i've seen plenty of youtube video of this cam but mostly in 383 strokers and seems like most are in the 850 range. i'm pretty new to this stuff so i'm just giving you what i've found.

 

Why 1000, does it need that to stay running? do you have an auto trans, what is the idle in gear?

 

The performer, is this to stimulate low end? The 274xe is going to like more intake to take advantage of its potential.

600 is fine for break in, but depending on your ideas for the drivetrain, it could be bigger. The 600 might run out when it starts getting good.

The 274xe is about the most cam I would use in a street driven, normal muscle car weight, type build.

To keep it running smoother 1000rpm idle possible could be better. Adjust the curve for this. That 274xe would benefit from vacuum advance limited to 10 deg or so at cruising vacuum.

 

I have a hydraulic roller cam similar to that but its a 231/239@ 50 duration and mine idles at 1000 rpm. That cam will not idle much lower then that as bigger cams need increased idle speed too stay running right cause of the overlap and other factors. You will need to have a good amount of initial timing with the correct settings on your carburetor as well.

Timing first before carb. I would at least start out with 16 degrees initial and should give you 36 to 38 total and you should curve your distributor to not give any mechanical timing till after 1000 rpm and have it all in by 3000 to 3500 rpm. You might need more but others on here are far better on information then I am but am giving you a starting point.

Your going to have to do some tuning with your edelbrock carb to idle better and work right with this cam as edelbrock 600 carbs are for more mild builds.

I had one before but it would not work very good out of the box with a 221/230 @ 50 duration roller cam and I instead got a holley so I could fine tune it a little better. Things I hate about the edelbrock is you cant adjust the secondarys to allow more air like a holley.

Your carb can still work but will need to get a tuning kit and test drive etc and look at your carb manual to see what rods or jets you might have to change to go richer or leaner with it along with your colored springs on the metering rods. Also it would be better for your engine to have a 4 hole spacer then an open spacer as it will give your better torque and throttle response and better fuel mileage.

I used an open spacer once and it really took away bottom end and leaned out my carb but jet change would have fixed that. I put the 4 hole spacer back on and made a big difference.

Also try running your vacuum advance off of full manifold vacuum and that will give extra timing along with your initial and would allow you to drop your idle some and close the transfer slot up some too if its open too much.

Eric

 

the thing is I had it at 850rpm , but with the cold weather i'd have to warm it up for atleast 6 min until it was warm enough to not die the instant throttle removed, however even after it was warm it would try to die when turning the wheel, this engine is on my jeep with 32 inch tires which I assume are heavier than what the muscle car guys are running


the performer eps is about halfway between the old performer which you guys are more than familiar with and the performer rpm, the one inch spacer adds more plenum volume anyway, the 600 carb is tuned for performance, i'm cool with the power curve only going up to about 5600

But yea guys anyone who is running this cam tell me if 950rpm-1000rpm sounds about right or if I have some tuning issues

it's a 5 speed manual transmission by the way, no vacuum advance, it's like 36 total timing all in by like 2400rpm I believe

 

I'm running an msd 6 box with no vacuum advance, this is the 1405 version of the 600 edelbrock carb so it is tuned rich unlike most of the other edelbrock 600s

 

1000 sounds right, or could. I know what you mean about the rpm limit of 5500.

you could also drop to 850 and pull manifold vacuum for added idle advance and clean the rich idle up nice.

There is no reason not to use a vacuum advance on this build. You really should. If the engine is getting more advance it possibly will also make more vacuum.

 

1000 sounds right, or could.

you could also drop to 850 and pull manifold vacuum for added idle advance and clean the rich idle up nice.

There is no reason not to use a vacuum advance on this build. You really should.

i've got one of them pro billet distributors from msd that are meant to work with a trigger box

this engine is on a jeep so i've got some firewall clearance issues and needed the little head on this distributor

i mean the engine feels good with this high Idle, i'm just concerned that the idle is too high and is just a waste, mpg is bad enough as it is lol, don't want to deal with any overheating issues either come summer

 

The stock mopar HEI is excellent and has a vacuum pod. Probably 40 bones at autozone.

Yes you have a billet distributor that has no vacuum advance pod. I would not place this in a driver application.

