Camshaft [Archive] - Chevelle Tech

: Camshaft


rianbechtold
Dec 7th, 04, 11:35 PM
Hey, i was looking for a new cam for my 350. For what i know, it is stock. What is a good cam that has a real loppy idle. You know, like a real rough idle but still streetable. Thanks for the help

greg_moreira
Dec 8th, 04, 12:18 AM
Well, real radical and real streetable dont go hand in hand more often than not. Especially if we are talking about a lower compression stock 350. Too much of a cam in a stock small block will plain and simple run like a turd almost every time, cause the whole combo has to match in order to get any kind of good results. A big cam is gonna really take a large chunk of your torque at low revs, and low compression isnt going to help matters either with the big cam. You will end up with a real sloppy driving car. And the stock heads, exhaust, carb, and manifold arent going to allow the big cam to really do its job and make any horsepower either so power suffers over the whole curve basically. A real large cam will still be a little more lively at high rpm, but not nearly as lively as it could be with all the top end stuff, and even still, the only time it will ever feel like it has any power compared to your stock cam is at wide open throttle. Like I said, it will mostly feel sloppy. If everything is properly matched, too large of a cam can be much more liveable on the street, but it doesnt work out very well most of the time. Anyways, with all that being said, the crane 272 energizers is one of the better camshafts that I know of for a mostly stock to mild small block. It has a lopey idle and sounds tough, but not radical. Its particular specs work well with lower compression and your driveability doesnt suffer much cause you retain much of the torque and throttle response, but over 3200 rpm or so it does come alive very well compared to a stock cam, yet its not overkill for the stock heads and all that. This cam too could still do better with the rest of the top end being properly built, so its not perfect, but it is a good cam that will work with a mostly stock motor.