i'm thinkin about puttin a performance camshaft for street draggin in my STOCK 350 engine. What camshaft would you reccomend for my stock engine that would give good performance but not blow my engine...and what else will i need to get besides the cam itself? any help would be appreciated! thanks!

I figure a Crane 266 should help you out pretty good for you stock CR. and other stuff... pdq67

Street draggin, huh? As in racing on the streets?

street draggin as in drag racing in general, track or whatever. i just wanna know what a good cam for a stock 350 engine is that would be good for drag racing in general.

Just an fyi since your new here. Street racing is highly frowned upon in here...for future reference it might be beneficial for you to say "for max performance" or something to that effect. Hang around a while...you'll understand ;)

In any case, we need more specifics about your car. Compression, gearing, convertor stall speed, vehicle weight, etc...the more info the better. What are your goals with this car?

any other suggestions on a good cam? any help would be appreciated...thanks!

Originally posted by 78camaroNoLimits:
any other suggestions on a good cam? any help would be appreciated...thanks! It would help to tell folks about your engine. There have been a lot of different 350's made since 1967 and a cam upgrade for a low compression 1980 350 making 190 hp would kill a 1970 lt-1 with 11:1 compression making 360 hp and both are stock 350's.

If you have the orig engine in your car and you have a 1978 (160-190 hp at best) as your handle suggests and it has never been rebuilt or had a valve job and it's odometer has been around to zero more than once you could be inviting trouble doing a cam swap at this point in it's life.

So tell us a bit about your car's engine and it's condition and at that point you may see more recomendations...

My engine is relatively new. We purchased a fully rebuilt engine, only thing NOT brand new is the block, but it has all OEM parts in it i believe. Engine has around 12,000 miles on it i believe, so theres no worrying about the high mileage engine. I know it has somewhere in the 170-190hp range. not exactly sure where tho. i would like to tell more about the engine: compression, ratios, and such, but i dont really have the facts. i dont need to know an EXACT camshaft, part number and everything, i'd just like help in the right direction, maybe a general idea on what would be good, because i honestly dont know much about camshafts and what works best with what. i'd like something with mid-high range power/torque. thanks again! i'm appreciating all this help!

Again, a Crane 266 or maybe up to a CC 268HE BUT no bigger!!!

And I would go the 266 moreso then the 268 due to you low CR. if it is indeed a low CR. motor, 8'ish CR., otherwise the 268 will be fine if you are up to around 9 to 9.5 to 1 or so.... pdq67

Crane 266...I've used that cam in several stock and modified 350's runs great.

I've got it in my Camaro now, in fact. With the Vortec heads, Perf. RPM, and a Demon carb, I need slicks to hook off the line and it pulls hard to a little over 5000. Idles smooth, with a hint of a lope.

thanks! that'll prolly be the cam i end up gettin then! i appreciate all the help! you guys are awesome! if anyone else has any other ideas of a different kind of cam that MAY be better for me, just let me know! but thanks to everyone for the ideas!

First, you said you wanted mid-top end power. If you get a cam that's too big without making the rest of the system breath (headers, heads, intake, etc.) the car is going to be a dog through the whole range! Think more about building torque from ~1800/2000rpm up to about 5500rpm if the engine is stock. You'll be alot happier with the results. I don't think anyone here would disagree with that.

Personally, I would make an effort to determine as many of those specs as you can.

For compression, at least, you can start by pulling a valve cover and getting the casting number off the head. There are plenty of people here that can tell you what you have - when you know that, you'll know combustion chamber size and shape. That's a big part of the puzzle.

BEFORE you buy the cam, pull the driver's side head and measure the distance from the top of the #1 piston at TDC to the top of the deck. Use all of that information, plus the crushed height of whatever headgasket you're going to use, to determine the static compression ratio. I use Desktop Dyno to determine that but, there is a formula that someone here can tell you to figure it out.

Once you do that, then you'll have part of the information to make the proper cam selection. Remember, you can always mill the heads or use a thinner gasket to build more static compression if you need it.

When you finally get it all back together and break in the cam, run a test for cranking pressure and you'll have a good idea of what octane fuel you'll need to run.

You also need to know what rear gear is in the car before you choose your cam. No question you've got to get that figured out. Knowing the stall of the converter (if it's stock it's probably between 1600 and 1800rpm) is sort of necessary, too.

Take the time to reasearch how to figure this stuff out. Then, make the effort to do the procedures. The more knowledge you have, the better your car will perform. There is an awesome knowledge base right here on this board with thousands of people willing to help!

Chad

You know you are right Bob!

I just figured a stock low CR. engine and went from there, that's all.... pdq67

PDQ67,

You're probably right. He did say OEM internals. I just thought I'd encourage him to get his head into it as much as his heart seems to be. I would hate to see him pick something too big if everything is stock. Nothing worse than doing all that work only to have the car go slower. graemlins/sad.gif

Chad

P.S. 78NoLimits, I am in agreement with the others. No larger than 268 if all is stock.