Which cam?

[Anonymous]

Ok the 200 has been in the shop for over a week and im about to get it back to assembly

Total cost on engine so far

440$ (give or take a few)

Which cam would go along with for a near stock applicaiton (hydro lifters) slightly bumped CR. and a .040 over bore for a total of 204 cid

This is going to be daily driven and will regularly see loads of 100-800 lbs (hauling hay home from work for the horses) Its a 1964 Ranchero with 3.50 gears and a three speed

I plan to get the headers and a 2 bbl adaptor

Thanks

 

[WhitePony]

Alex,

I did alot of research before I chose the cam that I did for my build. I wanted a cam that would be mild enough for a daily driver, and one that would still have both a smooth idle, and produce enough vacuum for power brakes. In addition however, I wanted a cam that would provide a significant performance improvement over a stock cam.

I chose a cam sold by Mike at FSPP. It's made by Clay Smith Cams, and it's one of his custom grinds for our 200's. I chose the 264 duration single pattern, .450 lift with 112* lobe centers. The 264 duration is a good balance between performance and drivability, and the 112* lobe center will give the car a smoothe idle, while providing a high level of vacuum. If you move to a cam with a 110* lobe center the idle starts getting lopey, and a 109* or 108* will be both rough and you lose vacuum. Those high duration short lobe center cams are more suited for street preformance/strip cars.

I think you will find that most people here who have built up a performance daily driver have used a cam in the 260 - 270 duration range, and a 112* - 110* lobe center depending on the idle and RPM power range that they were looking for.

As I found out the other day, use an uprated spring. I was chastized by my head guy for neglicting to get better springs than stock. He told me that with the taller cam 2bbl carb and headers, the valves will start to float at higher RPMs long before I reach the performance potential of the engine.

You are right to be planning a carb upgrade and header. The cam by itself will not provide a huge boost in performance if the engine can't breath.

Kris

 

[addo]

With only a minor rise in compression, you can't cam it up too much either. Kris is right in that the cam change relies on other additional improvements, but these further changes are not as invasive to the motor, if applied later.

Split pattern around 270 and 9¾ CR (approx) will run nicely! See - now you've got two different selections.

Regards, Adam.

 

[Anonymous]

the important question is which one is the torquer option??

I like Whiteponys sujestion, the shorter duration cam will probbably run better on a slightly modded engine.

Do remember i have the C5 head (smaller ports/valves) so it will already flow less then you guys, but I'm going to use it anyways because im not going for insane power

I hope to have this thing up and running soon