advertises this cam at .006 .008 .009 and so on to give different advertising numbers. but the .050 lift is the same.

to me your just paying for the name of edelbrock when you can get the ssi cam or summit cam for alower price.about 80 bucks for cam and lifters

the bottom line is this combo works very well in this set up. and i dont see why it would work in the 327 other then it will run higher up in the rpm range since your dealing with a small cubic motor.

but i dont mind running motors up to 6500 or 7000 rpms.

this is my opinion on the deal.....ive messed with to many idle to 5000 rpm type cams and was never happy .....they never seemed to put down the e.t. or mph like the bigger cammed motors do. i like to do set ups in the 3000 plus range.......

ok, now swap that cam out for an XE274 or similar cam set up and then go see what you run. ;) the rpm cam will work, but i think what everyone is saying is that there are better grinds available. it's not meant to hurt anyone's feelings who is running that cam, but i've seen it happen several times myself. take out that rpm grind and put in a newer comp or lunati grind and it WILL pick up power.

He, He!!

Think about running a similar solid cam AND pick up more power everywhere, IMHO!!!

pdq67

Seems like most of the opinions say not to run the Edelbrock cam. I bought an XE274 for my 454 but don't know how it runs yet as it is still a work in progress. So, if I buy the Edelbrock heads as a complete unit and use a Comp or Lunati, will I have a mismatch problem with the springs?
BTW, thanks a million for the responses so far.
Glenn

One thing I forgot to mention in all this....I am running a stock 273 10 bolt posi. That is gonna make a big difference in cam selection isn't it?
Thanks again,
Glenn

It sure will. With 2.73 gears you need to stay small. A large cam will not perform well since it needs to get up into the torque band quickly and the gears will keep this from happening. Also, with 2.73 gears, the engine speed will be very low at highway speeds, well below the rpm when the cam comes on. Hitting the throttle under these conditions will probably make the engine buck and complain since it will be well below the speed when the cam starts making power. The RPM cam will not be happy with less than 3.73 gears, 10.5 to 11+:1 compression, and a 3000 stall. When I first ran the cam, I had 3.36 gears and a 2000 rpm stall. On full throttle launches, the car was a stone until 3000 rpm, then it ran pretty good. Going to the smaller XE294 (14º smaller) made a big difference. And even it was too big, a 288 cam would have been better for me.

since when is the RPM cam bigger than the xe294? Or were you talking about a different cam?

My 274 was similar in duration and lift to the RPM but the 294 is way bigger.


<b>whoops you were talking advertised smile.gif </b>


And if i was you i wouldn't run 2.73's.. you already have the posi unit so why dont you just get new gears? it's one of the best investments youwill make! just going to 3.42's will make all the differencein the world! plus they are still tame enough to run the highway.

Originally posted by Jinks:
since when is the RPM cam bigger than the xe294? Or were you talking about a different cam? small block edelbrock performer rpm cam specs:

308/318 advertised
234/244 @.050
.488/.510 lift
112 lsa

thats a pretty big cam

yeah sorry i was looking at .050 stats not the advertised.

now take those cam specs on the rpm cam and compare them with the head design. 170cc runners= high velocity low speed torque, which is great for the street. so why would you run a cam that obviously wouldn't take advantage of what the heads do best? i can't explain why Edelbrock has this cam as a matched set to the rpm series parts, but i bet an XE268 or XE274 would work with the heads and intake much better, especially on a 350 or 327.

i´m using the Rpm package on a 383/10.3comp. with a Th350/1800rpm stall and 3.36 posi in the rear and i´m satisfied!! graemlins/hurray.gif

Well, you guys are certainly giving me a lot to think about. Seems like even small changes can make a very large difference.
Looks like the best bet is the RPM heads ( maybe vortec ), a comp 268, a B&M BMM20412 or 20404 and a gear change to around 355ish.
I was pretty much sure I would use an RMP intake. Will the RPM air-gap fit under the SS hood or must I use the regular RPM intake?
Thanks,
Glenn

Originally posted by Jinks:
heh you guys are real edelbrock haters :( But im loving my rpm heads! Jinks, just to clarify, I don't think anyone is an Edelbrock hater at all. Most folks here use their manifolds. However, most folks here ALSO prefer to 'roll your own' than to buy 'kits'. And I would hasten to add, most folks here have better than average knowledge about these things.

Vic Edelbrock has done a great deal for our hobby and runs an excellent company. Plus, he has a nice 67 Chevelle, so he's got to be a swell guy!

Good luck with your project.

haha , i know im just kidding around with you. Ill just go with the saying "if its not AFR .. its ****E!"