 

I am running a XE-274 H cam on my modified stroker. Idle is set to 900-1000 rpm.

Prior modified 350 , with the usual intake exhaust modifications ran a CC 264H cam.

 

I mean the engine can idle at 800 rpm, in fact I've had it idling there for a while so i could engine some thump

the problem was that a soon as the weather went below 70 the thing would not run right until warmed up well, and even then putting strain on the power steering pump (32x11.5 tires) would put me at risk of shutting off

The engine runs great, no stumble, plugs look good, good throttle response

If someone who has their setup tuned nicely could just tell me what their idle speed is using this cam would really help me out

 

I can't lend anything directly to this thread but I am very interested as I am building a 400 SBC with this same cam for a Jeep Wrangler 5 speed application (a lot of similarities).
I have not purchased a carb. yet but am planning to go with a Holley. Biggest question is CFM as 600-650 seems like plenty but 750 is widely used.
My distributor does have both vacuum and mechanical advance so I will refer to this thread for information about timing set-up when I get that far.
Curious where you got you block hugger headers from. I am looking at Novak but before I pull the trigger I am always looking for insight.

Good luck with your tune (and your Jeep).

 

I got a set of cheap stainless steel ones from ebay

despite what anyone says just because they weren't made in 'Murica doesn't mean they're bad

I did my swap 3 years ago and let me tell you that they are great, never had a leak of any kind and the welds look good, the flanges are nice and thick too

my biggest regret is that I didn't try to fit some mid length headers from the get go

 

I have loooked at a number of low cost options for headers with a variety of names, none of which mean anything. I have seen some that claim to have good thickness flanges but I am always concerned when you are buying based on a picture that may not even be the part your buying.

I noted that you are apparently tight at the distributor with your conversion, and curious if that was dictated by front end clearance. I am still working on my frame but hope to be in a position to locate the engine and weld in the engine mounts in the near future. I went with the short water pump in hopes to gain as much room as I could on the front end but the distributor I picked up is huge so now I am neveous about having enough fore/aft space.

Sorry for the ramble, just good to touch base with someone that has already been there so to speak.

 

trust me there is a lot of space bro, once you put it in you'll realize it's actually smaller than the straight 6

I just have a slight, very slight clearance issue, don't worry about it

and for the headers ? trust me pull the trigger i've seen block huggers go for north of 350$ plus shipping, that's a freaking rip off

for the past 3 years these 100$ ebay headers have been amazing

 

Hi,
I run that cam in my 383 SBC and found I had to do exactly what F-Bird says :thumbup:

Originally I ran an MSD6AL box and Twin point distributor with no vacuum and little mechanical advance adjustment. It would only idle at 1000rpm (i experimented and wound the distributor round and idle improved, this told me it needed much more advance than this distributor could provide).
And then you couldnt really adjust the carb down and it would stumble when put into D.

Recently I fitted the MSD Pro Billet and set it exactly as F-Bird said.
Lots of initial and 34 all in. It has transformed the tickover. 800rpm, carb adjusted right down off transfer slot etc and doesn't die in gear.

I think the gist of it is that if you can't give enough idle you compensate by opening the carb past transfer slots. !?

Cheers
Jim

 

alright guess i'll have to do some more tuning

i'm no stranger to a carb in the winter, the thing was that the engine would die even after 6+ minute warm up period due to the power steering pump and I suspect the heavy tires just being too much for the erratic sun 800rpm idle

thanks everyone(mostly f-bird)

 

So i played with my timing today, the idle dropped to around 875 rpm or so, the thing is I didn't even touch the carb, the idle just dropped on its own

The engine feels amazing, more power at lower rpm and better throttle response, should i be worried about the idle dropping without me touching the carb ?

 

You say you are going cruising around in the vehicle or plan to. Ask yourself if the vehicles engines combustion event needs a variable timing map for load? If you have ever use a gas analyzer you will see increases. Being the products of incomplete combustion without the vacuum advance hooked, while testing on the rollers.

If you are cruising at 45, or accelerating threw 45, the engine has totally different requirement for a complete combustion event. The better the engine is fed , the better it will perform when driving around.

Now I said need, and does it truly NEED it? Well no, but it would be well worth a little research.