Brian, I'm no expert, but it almost sounds like you're splitting hairs. You mention the car being a daily driver, so I'm gonna assume you're not drag racing it much. Adding .015-inch of lift is going to be difficult to feel in the seat of your pants. Have you thought about switching to 1.6 rockers instead? If you have .440 lift now with stock (1.5) rockers, swapping to 1.6 rockers will take you up to .469 lift ( (.440 / 1.5) * 1.6). This also adds a few degrees of duration. A *much* easier swap than a cam.
I dont think you'll really want a cam with more than .470 lift and ~225 degrees duration (@ .050") with a stock converter. You should be able to get away with stock valve springs in all of these cases. Don't quote me on that last part, though. You have a pretty well-matched combo for low-mid torque. Carb tuning (using a dragstrip or dyno to verify your results) can make a noticeable difference in power and mileage if you haven't done so. It's not glorious like a new cam, but it can be just as rewarding in the end. As an aside, I was just at the dragstrip this past sunday and a friend was there with his 90's LT-1 Roadmaster station wagon. He upgraded the exhaust which killed the good low-end torque he had (motor is stock, except for slightly modded air box). To remedy that, he changed the torque converter to one from a S-10 application (he estimated 2000-2100 stall, versus 1200-1300 stock -- no tach to truly verify these numbers.) and picked up .8 seconds in his quarter mile time and +5 MPH (it was also only in the high 40s, low 50s temperature-wise). If you're not familiar with quarter mile times, that's a *big* improvement. Getting the engine up into it's torque band quicker makes all the difference in the world. As another personal aside, I ran my quickest and fastest on Sunday with my 406-powered '70 -- 12.70 @ 107. I was pretty happy about that. If there's one good thing about Ohio, it's low ETs in October! :-) Torque rules! -Dave -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:owner-chevelle-list@;chevelles.net]On Behalf Of Brian Zack Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2002 2:28 PM To: Chevelle List (E-mail) Subject: [Chevelle-List] SBC Cam selection What is the largest cam any of you are running in a daily driver with a small block 350. I have a '70 Chevelle Malibu with a 350 4-bolt main, cast pistons, 9:1 compression stock heads, edlebrock performer manifold edlebrock 600 cfm carb, 1 5/8" headers, and dual 2" exhaust. It also has the stock stall converter and I think either 2:73 ot 3:07 gears ( I have to verify that) Right now I have a crane energizer 266H which is 266 duration and .440 lift. I am going to be changing to a larger cam and was wondering what max. size anyone might recommend. I was thinking of of the crane energizer w/ .467 lift or the crane energizer with .454 lift. But, I dont think the smaller one would give me that much of a difference. I think I would have to change my springs though and probably the converter. Has anyone used a larger cam and not upped the converter? I would assume it would probably hurt mileage and not have that great of low speed torque. Any recommendations? Brian Zack '70 Chevelle Malibu mailto:brianz@;dpsabq.com ----------------------------------------------------- To Unsubscribe please visit www.chevelles.net/list.html To start a new topic, send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------------------------------- To Unsubscribe please visit www.chevelles.net/list.html To start a new topic, send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
