Cam question

With the E or the F, you'd probably be much happier with the way the car drives if you added a higher rpm stall converter to that AOD. Are you running the stock intake?

MY is right. Your car would be faster with the stock cam the way you are currently set up. Without a bigger stall and an intake you are wasting your time and money. The E-Cam, a good cam btw, is hurting you down low but will work ok with the stock intake. The F-Cam will make your car worthless- no bottom end and useless peaky top end....especially with an AOD and 3.55's. If you want a little more lope in your idle maybe you should try a set 1.7 roller rockers and perhaps turning down the idle a bit. Just remember "bigger ain't always better"!

If you're gonna supercharge, make your cam selection with that in mind. The stock cam is very effective with superchargers. Your biggest single gain right now will come from replacing your intake, not your cam. That's what I'd focus on if I were you.

If you have an 87'-93' I don't think you have a knock sensor... but I'm not really sure. IMO gear drives are annoying anyway, they drown out otherwise cool exhaust noise.

Gears drives offer more accurate timing but they will transmit crankshaft harmonics through the valvetrain and can cause all kinds of problems.

the e cam is good with forced induction. leave it in there.

I was under the impression that the B cam had more lope to it than the E... could be wrong though... have you thought about a trick flow stage 1?

I'm installing gt40p's and an e cam right now and was hoping for a meaner sound but doesn't sound like i'm gonna get it.

Crane Cam 2031 (Duration 302/311 - Lift .513/.529 with 1.7 rockers)

gopher - your desires for lopey idle AND strong bottom end out of 302 cubes are in conflict with each other. Generally speaking, the rougher/lopier the idle, the weaker the bottom end, the stronger the top end. But even that description doesn't quite capture the complexity of how the cam needs to work with the other components --- it's all about the match of how the bits work together. The F cam is designed to work with aftermarket intake, heads, gears, exhaust, etc. With your stock heads, stock intake and automatic - the car will likely perform worse than it does now. If there's any power gain up top, it will likely occur at an rpm that you can't reach because your stock valve springs will float before you can get there - the stock heads/springs weren't designed with that cam in mind. Throw the stock auto into the picture - and you'll likely have the worst of all worlds - a rough idle from a car that probably runs worse than it did before the cam swap.

If strong bottom end is what you're after - it's very hard to beat the stock cam for that - given your other components.

"your desires for lopey idle AND strong bottom end out of 302 cubes are in conflict with each other"

Advance the E303 4 degrees so it's on a 106ICL instead of the 110ICL and you should see gain in torque and idle will get a little rougher.

Anytime you change the cam so that the intake is opening earlier and the exhaust is closing later (most duration increases result in this) you need to measure your p to v clearance -- it's gonna be slightly different in every application, and even from cylinder to cylinder within an engine.

The data you've got on where peak power and torque will occur with those cams doesn't look correct to me. First of all, it will vary quite a bit depending on the set up it's used with. The same cam used with different heads, different compression ratios, different displacments will behave differently. Second, in a naturally aspirated application for 302-based motors, it's rare that you'll see more than a 1000 to 1300 rpm split between peak power rpm and peak torque rpm. Consequently, for the B cam for example - if peak power occurs in the 5200-5500 rpm range, peak torque is likely gonna occur in the 4000-4500 range. I believe the "peak torque" rpm you're showing is not where peak torque will occur, but rather the rpm level will the engine will 'wake up' and start producing reasonable torque.

Lastly - and it's been mentioned before, all the cams you're talking about are designed to be used with other significant mods to the engine - aftermarket or ported cylinder heads, different intakes, exhaust, better flowing maf's/throttle bodies. I don't know what "reworked cylinder heads" means in your sig, but with stock heads and stock valve springs - you're gonna have problems with the B, E or F in terms of premature valve float, and much less low rpm torque than the stock HO cam with those other stock components. As you shift the power band higher - and that's usually done with cams/heads/intake/exhaust that will flow at those higher rpms - the bottom gets softer. There's no magic way around that - only boost or more displacement can return the bottom end that goes away as you make more power at higher rpm. Most folks make up for the lack of bottom end by installing looser converters and even more gear than you have -- 4.10's are recommended for the AOD by most folks.

You keep asking for a combination of parts that will net you good bottom end, mid range and a strong top end - well, we all want that. But as a practical matter, it's very difficult to come by - unless you add boost or displacement. As you shift the power peak up, the bottom end is gonna get weaker unless you're VERY careful with your combo - and none of the cams you're proposing are gonna result in strong bottom, midrange and topend. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't change the cam at all, until/unless you change out the other pieces needed to take advantage of a cam swap - heads (at least valve springs), the intake bits, the stall converter and possibly even more rear gear.

The E cam is considered the mildest of the 3 you're considering. It was designed by Crane and is identical to Crane's PowerMax 2040 cam. Here's what Crane recommends with the mildest of the cams you're considering:

GOOD MID-RANGE AND STRONG TOP-END POWER, REQUIRES MODIFIED MASS AIRFLOW, AFTERMARKET INTAKE, PERF. CYLINDER HEADS AND HEADERS, MUST USE 5-SPD AND 3.55 OR NUMERICALLY HIGHER REAR GEARS. REQUIRES CRANE SPRINGS AND RETAINERS. (50 STATE LEGAL 85-93, C.A.R.B. E.O. D-225-46) BASIC RPM 2400-6000