Getting ready to order my cam from CMotorsports and up until recently I had my mind set on a 230/236 cam package. But I got into reading more cam posts and now I'm not so sure. I know with bigger cams generally you give up torque for HP. But the way it sounds to me is that the cars act really sluggish with the bigger cams up until say 3000 rpm or so. Is it really that bad? How does it compare to an all bolt-on car? Does it launch as hard or is it worse until you hit the magic rpm. If the larger cams still give you as good of a launch as an all bolt-on car I would be happy with a 230/236 cam...but if its going to launch and pull like my v-6 S-10 I think I may have to go smaller.

Just for reference Im rebuilding my 383 (AGAIN!!) every bolt on but gears. 3.42 gears, PP heads with 2.02/1.60, and going with N2O later

 

Go with the bigger cam. The 383 cubes will eat up a lot of the cam to make it more mild and also the cubes will give you torque. If you have decent heads then the bigger cam should give you more torque. My cam is a 235 242 112lsa cam and it has plenty of low end torque and top end power and I have a 355. You might want to go bigger than a 230/236.

Matt

 

Like the 236/242 cam. How are the street manners?

 

The street manners for my cam are pretty good. As long as the car is tuned right you won't even notice it ecept for the lope of the cam through the exhaust. When I had the 6 speed in my car I would drive my car anywhere with that cam in traffic whatever. I don't do to much highway driving now with the 4.11's and no overdrive although I am getting my gears changed to 3.70's this week so it should make it bareable. Tuning is key for making the cam have good street manners. Also remember that my car is a 355 and yours is a 383 so it will be much milder in your car than in mine.

Later
Matt