What happened to these guys? They used to be a big name in the industry, and they have disappeared. I have used a GK 254 cam (200/210,.408/.430,112LS) in a stock-ish 327, and a GK 262 cam (204/214,.420/.442,112LS) in a mild (8.2:1 CR) 350, and both were (and still are) nice little "daily driver" cams. Both of these were bought in the early '90's, and I have not seen anything from this company since.

Swallowed by Comp? I know Cam Dynamics was swallowed up by Crane.

Those are both very familiar generic cams that you can get from any of dozens of sources, especially the 204/214. That grind is available from Melling as 22110, from Summit as 1102, or you can even pay too much and get it from Edelbrock as their "Performer Plus" 2101; and lots of other places too. AMotion has a 202/213 low-lift that looks real close to the smaller one (they have the usual 204/214 grind in their lineup too).

I think GK had some fairly aggresive designs for their day. I had a small one 272/454 110 in a small block back in the early eighties and it acted/performed like a much more radical grind. Stomped a few big blocks without problem. smile.gif

I heard they were bought out by somebody......I think Isky or lunati but not sure......read about it somewhere about 2 years ago.

On General Kinetics' 3rd or 4th bankruptcy, it was bought by Joe Lunati, who moved it to Mississippi and operated it as an independent cam company.
When Holley bought Lunati Cams, GK was part of the overall deal, and Holley had no use for them, so they were closed down.....
Their computer print-outs are in my office, including some I did for them in the 1970s.....
I should say 'most of their computer printouts', as I have not checked to see how many are actually here.

UDHarold

General Kinetics....arent those the old grumpy jenkins cams? Or am i way off base.

Nickel333.

Yes, they are, the C1R321D, which everyone ran, and his secret grind, the C1R323J, just a couple of degrees larger......
Grumpy Jenkins, Gapp & Roush, Booth & Arons, Maskins & Kanners, were the 4 sponsored teams at GK, with Ritchie Zul getting a little product now and then. I also handled Tony Christensen during his 1976 Comp Elim championship.
I answered all the tech calls, went to all the NHRA National events, and occassionally did a few cam designs......
I have a 322F that I designed in honor of the GK C2M332B, their most famous cam. Their 332B is 332 at .020, 286 at .050,.631 valve lift, and 108 LSA. My 322F is 322 at .020, 288 at .050, 195 at .200, .630 valve lift, and of course, 108 LSA. Any nostalgia racers out there?

UDHarold

I ran a GK roller in a 66 chevelle B/MP car in the early 70s. Ran great,pulled hard and even got me thru a few rounds know and then, with an win know and then. This is dating me a little bit, they were the good old days so to speek.

As I recall GK was one of the first (maybe THE first) cam manufacturers to use (or to claim the use of) computer modeling of cam lobe design. As UDH mentioned, they were cam suppliers to many of the early Pro Stock racers in the Northeast.

Digging up an old topic for new replies....

Man i ran the 602 kinetics in my forst 66...bitchin soundin and pulled hard through all 4 gears

Hey UD you doin any cam designs?? Nitrous stuff??

I got a bunch of G/K lobe spec sheets from Camshaft Merchandisers Inc. 5161 Trumbull, Detroit, MI back in April, 1993 if anybody need's some info on them.

They are hard to decode tho...

And I bought a SB G/K 270S hy-cam from Holleywood Sams Auto Parts, Inc. 12171 Grand River in Detroit back about '81 or '82 or so if I remember right from onna the nicest black countermen I've ever talked motors with.

I mentioned this on the boards more than several years ago and somebody came back and said they knew him and verified how nice a guy he was to everybody and that H/S's was closed.

I always wondered what he's doing now, such a nice guy he seemed to me....

We have a Rental Place here in town and the guy reminds me of him..

pdq67

PDQ67,

Hollywood Sam..... Now there's a name out of my distant past! I used to sell to him in 1974-1976, when I was at GK.
General Kinetics exists only as a brand name on a couple of Ford cams at Lunati. Why? I don't know, and don't remember which Ford engines those numbers were for. They still have the GK part numbers on them, in the 2007 Lunati catalog. They also have VooDoo hydraulic grinds for the Oldsmobile and the Pontiac.
PDQ67, your cam should be in your hands the first full week in June, you have not been forgotten. They just got behind---Dodge stuff.

I am starting to make some hydraulics on the Landis. These cams have 53.88* of hydraulic major intensity, with my gentle closing ramps for low valve train noise. I am rating these at .004", the SAE standard, so they'll look bigger than the Xtreme Energy/VooDoo cams, which are all rated higher.
However, you can use my closing point on the intake as the correct input to the DCR program, and you can't with those others.
a couple of samples:
.004" .006" .050" .200" valve lift,1.7:1 LSA timing@.004"
279/287 271/279 225/233 139/147 .551"/.575" 112 27-72-75-32
287/295 279/287 233/241 147/155 .575"/.599" 110 33-74-77-38

I also have a 213 with .515", a 249 with .623", and a 257 with .646", also with the same ramps, accelerations, velocities, etc.
Working on a 219 with.527".......
I also have a full range of solids, durations at .050 from 233 to 271......

UDHarold

Harold sent you a PM.

Aaron,

Answered at last.

UDHarold

Thanks Harold. Really appreciate the time you give us here.

Harold,

Thanks for the cam mention!!

G/K, bttt...

Guy's, I DID NOT mention race here at all except to explain that back then, Detroit was darn near like South Central and East LA!!

I found Hollywood Sam's and was damn near AFRAID to park and get out of my car and when I did, this black counter DUDE was THE nicest guy I ever TALKED to!!

He said, he knew just what I meant about even stopping at H/S's b/c of the way the neighborhood turned, but that in The Speed Shop, everything was cool, race regardless!!

Like I said, I wonder where he is at AND I WISH HIM WELL!!

pdq67

Yes thanks Harold for the pm...appreciate the time very much

Nickel333.

Yes, they are, the C1R321D, which everyone ran, and his secret grind, the C1R323J, just a couple of degrees larger......
Grumpy Jenkins, Gapp & Roush, Booth & Arons, Maskins & Kanners, were the 4 sponsored teams at GK, with Ritchie Zul getting a little product now and then. I also handled Tony Christensen during his 1976 Comp Elim championship.
I answered all the tech calls, went to all the NHRA National events, and occassionally did a few cam designs......
I have a 322F that I designed in honor of the GK C2M332B, their most famous cam. Their 332B is 332 at .020, 286 at .050,.631 valve lift, and 108 LSA. My 322F is 322 at .020, 288 at .050, 195 at .200, .630 valve lift, and of course, 108 LSA. Any nostalgia racers out there?

UDHarold

Hi,do you have the full specs for C2M332B General Kinetics cam?


Thanks

Harold can you or will you regrind a cam for turbo use?

Hi harold I bought a drag boat engine from a friend, a big block chevy 468 cid, it was never turned over, and it had this GK cam in it, any info you can give me on it, I didn't reinstall it as I figured it was old tech. Thanks it is soo good to have someone with your years of experience come on this board from time to time. The GK cam has found a new home in the bottom of my tool box, Thanks Again
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/wineo468/100_0075.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/wineo468/100_0071.jpg

Would anyone even consider useing this cam?? A friend wants to try it in his 468BBC, any thoughts, dosen't look like a billitt, looks to be ground from another cam, is this the way they did things back in the day ??

Harold, can I still get a C1H-288-U GK cam? That was one of the greatest SBC street cams ever! It was .480 lift and 288 duration.... Would like to get one for a motor I am building..... thanks-Joe