Cam Choice for 305

Hey guys i wanna slap a nice choppy cam in my 305 LG4 what's my best choice and what lift do i need?

maybe somebody else can chime in with a respnse here but in my experience if you want a choppy idle go for more duration and you should be able to get away with up to a .520 lift as long as you get the right valvesprings and also depending on your compression ratio and valve to piston clearance. maybe you could go with a higher lift than that even i haven't had much experience with the lg4's. If i were you i would swap the 305 for a 350 after you figure the cost of the cam kit (cam, lifters, valvesprings, gaskets, ect...) you should be able to get a good running 350 for not much more.... the 350 will give you more horse stock than the 305 with the cam in it. But if you wanna mod out the 305, more power you you, its up to you.

well i just wanna cam her , till i can get me a 383 built.

I had 224 224 .440" .450" with 110 lsa in my L69 305 and it sounded good. I had 1 5/8 long tubes with dual flow masters and it sounded great but I did end up needing a convertor due to the lurching at idle. Also because of the bore of the 305 they dont breath as well (due to valve shrouding) is why my small cam may have sounded so good. I also had edelbroke performer springs and put 80,000 miles ond the springs. the new owner from 5 years ago has only put 20,000 on the car and never changed the spring. These huge 500+ lift flat tappet cams end up with more problems than worth on a daily driver plus the springs get pricy and I have seen people changing the out alot faster then I would want. Than you may need to stud the heads and maybe rocker arms. If you go with a 450 lift area you may not need to go with nothing but springs and a timing chain.

I put a Crane Cams 2050 camshaft into my 86 LG4. I don't remember all the specs, but I do remember .484 lift on one of the lobes.
here is a video of the car,
http://www.transamws6.com/video/ZepherWS6.mpg

can u give me the item # for jegs or summit please on that Crane Cam

Stay away from any valve lifts higher than what Zepher describes. I've studied it. The LG4/L69 heads can't handle much beyond .485 inches of lift. .501 inches is pushing it. The problem isnt that you might tap the piston with a valve or anything: It's the retainer to valve stem clearance. At .525 inches, the retainer will make contact with the valve stem seal. You need between .025 and .045 inches of clearance between the valve seal and retainer to keep from damaging it on high RPM operations. That translates to .480 to .500 inches of max lift.
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Dont forget to get some new valvesprings, too. Buy whatever your cam manufacturer recommends, then learn to set them up yourself with shims. Some lighter steel retainers might also be a good investment if you want that new cam to rev.
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In case you haven't already done it, I suggest you get a performance stall converter. 2400 RPM to 2700 RPM. I once had a great converter that I bought from a place called Turbine Technologies, from a guy named Tom McCabe. I lost their phone number a long time ago, but they were doing some good lockup converters for $175. Google them and maybe you'll get lucky.

can u give me the item # for jegs or summit please on that Crane Cam

They don't seem to make that cam I had anymore.
this looks similiar to the one I had,
Jegs Part # 270-113532

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10002&catalogIdentifier=Jegs_Direct&categoryId=26987&parentCategoryId=10707

that size cam may require a stall and or decent gear so it doesnt feel BLOG till above 2000 or 2500 rpm. What gearing do you have in the car? I know its not mine but if you havnt said what you are looking for out of the cam. Sound,power or toque. With the LG4 being what 8.2 to 1 I wouldn't think a big cam like that would be good unless we know what you want. I think with intake and carb or headers a smaller cam would be way better because you allready intend to put a 383 in.

Also I had a machine shop that is respected in my area told me that when you start going above 460 lift you should think about studs and better than stock rocker arms. I went with a mid size cam because a 305 doesnt make the low end torque a 350 does and bigger cams lose tq. You can get good sound and power for less lift. My monte SS was about 300 pounds heavier than a 3rd gen but 3000+ still needs tq to get moving. The duration can make more noise than lift. I am not saying anybody is wrong on this post just seems like alot of lift for a flat tappet we dont know what rear in in it or headers and intake.

really just want sound and little more Hp, not looking to be a bad azz, just wanna have fun with have a good sound, and i agree with you on the not going to big, i don't wanna damage anything or sound like my cars motors gonna shut off. which i've heard those major choppy cams and they soudn like azz.

When I built up my LG4 (it has 9.5:1 stock for 86) I added all of these parts:
Dynomax Shorty Headers
Custom Y-Pipe
3" Pacesetter stainless steel catback
87 TPI Heads
87 TPI Setup converted to a 91 SD TPI Setup
SLP Dual CAI
MSD 6A with Blaster 3 Coil
52mm TB
Crane Cams powermax 2050 cam (for a highly modified 305/350 with 2400-2800 stall auto or Manual transmission)

My car had a T5 with 3.27 gears, so that is why I went with that cam.

with the carb setup (this ran like a raped ape for a 165hp motor stock, managed a 14.94 @ 93mph with it)
http://www.transamws6.com/pics/transam/Edelbrock.jpg

after all the mods (ran a 14.1@99mph untuned with a 2.3 60')
http://www.transamws6.com/pics/transam/engine.jpg

as for the valveseal clearance issue you just need to switch to viton seals which your local speed shop should have... they eliminate any possibility of retainer to seal contact.

What kind of tranny are you running? that would make a large difference in what cam choice you go with.

running a previously rebuilt maybe 100 miles on it 700r4 with transgo kit.

stock stall converter? this will narrow down your choices drastically lol

ya stock.

ya stock.

Edelbrock has a cam and lifter kit (Part # 2102) that is suitable for the LG4 for $130 at schucks.com...118 at jegs.
Duration Advertised 278° Intake/288° Exhaust
Duration @ .050'' 204° Intake/214° Exhaust
Lift @ Valve .420'' Intake/.442'' Exhaust
Lift @ Cam .280'' Intake/.295'' Exhaust
Lobe Separation Angle 112°
Intake Centerline 107°
Intake Timing @ .050" Open 5° ATDC
Close 29° ABDC
Exhaust Timing @ .050" Open 44° BBDC
Close 10° BTDC

At least this is what I'm going with. :)