I was thinkin about changing cams but when I went to look, the prices changed my mind. A few years ago I paid $110 for my xtreme energy cam and lifter kit. Now I see new cams at 154 and up for street cams . what gives?
Crane wants $245 to custom grind a solid lifter cam. Just Crazy.

It beats grinding your own....

I think the gas prices have really kept the number of enthusiasts from continuing Projects and the Industry is hurting; so they are Jacking up the prices. I'm looking at the CRANE SR-238/350-2S-12 IG $360.00 man that Cam was under $250 a few years ago. I've Good Deals through Dyno Shops for Items that have about 2 minutes of run time on the Dyno and they swap it out for one that is more suitable for the engine. I got a set of CROWER Severe Duty SBC HIPPO lifters with Dyno Time for $150 and sent them direct to CROWER after purchase to be Checked. CROWER changed out the Bars for BBC Inspected and Serviced them and Shipped them to me with a Warranty for $87. Them Lifters are worth over $1,100.00 here in Canada. I did the same thing for a Holley 830 NASCAR Annular Pumper worth $700 US and $1100 CDN. Got it for under $400 Tested on their Shop Engine with Warranty after Servicing by Blake Carburetors which Service NASCAR Teams.

You have to play Shylock these days so you will not be Ripped Off by the System.

If you are concerned about name brands this won't necessarily apply but Delta cams in Washington, was around $90 for the a new cam,

$50+ to regrind your core; you can send your lifters to them as well. Cheaper alternative and they can grind any comp profile with only minor differences. SS

i would NOT buy a comp cam to save my life,,,in the past 5-7 years they are having MAJOR issues with the quality of the steel ,, along with there lifters,my machine shop pretty much refuses to use them,,,ang go with a roller setup if you can afford it...

Prices of raw materials has gone through the roof over the last couple years. Custom cams are never cheap, I don't remember what I paid for my last one. I dealt with Engle Racing Cams and they treated me real well. They also listened to what I wanted the engine/car to do and hit the nail on the head with the cam they sent me. I will be using them again. Might try giving them a call and see what they charge for a custom.

Imho, even tho they are way old-school, the old Elgin, Clevite, and PAW and Summit house cams are still good value to me!

pdq67

Imho, even tho they are way old-school, the old Elgin, Clevite, and PAW and Summit house cams are still good value to me!

pdq67

we both have been around awhile..........

i completely agree!!!!!! oh and you forgot melling..........lol

i would NOT buy a comp cam to save my life,,,in the past 5-7 years they are having MAJOR issues with the quality of the steel ,, along with there lifters,my machine shop pretty much refuses to use them,,,ang go with a roller setup if you can afford it...


Don't forget that also in the past 5-7 years or so, the level of zinc in motor oil has been regulated/reduced. The reduced amount of zinc in oil makes it pretty tough for flat tappet cams.

Comp Cams makes a great product and most of the cam cores come from the same place anyways, China. Don't blame Comp Cams for a poor quality product when there are other factors involved. I've seen plenty of cams other than Comp lose lobes. My friend Aaron had Isky cam and lifters in his 454 and it managed to wipe a few lobes.

edit: and to stay on topic, inflation, and as stated before, the cost of raw materials and getting those raw materials to where they need to be has gone up thus raising the price on the final product.

I bought a summit 1105 cam kit for $69 not long ago(a year?) and now they are $89.

The cheapest oem type hydroller stick I could find was 2something when I did my freeby 305, so I stuck the oem stick back in it. Would have doubled the cost of the overhaul to change cams.

320 for my most recent sr. A Comp and proud of it, it's a work of art.

not a poor mans hobby anymore, not if you see your dollars in old man sight and I do.

But Mike is right, beats grinding your own.

onovakind67, your comment "beats grinding your own" still has me laughing to myself...
I pictured PDQ and his pal Nutz going at a steel blank on 3 V-blocks and in the caption, PDQ says::: " we gotta get this as close to dee ole 097 cam as we can, even if it takes all week, now turn the friggin' thing a l'il quicker as dah file is starting to git cool". Sorry guys, just did a hi-rep back n' biceps workout and this kinda made my day.. Ted

The price of all CAMs recently went up, because the number of solid cam warranty replacements they had to ship over the last 2 years.

3-4 months ago I paid $157 for my custom Cam Motion solid flat tappet... I'll never buy from another cam company so long as Cam Motion is in business.

Right John about Melling too b/c my 406 SB has a 292/230 Melling in it! I just flat forgot about them.

Tim,

As for the 305 cam, I'd a liked to have seen you call Delta and ask them what they would have reground your core cam to a spec. that you'd like to have??

He, He!!

Right Ted, my Buddy Nuts was good, but not that good!

He talked me into the -929/-151 swap at 1200 miles from new and I gave him a $20 and he bought a new -151 cam and a set of gaskets and gave me back change b/c he was the tranny guy at the big Chevy Dealership in Des Moines, IA back then!!

And I've bought a Perfect Circle "Performer" cam and a 270/218 G/K cam for like $30/each through the years.. Both new in the box...

Tell me how things are going up!!

pdq67

aw heck Paul, little stock 305 with a cheapo overhaul, dished pistons and 68cc vortecs you can't do much cam-wise. It idles sweet with the stocker hydroller, revs ok.
http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s178/TimNotWolf/?action=view&current=MOV02171.flv

It was fun as hell building a stock engine again...EVERYTHING FIT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!!!! I laughed my ass off. Took like 3 or 4 hours to build and that was goofing around and checking out the cam with a wheel and trying to devise a plug for the crank sensor hole in the timing cover that is embossed "replace upon removal' they can just kiss my butt it went back on there not a damthing wrong with it.

Gotcha guy.

That's just the way I felt when I rebuilt my Buddy Doc's '68 box Van's 307!! 100 percent STOCK and boy it purred like a kitten!!

pdq67