hey guys i know know that its a rule of thumb that if you change your cam, you should get new valve springs as well to match the cam your getting, BUT... im on a very tight budget and i was wondering if one could change the cam and leave the springs (even if only for a bit...). in my case, i own a 360 chrysler engine. i have reason to belive that the cam has some pretty bad wear on it, not terrible, but bad enough for me to "want" to switCh it out. The engine cam out of an 1989 1 tone van i belive just fyi. my question may be a little to "to the point", but do you guys think that i could use this cam with with the rest of the engine? also is this a little to extreme for a street machine? im running 3.91 gears, edelbrock performer rpm air gap intake, edelbrock performer 600 or 650 cfm carb(for got the exact cfm... its one of those) , its my every day driver, 28 inch tall tires and 11 inches wide, and also of course i want to get some cool gas milage out of this thing (i do drive it every day lol)
thanks
HYDRAULIC-Very strong torque
and throttle response, 2200+ stall.
To start with you did'nt mention getting new lifters with the new cam so I will assume you know thats mandatory. As far as the springs, I would break the cam in on the old springs then if need be change them at a later date. (do a search for cam breakin procedure), stock springs are pretty cheap anyway. Also for a well worn stock low compression 350/360 daily driver I think the XE274H is too big, I would go for the XE 262H (or smaller) if you want any type of gas mileage.
im currently learing about the specs of camshafts now so am a little unsure if the XE262 cam has a rough idle or not. from looking at its numbers i would say it does, but im uncertain (im seeking a rough idle, the big lope sound ), and yea i know when you buy a new cam to get lifters with it, thanks for the reasureance.
OH and sorry if this is a dumb question but is there a way to check and see if one has weak springs? i have two pairs of 360 heads that are off and ive been inspecting them and so far one set's valve train seems to be in better condition than the other besides some small rust on some of the valves... easly sand off and clean.
you can use a hand held pressure gauge.
why would you not buy the kit with springs,your going to hear that lope and want to stick your foot threw the floorboard.i know i've been there,save your self time and money and do it right the first time.
good luck! :thumbup:
You could probably run whatever cam you wanted to run as long as the lift didnt break the springs. the problem your gonna have is the valvs will start floating around 4500 RPMs if you run more than .480 lift on factory springs. but at idle you probably would never notice it unless you knew what you were listening for. so when you haul off and smash the throttle its gonna pull strong till about 4500 then it will feel like your pulling something reguardless what gear your running. I tried running factory springs on a 86 trans-am 355 with a 270 comp cam 224 at .050 and .477 lift and at 4000 it became a dog. it had a good chop though.
P.S. dont forget compression when you choose a cam. if your engine has 8.5/1 compression do not run a big cam. the overlap will blead that puppy down to the point its just sad. then your talking about a dog with sluggish throttle response. as far as that goes its ok to drive it till you get a set of springs. just take it easy. you dont want the valves to float and possibly wipe out that new cam.
hope I was some help.
your motor has to be a roller motor to accept a roller cam because a factory roller cam has a thrust plate bolted in front of the cam to keep it from walking in or out. Also they have different lifters and may have lifter girdles. The lifters cannot spin on a roller like a flat-tappet. you may have to have a retro-fit roller cam kit that comes with a thrust button and retro fit roller lifters that are connected to keep them from spinning. The biggest difference between a roller and a flat-tappet is the aggressive ramp style. A flat-tappet cam has to gradually bring the lifter up and it holds your peak lift for one degree then gradually brings it down. think of the lifter as an arrow tip. A roller cam can handle more lift and shoot the lifter up and hold the lifter up for most of its duration. think of a roller cam lobe as egg shaped. if I were you I would go to comp cams and just check out some of their articles. Im running a roller cam in my sbc355 and trust me there is a huge difference. mainly in torque.
hope I was some help
p.s. try this sight and check out some cam articles. don't think you only need to look at the mopar selection. try the chevy sections as well. Comp has a larger selection on chevy builds than any other manufacturer. I guess more people build chevys because their cheaper.
compcams.com/Community/Articles
Here is a picture to show you just how much difference there is in lobe design. also I forgot to mention a roller cam takes a shorter pushrod because the lifter is longer
yea i did see that comcams has a retro fit roller cam selection... that was what i was referring to just for got to mention it :drunk:
i noticed how the retro fit roller XR268HR camshaft is way more aggresive than the XE268H flat tappet camshaft.
thanks for the great info :thumbup:
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