Help Me Choose a cam for my Challenge SBC engine

Sheesh... the U-Pull-It closest to me is patently worthless when it comes to finding parts for pretty much any kind of larger engine. There was ONE SBC in the yard. Not just one with heads- one TOTAL. And it was an older 305 (801 heads).

The good news is (at least in the respect of finding parts...) that work is sending me out to Eastern PA in a week with a different set of yards I can hunt through. Hopefully I'll have better luck there.

The good thing today though is that if I DO find a set of Vortec heads, it looks like I can trade my Edelbrock Performer intake for older SBC heads straight-up for what sounds like it is one of the Chevy Performance Vortec intakes made for a carb. So if I end up with an older set of heads (like the very plentiful and usually reasonably priced 882s), I can just use my existing Edelbrock intake, and if I find some good Vortec heads, I can trade for the one for it.

Got the cracked heads back from the shop yesterday- it's pretty obvious where the cracks are with them cleaned up, and they're not small by any stretch. One is actually cracked from both center exhaust valves, the other is cracked on both sides of the one exhaust valve. Not good for much but adding a few bucks to my next scrap run and providing some stock springs and valves to hold on to as spares.

The shop though didn't charge me anything for the cleaning/magnaflux on them for now though, saying we can figure out what I owe him after we find a set of heads I can actually use.

I'm still hoping that I can come up with a good set of Vortec heads (will be looking in Cinci next weekend, and then out in PA the following), but assuming I can't and have to use either my existing 624 heads or something like a set of 882s, how will what affect the cam choices? Would running the HOT cam be too much for those to handle? Will they handle the roller cam, with or without the 1.6 rocker arms?

Going by Scranton, PA? There's a huge yard out by where I-84 runs into I-81.

Jerry From LA wrote: Going by Scranton, PA? There's a huge yard out by where I-84 runs into I-81.

Unfortunately I'll be well South of there, a bit South of Allentown and I head primarily West when I head for home. It looks like I may be looking for yards to hit near Portland, OR as well after Thanksgiving.

The good news though is that today was very fortuitous in yard hunting and I came away with two pairs of Vortec heads (one 062 and one 906). Unfortunately, I leave first thing in the morning for PA and won't be able to drop them off at the cylinder head shop for another two weeks to have them checked out. If I come across any in my hunting out in PA I'll probably pick another pair up too- I figure at worst I should be able to sell them for about what I paid for them once I've got a good pair, or keep a spare pair around too.

Ashyukun wrote: but assuming I can't and have to use either my existing 624 heads or something like a set of 882s, how will what affect the cam choices? Would running the HOT cam be too much for those to handle? Will they handle the roller cam, with or without the 1.6 rocker arms?

It will majorly affect cam choice if you want to go fast. Comparing smogger heads like the 882 to Vortecs is like comparing apples to chimpanzees. 882s were designed to allow a smogger 350 to rev to 4500 rpm and make 165 hp. Their chambers require big spark advance to be effective versus the efficient Vortec chambers which don't. The Vortecs allow more of the combustion to apply pressure to the piston/crank during the critical 12 - 65 degree crank angle.

Putting a HOT cam in an engine with 882 heads is a bad idea. The heads will offer their peak flow velocity at 2500 rpms while the cam is to busy with intake reversion. Then the cam will offer optimum juice at 4000 where the heads are done offering more flow. You'll kill low-rpm torque and choke off high rpm HP.

882's are not ideal, but a lot of limited class circle track cars worked fine with them. Its not the end of the world, If it's what you have to run, they'll work.

Zomby Woof wrote: 882's are not ideal, but a lot of limited class circle track cars worked fine with them. Its not the end of the world, If it's what you have to run, they'll work.

they only ran "fine" with them because that's what everyone else was running, too. some classes even outlawed the 305HO heads due to them being an "unfair advantage", and then did the same thing to the vortecs about a week after they became available to the public.

if you can't run vortecs, then get a good pair if 601 heads. the HOT cam will be too much for them, but at least they are better than 882's.

Well, with luck ONE of the pairs of Vortec heads I snagged from the yard yesterday will check out and be good, so the other heads will be a moot point. Still have my doubts that I'll have the budget for the whole Hot cam kit, but may be able to swing just the cam...

sigh So, I'm getting more solidly convinced that my employer is actively trying to sabatage my chances of finishing this car by the Challenge next year- and they're possibly trying to kill me by sending me out right in the path of a 'storm of the century' the day before it hits. It's looking like I'm going to have no more than a few weeks- and weekends- at home over the rest of the year to work on the car.

