[ccnova]

Hi everyone looking for advice and suggestions please. This motor is going in a 63 Nova wagon for cruising street performance and weekend bracket racing occasionally. Heres what I have now.
350 4 bolt .030 over
461 heads 64 cc 190 150
balanced crank rods and pistons
stock rods reconditioned with ARP bolts
speed pro H345NP pistons
Edelbrock performer EPS intake
Edelbrock 600 carb
373 gears
powerglide with 11 inch converter
The cam I am looking at from melling is # 22213
214 int & exh @ .050
288 int & exh Adv duration
443 int & exh lift
107 int & 117 exh lobe center
It is advertised for good low to midrange torque and a fair idle with a 1700 to 5200 power range.
Does this cam look ok for us? Or can anyone suggest a different cam? Also should I use 1.5 or 1.6 rockers. How will this cam "sound"? Thanks for the help! ccnova

[Erk]

1.5 Rockers, 1.6 would probably give you to much lift.

-Eric

[DoubleVision]

there are 2 things I would change with your combo, first off i`d loose the powerglide, your wagon is somewhat heavy and needs all the gear reduction it can get along with low end torque just to get the car moving, I would go with a TH350 tranny or better a 700R4. as for the cam if you want a lopey idle with good street manners with low end torque, a comp cams high energy 268 would be the cam for you. adding 1.6 rockers you might notice little difference.

[bullheimer]

with the lift you gave for your cam 443 that times 1.5 is 660 or so which means that 443 must be your total valve lift which seems really low, so i would go with more lift, esp if you have a 288 duration. you can get a 290 duration with 490 total lift intake and 510 exhaust with the 1.5 rockers. summit has these for cheap and their cams have a good rep.

[NAIRB]

Your combination is good as is, I would not change anything.

[rifraf]

Well,you ask,I tell. get a comp 4x4 extreme cca-12-243-3 cam,at .050 its 226/234 and .480-.498.you will need to spring for long slot 1.5 rockers,screw in studs,or pin yours,and a tci-741300 converter. If you don't want to buy more stuff,check out a cca-12-235-2,its at .050 210/218 and .447-.462 ,you want more lift I think. I would stay away from a 1.6 rocker,they stress out the lifters and cause premature lobe wear.

[Steve karch]

They key thing here with stock heads is to run a dual pattern cam. The cams rifraf mentioned are good or find one in the melling catalog in the 214/224 range with a LSA of 110 degrees. This will give you a lopey idle. Your intake is good to 5500 rpm so that limits you to a smaller cam. The Extreme Enegery cams fom Comp Cams have very aggressive lobe ramps and you must use the correct springs. The bigger the advertised duration compared to the @.050 duration the less aggressive the cam will be, the closer the numbers the more aggressive the cam. You will still make the same power but the aggressive cams will make it quicker over a bigger rpm range.

[RaggMopp]

I will agree with NAIRB. You won't be disappointed with the cam you've chosen, or, with the generally weak exhaust ports, go with 10 deg. more on the ex. side. Either way, you're right in the ball park.