I would like to apologize from the get go for posting a truck question here but by far this site has the most comprehensive big block knowledge that I have been able to dig out of the net.I won't be offended or by any way upset if the thread is removed for being out of topic,I just figure I'll give it a try.
With that said I'll tell you what I have and what I would like to get out of this engine.
The engine is a '72 truck 402ci with standard bore and 3999241 oval ports heads(115cc-mortec).
Parts that came with the engine:performer RPM air gap intake,HEI with hot coil,750 cfm vac. secondaries Holley,Hedman elite truck headers.
Things that I'm planning on doing:replace stock valves with stainless one piece units of the stock size with 3angle v. job,install bronze valve guide inserts,blend the bowls and runners clean up.Deck the block to achieve no more than .045" quench and mill the heads to achive an honest 9:1 comp. ratio with the selected piston/head gasket combination.I'm planning on going .030" over with KB hyper pistons and retrofitting the block for a roller cam.
This engine is going on my '72 3/4 ton 2wd chevy which right now is equipped with 410 rear gears but I have a set of 354 that I can replace them with.The wheel tire combo comes to about 32" and the tranny is a th400.
What I want is a truck that will run strong on the street and tow a car hauler nicely on ocasion.90% of the time I will be just driving on the street.A good sound is allways nice.
With that in mind I would like your input on cams or other suggestions,remember that I'm going the hyd. roller route.I would like to achive torque numbers on the 450-500 range with a red line of 5000-5500 rpms.I could have tried to go with a 454 but this engine came as a very good deal and I want to use it.Any feedback will be appreciated.

Imho, a good old CC 268HE should do nicely for you.

Or one of the smaller 4x4 cams in the same advertised duration range if you want one of them.

And if you want more low end grunt then go with the CC 260HE cam...

Please come back and tell us what you end up with..

pdq67

Originally posted by Hetic:

What I want is a truck that will run strong on the street and tow a car hauler nicely on ocasion.90% of the time I will be just driving on the street.A good sound is allways nice.
With that in mind I would like your input on cams or other suggestions,remember that I'm going the hyd. roller route.I would like to achive torque numbers on the 450-500 range with a red line of 5000-5500 rpms.I could have tried to go with a 454 but this engine came as a very good deal and I want to use it.Any feedback will be appreciated. If I were you I'd get rid of the RPM Airgap. This isn't a manifold suited for towing or lower RPM torque. The RPM range advertised for this manifold is 1500-6500 RPMS...you're going to want a true dual plain manifold that will assist you with developing torque, not a street/strip setup. Remember Torque, torque, torque...

The rest of your setup looks okay to me, with a performer manifold, or a weiand stealth, or any dual plain and the cam suggested above, you'd have a sweet little towing motor. I'm no expert, but I've built a few trucks over the years.

I was wondering about the rpm air gap myself,not only is the rpm range a little higher than what I need it also lacks the heat crossover that helps on colder weather.Those cam specs are right on what I had in mind.I'll let the thread sit for a few days and let you all into some other thoughts to see what you think.Thanks.

John L., may he rest in peace, demonstrated that no more then a really short low performance cam with duration at .050" numbers in the 206 to 210 range builds massive low to midrange grunt which is just what a work truck needs, imho..

And I bet just the stock, cast-iron, Q-Jet four barrel carb. intake system and a set of 1.75" four tube, long headers will really pick her up..

But don't expect to rpm her!!

pdq67

Your motor is close to what I have put together in my '69 SS. I am running a 408CI w/ closed chamber 290 heads {2.19 int/1.72 exhausts - port matched, plenty of bowl work}. I also did go with a Hyd Roller. Mine is from Reed Cams { UDHarold was not up and running with the Lunati operation when I bought it, you may want to contact him for one of his comparable grinds if interested } or I could defintely recommend Reed to you. Specs for my cam are 280/290 adv [228/238 @ .050, .578/.578 lift int/exh, 112LCA.] My comp ratio is up around 10.3/1 to get a Dynamic CR right around 8.0/1. I kept the LCA a little wider at 112 and worked the duration to keep the overlap @ .050 to < 10 deg for a little more bottum end and idle quality [ important because I want to run the A/C ]. I would think if you kept the .050 duration to about 210 - 214 deg max, you should have plenty of pull with a roller and should be good with your 9.0/1 CR, but probably would not go much bigger than that, you may even want to go a little smaller, say 206 -210 @ .050". A standard dual plane intake with a completely divided plenum would be better than something like the RPM Air Gap for a broader torque curve and bottum end grunt. Regardless, I don't think you would have any problem getting the 450 - 500 ft/lb from the 402.

Good luck.

Hetic,

If you are seriously thinking of getting rid of that RPM intake, please let me know. I have the Performer 2-0 on a hot 396 now, and have been waiting to pickup a rpm. I would really like to trade intakes, and maybe a little cash if needed?
The Performer I have is the peanut port version, not sure if thats what you want but it is awesome down low in the rpm range, even decent around 5k rpm

I hope this doesn't bother anyone, just trying to make a win win situation smile.gif

The Performer 2-O has naturally smaller ports than the factory early oval port heads and there is a mismatch in the port alignment of just about all the Performer 2-O manifolds that I had seen. We spent about 2 hours port matching the Performer 2-O and it made a huge difference in overall performance. Stock out of the box manifold was done by 5000 on a healthy 396. Modified it pulled to 6k with a broad torque range. There is a lot metal left in that casting that can be removed.

If I remember right there are 2 versions of the performer, the peanut port and the "regular large oval"... here's a picture of the peanut port with a regular oval port gasket over it

http://soul.f2o.org/intake.jpg

Believe it or not, the one you have in the picture is the regular port intake, not the peanut port intake - those ports are really small. I had compared two of the 2-O's and both had the intake ports cast off center. One was biased high, one was biased low. This intake works a lot better if you open the ports to the approx size of the intake gasket. There is a big drop in runner size from the plennum to the ports.

Or try an old torque producing E-brock BB, SP-2P dual plane.. They are still around b/c Jake sold me one a while back...

It WILL make some lowend grunt with a small 204 to 212 cam, imho!!!

pdq67

To put this another way I really don't want to call this a work truck.To clarify the issue what I want to build is a street bruiser with an 8 feet bed for a trunk.It will never see the staging lane but will be noticed around town.I'm seriously considering a cam along the lines of the CC 4x4 extreme 239,218-226 dur at .050,.505"-.515" lift.My best judgement says that this will be on the ragged edge but I'm hoping to gear the truck accordinglly.Comps advertizes the rpm range of this cam to be on the 1200-5400 range which is fine with me.Again ,your thoughtswill be appreciated and thanks for the replies.

I think the thing you need to consider is a combination of Duration and overlap. I was running a 224/234 on a 114 LCA that had a near stock idle quality. The overlap on this was only 1 deg @ .050. As the overlap gets close to 8 - 10 degrees @ .050, the idle quality will start to get lopey.