Engine 351W - Std cam or Roller?

Guys,

I'm currently figuring out the direction I should go regarding upgrading my 351W (M-6007-B351). It's an old GT40, non-roller cam crate engine. I have a set of TFS TW 170's single spring heads, 58cc (TFS-51410002-M58) that I got very cheap (I know these are on the small side but they are way better than iron GT40's) The original cam is a flat tappet cam, .491 valve lift intake, .509 exhaust valve lift. 220 duration intake, 230 exhaust duration. It has a Edelbrock performer RPM, Demon mechanical 750 , with an AOD/3K stall, and 4.10 gears I used to do 12.7 on the motor, 11.7 on the bottle.

Here are my questions:
1) Is this cam a decent match with the heads to the point that I should just leave the cam alone?
2) If I do switch cams Is it worth while switching to a roller cam or avoiding the expense of double valve springs, distributor gear, roller lifters, push rods and just get a new standard hyd cam with more aggressive specs?
3) I currently use 1.7 rocker arms. If I go to a new cam buy 1.6's or stay with the 1.7?

Thanks in advance!
Tim

vristang said:

Carb and nitrous are outside my sphere, so no idea on how appropriate that cam is.

swapping to roller cam to avoid spring expense is looking at it backwards, imo...
To convert to roller cam on an non-roller block (check the casting number near the starter for the block year), requires using a reduced core cam (not ideal), or running link bar lifters (pretty pricey last I looked). If you don't do one of these, and run a standard core roller cam using the factory style 302 lifters, you will end up with oil control issues, as this setup pushes the lifter high enough in the lifter bore to spray oil into the lifter valley.

Either rocker size can work with a cam, if the cam is selected with those rockers in mind.

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Jason, The block is set up fro roller cam. So I can avoid some of the headaches you mentioned! Thanks for info.