cam question

[brunz21]

hey guys i was wondering what everyone thinks about this cam. heres what i gots:

79 coupe, 454 +.100 over, 10.5:1 diamond pistons, eagle h beams, '72 gm high perfer forged crank, merlin III aluminum 350cc heads, 1050 dominator th400 reverse w/ brake, hughes 3800 stall, ford 9" 4.56 gears and 28" tall tire. (i plan to swap it for a detriot locker and 4.11 gears next year.

my cam is a bullet solid roller- gross lift .722/.697 and duration at .50 251/262 lobe separation is 112 and bullet recommends .025 and .027 hot lash on the valves. also have bullets offset lifters and trend dbl taper pushrods.

i built the car for street strip with the focus on strip. this thing is brand new and so far ive been told both, i CAN drive it on the street and i CAN'T drive it on the street. im relatively new to a motor of this level, so any input would be welcome greatly. i know some of these parts are not ideal but its all i had to work with right now. my main question is how will this combo fair on the street? i DO NOT plan to put a ton of street miles on this thing, but i want to take it to a cruise night or two here and there. also i set the lash a little tighter at a COLD .017. any thoughts? comments? am i a big idiot? ask me for more and i will tell. thanks for all the help so far fellas (and ladies)

 

[bracketchev1221]

The cam is not that big. I don't really see an issue of driving it a few miles. If the springs are right and I assume that they are not super stiff springs it shouldn't hurt anything. With aluminum heads generally I set mine .006 tighter. There is no reason to go any tighter than that. I will tell you that the heads are going to be way too big for the car to make the power it could be. Yours will be 475 inches, a 310 cc head will be plenty for that motor. I made 780 hp with my 509 on a 325 Dart Pro 1 head. I have 355 CNC Dart Pro 1's on my 548 right now, and crossing at 7700 rpm, THEY ARE TOO BIG!!!!. They are going out to California to be redone to make them smaller. :cry:

 

[brunz21]

yeah i figured as much on the heads, would it be worth it to put that much work into the heads or should i look into a smaller set?

 

[prairiehotrodder]

The cam is to small on duration. I'd go at least 260 @ .050 but i think it will still go pretty good. I have close to the same cam in a 489 and i would like to go bigger. I drive mine on the street lots. That should be no problem for you either. Also the current cam should be better suited to the 4.11 gears that you are planning to swap in. I'm running the AFR 325's on my 489 and they are more than i need but at least we have room to grow right?
brian

 

[bracketchev1221]

If you are not dead set on those heads, I would look for something smaller. My 325's were out of the box on a 509. That motor made peak power at like 7300 if I remember.

 

[brunz21]

thanks for all the good info guys, i appreciate the input. i do have a connecction on the merlin heads so maybe i can get a bare set of the 310 cc ones and swap out the springs, valves and rocker studs if it all fits. like i said tho, most of this stuff is just parts i could get my hands on at the time, and a bit of poor planning on my part. i suppose we will see what the car does this year and make a wish list for next year.

does anyone have any recommendations on setting the timing? i set the initial at about 26 degrees advance, what would be a good starting point? i im using msd's pro billet 85551 with what ever advance springs they come with. i also had the rings gapped for spray, how do you think the large heads would like that?

 

[brunz21]

anybody else melting the spark plug wire boot on cylinder #3? my headers are fkn tiiiight on #3. i had to make a special wrench to even turn the plug. im on the third silicone boot and my headers are wrapped.

 

[prairiehotrodder]

I would set the total timing at about 34 or 35 and about 26 with a 200 shot of nitrous using race gas when on the nitrous. I think you should easily be able to run pump premium when not on the juice. Also i'd set the timing to all come in around 3000. On mine i run a locked distributor with the msd fixed curve timing computer. It works awesome, it takes out 20* while cranking and brings all the timing in by 3000 rpm. It also has an adjustable timing retard that is activated when the nitrous comes on.
brian

 

[bracketchev1221]

Have you tried the spark plug boot fire sleeves? I had to use them with my Hooker headers.

 

[brunz21]

im going to get one of those sleeves. i remember an lt1 camaro that i used to have, had some really neat fiberglass cloth with an aluminum like coating on it from the factory. im going to see if i can still get on from the dealer. i have the 1-3/4 hookers on mine, but i wrapped them with the fiberglass wrap. i cant believe the silicone boot melted like that. oh well, its only money right? thanks for the good info guys, as soon as my buddy gets all the glass back in, i plan to "break it in" on the street in front of the house. the asphalt looks so plain, it could use some stripes. Hey prairie, what do you usually do in the 1/4 with your set up? what times can i expect out of this combination? i was really hoping to be in the low to mid 10 sec range.