Of course, I'm not just sitting around twiddling my thumbs- I'm still trying to hunt down parts, even if I can't do anything with them until I get back home...

I want to try and get everything for the engine worked out if I can over the next few weeks. Going over the engine from bottom to top...

I'm not planning on touching the bottom end much if at all- there's not a whole lot more I think I need to do with it anyway since it was recently rebuilt. I'm actually not planning to pull the crankshaft or pistons out if I don't see anything particularly wrong with them. It might be nice to hone the cylinders, but probably not necessary.

Camshaft: Biggest question at the moment. I'm just NOT seeing getting the full HOT cam package on my Challenge budget. Afterward, when I plan to switch over to TPI and don't have a budget constraint I'll likely get the full setup, but now at most I can probably get the camshaft itself.

It sounds like running just the HOT cam would work, but it would be nowhere near as effective as running the full setup. Would something like this: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=110969131159&globalID=EBAY-US work well? I'm also poking around at finding a Z28 takeout cam.

Heads: At least ONE pair of the two sets of Vortec heads I pulled should turn out to be usable. I figure on having them tested when I get back home, and getting a valve job on the better of the pair. What I do in the way of valves, springs, and rockers will depend on the cam and what my budget is like...

Timing drive: It sounds like I can't use the gear drive with the roller cam, so I hope to sell that to finance getting a chain drive. Anyone have a link to the stock chain setup that was recommended, or cars I can look to pull at least the gears off of?

Intake: I should be able to trade my Edelbrock intake for a Vortec carb intake from one of the guys that bought some parts from me. No details on it yet, but it sounds like it might be a GM performance intake. Will find out more when I get back in a few weeks and can meet up with him.

Fuel delivery: I plan on using the Edelbrock1405 600CFM carb that came with the car's original engine.

Transmission: Plan on keeping the THM350, hopefully I'll have the budget for a shift kit.

Diff/Final drive: I'm still trying to come up with an actual posi carrier, but that's going to be a complete toss of the dice. At worst, I'll put at minispool in it. Gear-wise, I need to see what I can swing- I should have a 3.4x gear set that I can use, but the only thing I for certain have is the 2.73 gears that are on the rear end now.

Things I'm actively looking for while out here from CL/salvage yards:

SBC Roller camshafts

Timing chain hardware from mid-90's and later Y/F-bodies; also a distributor drive gear for good measure ???

26-spline Posi carriers

Anything else I'm missing? Ideally, I'd like to be heading home with almost everything needed for getting the engine back together and ready to put back in so I can make the most of the short time I'll have before Thanksgiving...

So, things are coming together for the car & engine parts wise.

It's looking pretty likely that I will be using a ZZ4 cam. Here's the specs on it: Duration @.050 208/221 Lift: .474/.510 112 LSA

One thing though, that lift (and thinking about it, duration) should be with stock 1.5 rockers- I lucked into a full set of the 1.6 GMPP rockers that come with the Hot Cam kit fairly cheaply. Someone had bought the kit thinking it was just the cam and didn't want/need the rockers and put them up on eBay at a price I couldn't resist. I picked up some slightly-used 550-lift capable springs really cheaply too.

I did end up with a posi carrier- but it's a 2-series, and has a 3.08 gear set with it (the best that carrier came with). I've just found that getting a 3-series seems out of my budget, and I got this one with gears for a very nice price.

Also now have a Victor high-rise intake for the Vortec heads- may still end up with a slightly more streetable intake, but I at least have it. :)

Did you buy that cam from the guy in shepherdsville? If so you're not my friend anymore.

BoostedBrandon wrote: Did you buy that cam from the guy in shepherdsville? If so you're not my friend anymore.

O_o? Actually, I did buy the cam from him, in part due to your recommendation (though as I said, I'd been eyeing the cam on Craigslist for a little while)... I'm confused as to why this would be a bad thing...

Sarcasm dude, lol

I was interested in it, but you actually have a project going and mine is just sitting, so you need it far worse than I do.

In reply to BoostedBrandon:

Ah. Sorry, my sarcasm detector isn't always the best on forums. I bought the used cam and not the new take-out, so the slightly more expensive one is still available. And once the Challenge is done I'll be pulling it in favor of at GMPP Hot cam and would be more than happy to pass it on to you cheaply. Or sooner than a year, if I find a REALLY good deal on a Hot Cam...