I have 'cams' in two of my cars.
When I bought the cam for my 69 Coug, is was part of a package parts deal. Apparently another guy had bought these parts (cam&lifters, intake and timing gear set) and couldn't get them to 'fit' in the engine. I got all the parts for less than the cost of the intake. It was a comp cams 'extreme' 519/524 (as I recall from Germany..)
I swapped out the parts, and didn't like the way it worked at all! When I bought it all, I told the guy I didn't want to have to change the gears or torque converter. "No problem, don't worry, you're gonna love it!"
After a 3500 stall TC, and 3.89's in the rear, it's a real hoot around town, no more freeway driving until I rebuid the heads. It goes thru a quart on the interstate in less than a hundred miles.
My other car, my 68 4sp, has an Edelbrock cam. 496/520 specs. (see the how wicked is your cam thread.)
I have had a massive learning curve with that motor! I've been thru two sets of roller rockers, and am on my third set of pushrods. Two complete head 'rebuilds'. (Thanks MR. Machine shop "Subject matter expert").
I bought all my new parts thru summit.
For the money with my gray car, I could have had a custom cam, and new aluminum heads with all I now have invested in the stock cast irons, with all the other parts as well.
My 69 351W however, with 'more cam', has all stock rockers, springs and push rods, and hasn't broken anything!
I have one more cam in a box, waiting for my next 289 project, and after that, customs only!
For the money, you get so much more than just a stick.
That first cam sounds like the 274XE that Comp Cams recommended. Second one is definitely the performer RPM. I'm not confident that the 274 (or RPM) would be happy with my gears in OD on the freeway, so I'm leaning towards the 268xe right now.
How long does it take to get a custom camshaft done and delivered? How much more does it actually cost?
I'm not in a rush and I wouldn't mind paying a bit extra for piece of mind, but I do like how I don't have to do as much research if i buy from compcams (them having the recommended timing set, pushrods, and lifter combination listed makes life easy...).