Cams
 

I never had understood the cam specs so i was wondering. Im getting a cam for the 454 but i was wanting to have a lil rougher idle, not killing it self but enough to the point where its rough at idle but great a speeds, i was looking at the comp cams 270 hydraulic cam, and wondering how that would compare to stock(which i dont know stock specs) or go to there 280 cam. I want something to where i dont have to replace alot of parts on this car, besides what im doing to it which is cam, lifters, roller rockers, intake manifold, 4bbl carb, and exhaust. I have seen some sayin that i would have to replace the bell housing which i dont want to do(my guess bc of torque?). I just want to have a mild cam.

The steeper the lobe, the more its going to cam, and the higher your powerband will begin. So you want a street style cam. You just need to do some research on the cam, find someone whos put one in the same motor, and see what they say. When doing a cam swap, i'd have at least $500 extra on the side to pay for any fixes that may come up during the install.

Oh boy, there is WAY more to picking a cam that on how it 'sounds.' I'm sure both Chad and Mat can back me up when I say that if you are serious about getting the most from your car, don't pick a cookie cutter cam and throw it in. I know both of them and others I'm sure have done plenty of homework on picking a cam.

I know just the surface of cam technology and there is a bunch that I don't know. Everything thing from lift, duration, ramp, lobe separation- plus what numbers are at .500 and what they are at max lift. There is a ton of things that can play into what cam you pick.

My advice is this- Your first step should be pick a power number that you want, whether it be 450, 500, 550 ect... Next step should be pick the heads that you can afford. This will play one of the bigger parts in determining your intake/cam selection. If you are running stock heads there isn't much point in running a huge cam and max ported intake. When you decide those then start calling cam companies and ask them what you should get. They are going to want to know engine size, components of the engine, tranny/rear end ratio, style of driving, and so on so forth. If the tech doesn't ask you at least this much more than likely he is having a bad day and doesn't want to bother with you. Call several companies and see what they recommend. Then compare your results- in theory all your responses should be about the same.

If all you want is a motor that sounds mean, no prob- you can have a monkey do that for you. If you want a motor that not only has a bark, but can back up it up with a mean nasty bite, then that takes some dedication and a little more than just picking random parts from your Summit catalog.

I agree with what ForceFed has said, and I also agree getting heads at the same time would be a great idea... but they are not too affordable. Either get your stock ones P&P'd, or get a new set, but I know my heads alone costed me 2k.