just thought i'd share this old magazine article. anyone run the manley solid cams back in the day? mike
how to make small rats run
ratuned
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I used a Competition Cams Stocker cam in my D/SA 67 Camaro (IHRA). It kissed the exhaust valves to the piston dome so I replaced the stock steel gaskets with Fel-Pro composition gaskets. Pretty cool reading...That's about the same theory used in '76-'77 for my 396- 325HP motor....
I have seen a similar sized cam used in a 396 drag motor. Not very impressive....
Steve O.
I have seen a similar sized cam used in a 396 drag motor. Not very impressive....
Steve O.
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Hardy har har
back in the day when i ran my 67 Camaro in stock class (396/375) we used the Manley replacement cam, was legal specs replacement
i remember there were a couple 66 chevelles at the time, 396/360's, those were great running engines, always wondered if they were not under rated HP wise
one guy had one blueprinted to the max, he used to win stock eliminator all the time
i remember there were a couple 66 chevelles at the time, 396/360's, those were great running engines, always wondered if they were not under rated HP wise
one guy had one blueprinted to the max, he used to win stock eliminator all the time
the thing that made me a bit curious is that these were cast piston engines. how long could an engine like this at the rpms they must have turned!! i must admit i am a huge fam of how well bo laws got the oval port engines to run so well. remember this was yhe early to mid 70's. i love the old school builds. sorry gene but i thought that you could click on them to enlarge. mike
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(What year & month of Super Street Cars?)
Had one particular '67 396-360 4-speed that you'd readily swear was a factory-"ringer".
Straight from the dealer, no mods, it more than made its own car
payments & all its associated costs from being underestimated by
its brethren of the era.
Sure, have since had a dozen+ faster cars,
but that was the one car I've owned that
actually paid its own way. :thumbsup:
Had one particular '67 396-360 4-speed that you'd readily swear was a factory-"ringer".
Straight from the dealer, no mods, it more than made its own car
payments & all its associated costs from being underestimated by
its brethren of the era.
Sure, have since had a dozen+ faster cars,
but that was the one car I've owned that
actually paid its own way. :thumbsup:
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816 Posts
That's a cool article. I've always wondered why smaller big blocks do not preform in comparison to SBC of equal or smaller CI. Anyone have a idea? All I can think of is the lack of development into heads for those engines in the aftermarket.
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2,078 Posts
And the answer is wieght, big block is about 100 pounds heavier so if both cars have same displacement ,cam intake runner size,and all other variables are the same,the smallblock has 100 pounds less to move,therefore its faster,but on the other hand the big block has more power potential as a 600hp small block is maybe borderline streetable, a 600 hp big block is pretty docile, if built to the level as the 600hp small block thebig block would have 800hp, its what I always say,if you start with more, you end with more
the stock hyd cams were WEENIES!
ALL 396s had good flowing heads and good compression thru 1970....thing is Chevy left the cam totally out of the equation in the 396/325. For the 395/350 the 'perf' cam was still very very mild. Fit one of those engines with the 226-230* @ .050" cam any you will truely have a night and day difference (if you know how to tune) for a street car.
I can't recall any of the fellas breaking any of the stock cast pistons. I can't remember anybody bad-mouthing a cast 396 crank either. Failures were due to rod and rod bolt issues caused by missed shifts ("Performance" cars back then had 4-speeds).
ALL 396s had good flowing heads and good compression thru 1970....thing is Chevy left the cam totally out of the equation in the 396/325. For the 395/350 the 'perf' cam was still very very mild. Fit one of those engines with the 226-230* @ .050" cam any you will truely have a night and day difference (if you know how to tune) for a street car.
I can't recall any of the fellas breaking any of the stock cast pistons. I can't remember anybody bad-mouthing a cast 396 crank either. Failures were due to rod and rod bolt issues caused by missed shifts ("Performance" cars back then had 4-speeds).
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I've been involved with quite a few 325-350HP 396's and they run pretty well. We had a '68 SS Camaro with 4.88's/Muncie and a 396/325 in it on the street. Used an LS-6 cam, various old school intakes, 850 Holley and headers. That thing ran high 11's anywhere and was a 3600lb car with driver. It had cast pistons in it and yes the pistons did occasionally break. Lost a few motors that way...and only one rod exited one time and whacked crossmember pretty hard. But those engines were $50-100$ max in the 70's at the junk yard. No problem for a Saturday afternoon swap!
