Cam Recomendation

[streetdemon70]

Im currently rebuilding the motor for my car and have everything figured out except what cam i want. It is a 302 with a vic jr intake windsor jr heads and a holley 600. It will be backed by a c4 with stall depending on what cam i go with. It will be street driven on the weekends and taken to the track every once in a while. What would be a good cam that i could get good power out of and sound good?
Thanks
Anthony

 

[Great68]

Victor Jr. Intake? That's huge for a street 302. You know it has a powerband of 3500-8000 RPM right?

 

[streetdemon70]

hmmm looks like i was told wrong. Well in that case i will be going with a performer RPM intake being that the vic jr is to big.

 

[Spoofty]

The power band for my cam is 3800 to 7200. But I really wouldn't go that big. For the combo you've listed I would go with something between 270 and 280 advetised duration that's around 220-230 @.050". A 270 will give you a power band around the 2000-6000 range. A 280 would be 2500-6500 range. A 280 will have a nice lope at idle. You would need about 2500 stall. That's all asuming you've built a motor to handle 6000rpm. Forged piston are great, Hypertactic pistons would work fine, cast piston are a no no . Something else to think of. 280 cam will have low vacuum at idle. This means you will need to be handy tuning a carb, Your power brakes may stop working from time to time, you may need to adjust you modulator valve on your tranny to stop it shifting too early, you may have to ajust your timing curve, you will need a good ignition to rev that high and if you don't have a shift kit in the tranny you may never see 6500rpm anyway as the tranny will take over and shift for you even if you hold it in gear manually.
Power comes at a price, but it's worth it.

 

[streetdemon70]

wow thanks for the good advice.

 

[Spoofty]

No problemo.
Here's my Engine specs.

302 .060 TRW forged pistons (around 310ci) balanced bottem end
351 ported heads 1.94 intake 1.6 exaust
Wiand accelerator intake
Holley 600 w/2" spacer(I have a 650 dp waiting to go on)
Lunati 290/300 solid lifter cam w/dual valve spring
Full roller rockers
MSD ignition 7000rpm rev limiter
Long tube equal length headers X-pipe 2.5 Flowmasters

3000 stall C4 w/shift kit
It should be close to 360hp

The cam is way too big. I have a 270 Com Cams solid lifter cam that I will probably put in. It will only be maybe 10hp less but I will gain close to 30 ftlb of torque.

 

[D.Hearne]

I pretty much agree with everything spoofty said but would add in regards to igniton, a good rebuilt factory distributor fitted with a pertronix II and a good hot coil is sufficient for up to a 7500 rpm motor. Also the Vic Jr., even with a smaller cam will give you a soggy bottom end. An RPM intake or a Ford A321 will do better, even with a bigger cam on the bottom end. The 600 will do OK, but may be lacking on top end.

 

[jbuening]

I'm running a CompCams XE262H in my 351w and it is very streetable. I get 15in Hg of vacuum at idle, which is enough to run power brakes.

 

[fvike]

I'm running a CompCams XE262H in my 351w and it is very streetable. I get 15in Hg of vacuum at idle, which is enough to run power brakes.

I had that cam, but when a lobe was wiped, I went for a Edelbrock RPM cam. Which I regret. I'm gonna switch back to the XE262H this winter.