Teach me about cam specs....

I am looking at getting a new cam for my zz4 motor....

This is what I need from it:

~1500-6000 rpm range (bottom end can be a bit higher, ~2000)
Enjoy my CR of 10:1 or nearly any CR down to 9.5:1 or so after AFR's
Poor out tons of torque.
Not a track car...purely torque and show...preferrably a LOT of torque....

Car specs:

Holley 750
Performer Air Gap
L98 heads and 10:1
Hedman Headers
Stock stall (2400)
Stock rear end posi (3:73's)
TH350

-The car will eventually have AFR 180's or 195's

Can someone tell me the affects of a lower or higher LSA....stock cam on the zz4 crate is a 112 deg LSA....if I were to go lower...how does the engine react?

By itself, how does duration affect the characteristics of a car's performance? I assume that typically, a higher duration is directly correlated with lift, or is this not quite true?

Which types of cams can or can not be used in a block like this? Is there an option, or preference for either a hydraulic/mechanical, flat tappet/solid cam....and which one performs better or yields better numbers..?

Some of the cams I was looking at:

XE274
230/236
110 LSA
.487/.490 (1.5rr)

XR274
224/230
110 LSA
.502/.510 (1.5rr)

LT4 Hotcam
218/228
112 LSA
.525/.525 (1.6rr)

Howards Cam
230/236
112 LSA
Lift of .525/.500 (1.5rr)

Lunati Bracket Master II
234/242
110 LSA
.472/.488 (1.5rr)

Lunati Bracket Master II
235/235
108 LSA
.507/.507 (1.5rr)

Can someone give me some guidance here? I'd like the most out of whatever cam I get in the rpm range I preferred....Switching up lifters/rockers/springs is a given..

Tighter lobes mean a rattier idle, but an increase in midrange power. I prefer 110* cams over 112 or 114. This is for carb'd engines, FI engines seem to want wider lobes.

Duration pretty much controls lift cause there is a limit to how quickly the lobe can move the lifter without the edge of the lifter digging in. More duration allows the cam designer to dial in more lift. They don't always do it to the max. A lot of older road racing cams had a lot of duration, wide lobes, and kept lift moderate ~ .480 with durations of about 242 @ .050.

A properly designed solid will perform better than a hydraulic cam. It will make more midrange torque, have a better idle, and make more high rpm power than a hydraulic with the exact same duration at .050. I've run solids w/duration in the 240's in manual trans street cars, and they were pretty tractable considering the big cam. Tough to do that with a hyd cam and that much duration. But they are a bit of a hassle, so vast majority of cams are hydraulics. Hydraulic rollers are the worst on the top end. The heavy lifters kill power even before valve float.

Your stock stall isn't 2400, more like 1,800. The less torque an engine makes, the lower the effective stall is. So an engine with a torque cam of around 210* will have a higher stall than a cam with 224* that makes less torque. Stock stall and 230 cam = hound at lower rpm's. About 218 is the limit with stock stall in a 350. You can do more duration, but it gets doggier as you go. > 218 you should get more stall.

If torque is your top priority, then a cam with about 218* is about the limit in a 350. More than that and you start trading torque for top end power. I run a 224 cam in my 400, and it's just about perfect. If I went with a 230 cam it would make more power above 5,000, but lose torque. I'm not willing to make that trade for a car that is mostly street driven and spends only a fraction of time above 5,000 rpm. Torque is what makes a car fun to drive on the street, and the 71 is a blast.

Don't go much under 218 with 10-1 compression and iron heads; detonation is a risk.