I did a 396/375 (with 2 sleeves and lots of helicoiled head bolt holes) with an L-88 cam along with a tunnel ram and 660 Holley's. Muncie trans, 5.57's along with 14x32's in a nice little '68 street SS Nova with full interior (3380 lbs). Ran 10.40-10.60's with 7500+ RPM shifts.
JIM
I did a 396/375 (with 2 sleeves and lots of helicoiled head bolt holes) with an L-88 cam along with a tunnel ram and 660 Holley's. Muncie trans, 5.57's along with 14x32's in a nice little '68 street SS Nova with full interior (3380 lbs). Ran 10.40-10.60's with 7500+ RPM shifts.
JIM
My estimation is that stock 396 rods fitted with good rod bolts and resized big ends fitted to factory cast slugs with a good pin fit....safe to 6500
Factory 325 horse cam done by 4000
Factory 350 horse can done dealing by 4500 (still a decent towing cam)
Cool old pic of Bo Laws Corvette and a young Danny Jessel
Factory 325 horse cam done by 4000
Factory 350 horse can done dealing by 4500 (still a decent towing cam)
Cool old pic of Bo Laws Corvette and a young Danny Jessel
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1,055 Posts
George, I think you are spot on. I am currently running a 396 cast crank with stock 3/8" rods. I used the good truck rods that are stronger at the big end. I had the rods resized, shot peened and new ARP bolts. Everything is fully balanced.
The standard 3/8" rods are on the left vs. the truck rods on the right for those who would like to see the differnce.
![Image]()
Kurt
The standard 3/8" rods are on the left vs. the truck rods on the right for those who would like to see the differnce.
Kurt
I used to run a Manley "Thunderstick" solid cam and all the valvetrain pieces in my '70 L-78 Nova street car back in '72. 396-375hp, decked block
(I still have the block), milled square port heads, good valve job, loosened-up rings, good headers, etc.With an M-20, 4.56 gears and used 7" recapped cheater slicks, it ran traction plagued 12.0's-12.teens thru full 2 1/2" exhaust at Maple Grove in Reading, PA. It would dip into the 11's with good air and rosin on the track left over from a Pro Stock match race the night before.
This car was NOT stock-eliminator prepped. It was my daily driver. There was a bunch left in the tuneup and suspension.I drove it to college, and streetraced it to pay my way in school because I was too lazy to work.
It would EASILY pull to the 7200 rpm shift point. It had ungodly midrange. If I was within 2 carlengths of the other guy when I got it into third, they were toast. It was the fastest street car in our area in the early '70s, until I built my 427 '67 Camaro.
BTW, it was the nastiest sounding thing I've ever owned on the street. Even nastier sounding than my current solid roller cammed 540. It just flat thumped.
Randy
I like it, alot.:thumbsup::thumbsup:
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This thread is music to my ears! My 66 has a 1972 402 bored to 408 inches with JE 11:1 pistons, 215 closed chamber ovals with mild work, 1.75 headers, soon to be edelbrock rpm intake and a 4777 DP converted with a 750HP main body. The cam is a "half race cam"(hehe I had to). Its healthy, but not quite as much as the motor needs. It takes it up over 6k pretty well, but with the intake and carb upgrade...Im also going to give it a little more camshaft this summer I hope.
If the budget allows itll be roller...if not, gonna probably be a solid flat tappet around 244 to 248 ish at .050.
I run a 5.13 geared 12 bolt and a 4000 stall speed right now. Its a whole lot of fun but reguardless of how much i may eventually race....Itll be primarily a street car, so I'll be gearing it down to a 4.10 eventually. The eventual goal(which I still have a ways to go) is somewhere in the 11's but no faster than 11.50's.
Nice to hear all the success stories you folks have had with the smaller engines.
If the budget allows itll be roller...if not, gonna probably be a solid flat tappet around 244 to 248 ish at .050.
I run a 5.13 geared 12 bolt and a 4000 stall speed right now. Its a whole lot of fun but reguardless of how much i may eventually race....Itll be primarily a street car, so I'll be gearing it down to a 4.10 eventually. The eventual goal(which I still have a ways to go) is somewhere in the 11's but no faster than 11.50's.
Nice to hear all the success stories you folks have had with the smaller engines.
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