I'm collecting parts to rebuild my 302. I'm trying to decide on the cam. I want something with some lope, but streetable. I talked to Crower and they recommended the Street Hauler. (Hydraulic) here are the specs. Lobe Center 108 Adv. Duration 274/284 Duration@50 220/228 Lift 491/512 RPM range 2200/6000 Ok engine guys/racers What do you think. Oh....Headers,600 Edelbrock, 3spd stick, right now 279 rear. Here's one from Comp Cams, Any better? The specs are 234/244 @.050 , lift with a 1.6 rocker .528/.530 with a 112 lobe seperation.We can grind the same camshaft for a 302 application the lift will be .030 larger but the sound should be the same. :confused:
The comp is too big for a mild motor like yours. The other one is on the smallish side. I absolutely LOVED the Erson Hi-Flo 1H camshaft (I think it is part number E210421) hydraulic..229 duration at .050" and .504 lift. It works great in both mild engines with iron heads and some motors that are a little more serious with aluminum heads & a good converter. It gives you plenty of room to grow later on, but still works great for a daily driver. I even used one in my old '74 for a while. Great idle (sounds a little choppy, but its not "rough"). Even used it with a turbocharged application in the same car, though, switching to a turbo-specific camshaft helped a lot. Power range is from about 2200 to around 6000 with iron heads; add some good heads and you'll be able to buzz it up to around 6800 and make excellent power.
before this last rebuild i had a cam that didnt start building real power till 2k that was supposed to be good past 6k. problem is, i needed the power at about 1500 and was too chicken to run it past about 5k. needless to say, my current setup is very undercammed. but it hits faster (around 1200) and i still shift before this cams 5500 supposed top end. put a tach on your current motor and found out where your comfortable at before you buy a cam.
The next step up at Crower 108 Lobe Center 290/298 Adv. Duration 226/238 Duration @ 50 502/499 Lift RPM range 2500-6500 I grew up when the street cars had a real lope, That's what I want. Maybe not possible to get the sound I want and keep the engine realistic for the street.
If I were going with Crower, I would use the first one. With the tight 108 lobe center and the duration at .050, it should sound pretty good and be streetable. In Comp Cams line I wouldn't go bigger than a 270H(I have this one, sounds good, good all around power) or possibly a 280H.
Personally I would look for something with a spilt duration and lift favoring the exhaust a bit. Factory ford heads need it even with a mild port job. Something along the lines of 220 to 224 intake 226-228 exhaust .490 to .510 lift intake .510 to 525 lift exhaust LCA would be dependent on your intake valve size and your overbore? I would recommend around 9.5 to 10.0 to 1 compression ratio. I have seen a few engines dynoed and learned a few things. First changing the duration of a camshaft barely changes the maxium torque output, just when it is achieved(4500rpm vs 5500rpm). It will effect horsepower as HP is is directly proportional to torque times RPM. No need to go looking for a cam bigger than what you need. You need to stick to a cam that delivers torque at a lower rpm so your horsepower peaks at about 5500 rpm. That is unless you have some serious aftermarket heads. Making components work in harmony is the key to a successful engine tune.
i have heard that the XE264h... 512 lift exh and int... is a real good cam... i was going to get it for me unless someone can say that another cam is better..
Split duration does have it's benefits if you are trying to squeeze out another tenth... However, on the street it doesn't really matter, and can make the car less streetable. A single pattern cam makes a nice rythmic lope and doesn't affect much else. A dual pattern (split duration) cam has a very chaotic and rough idle as opposed to a lope. You will get a nice lope, and streetable lope, between about 218 and 230 degrees of duration @ .050". Keep your LCA in the 106 to 110 range. Anything over 230 @ .050" is going to come on too late to be comfortable in a street car. Personally, I would use something like the Comp 270 Magnum. You will need gears, headers, and good intake. (270 Mag = 224 @ .050" on 110 LCA) Good luck Dave
You probably won't like this one. I ran a 228/235 on 110 and 512 lift in a 302 Mav. It didn't come on really good until 3k. With the 108 LCA, that one is probably rougher and will need more compression. I was running 10.4:1. It also didn't sound pretty. Sounded mean, but not nice IMO. The split duration made the idle way rough. Ran a close ratio toploader and 4.11 gears to get anywhere fast with mine. Just a heads up. Btw: If you do want to play with getting more exhaust flow without going dual pattern, you can just put 1.7 rockers on the exhaust.
I second this cam... as I run it also Fixing to run that cam, ported iron heads and a small converter in a Ranger