first of all....
here's the specs:

233/236 @ .050

533 Intake, 569 w/ 1.6 RR

520 Exhaust, 555 w/ 1.6 RR

109 LSA

3* Advance

this is a custom grind cam from comp, i was told it was used with a stock bottom end and stock heads LT1 and full bolt ons to turn a 12.0 N/A with a turbo 350 in an Fbody. they said it was also a nitrous car but didnt get any times on the juice. im planning on putting it in my 97 T/A with a tune from Ion. i have mods in sig with about 98k miles on what i beleive is a well running and well taken care of motor. 3.42 gears with a 6 speed. i got it for very cheap and the local machine shop said it was in excellent shape and an emory cloth will bring it back to new for reinstall.

now my questions....
-obviously the cam will sound mean, however with those exact specs, am i looking at any real bad driveability problems?
-will 6500 RPM be enough to spin this thing to? like i said stock bottom end, so i dont wanna run it very high. im sure this thing would like upwards 7k RPM shift points but what will i be able to get away with, with my 6 speed and stock motor?
-anything else im overlooking with this cam? im considering it similar to a cc306 or a gm847, but what will be main differences with this cam?

 

If you give the advertised numbers as well, then that might give some people more insight. You would definitely benefit from more lift. The lower LSA should be good in a M6. I'd say larger gears will help as well, 3.73 or 4.10.

It will be hard to match that time with a 6-speed depending on your heads.

 

look o.k. I don't think you would have any problems....

why only a 3 degree split and a 3 degree advance? I thought most were 4*.


just curious

 

They are usually 4* advance, but those are probably products of other properties such as the valve events that they specifically wanted.

 

if i do a 12.5 cam only id be happy. not to sound like the average jackstaff, but i realy want that lopey idle, which im sure ill get, but i want it to be usable to some extent. while im not looking at a max power bracket racer or anything like that, i dont want a hoopty *** car with stupid parts thrown at it.

 

You don't want to lopy idle then get something on a high LSA, something like a 116.

 

No, he really DOES want a lopey idle. Overlap determines "lopeyness" of the idle more than LSA.

 

any other thoughts...

 

Well,, since you asked, here's my take on it:

I don't like the intake/exhaust duration split. If you check CompCams offerings, you'll see there is usually a 6 degrees difference between intake and exhaust duration @ .050 As .050 duration goes up, the split increases too.

Look at GOLEN's stuff; TPIS' and CompCams', etc.

A 233 @ .050 isn't going to call for 7K shift points. Even if you had a set of extremely well flowing heads and equally excellent exhaust, 233 isn't going to have a power peak near 7000. Besides, if your bottom end is stock, the bottom end won't live long at those elevated numbers.

Check out some of the sites that have dyno results using cams in the same general range as the 233 and see where the power peak is. Also look at what happens to power right after it's peak; I'll bet power will nose over dramatically.

Sanding on a camshaft to "bring it back . . ." is outrageous. If it has bad lobe(s), throw it in the trash. Even if you had it re-ground at the factory the process will probably result in grinding through the heat treatment and the lobes will wipe in short order.

Sorry to say, but I think you've been taken advantage of by the machine shop.

Just my thoughts.

Jake

 

im good friends with the machine shop, they are some of the best guys in the area, and why would they be taking advantage of me? they offered to polish the cam with an emory cloth for free(something i could do myself anyways) and told me the cam looked almost brand new. the lobes and bearing wear are almost non existent. there are a few marks but nothing bad at all.

also i dont plan to take my engine to 7,000. i was asking if the cam would be happier at a limit around there. what would be a good shift point and max RPM for this cam? obviously its prolly gonna be more than i'd like to pull the motor to, but thats why im seeing about how much more. if the cam is only gonna want to go up to like 6,500, then i wont feel bad about not revving it too high.

plus since its a custom cam with a low LSA and some different specs than an off the shelf cam, i wanted some oppinions on it, not just to look at a website with general info on lobe duration.

 

I believe you've missed the point. If you look a the dyno results of several different engines running cams with 233 (+/-) in duration you can see where the power peak is. You then won't have to guess.

The cam isn't going to be happy or happier at 7000. That'll be way beyond it's power peak.

You asked for "any other thoughts", so you got mine. Take it or leave it; it's your engine, do what you want.

Jake

 

The power peak depends on a LOT more than just the intake duration @ .050. Don't look at similar cams and then think yours is going to be close. It may not be. Talk to whomever ground/designed the cam for you and ask THEM what it should do.

For instance:

CRN-1449601 --- 228@ .600/ 232@ .600 (1.5RR)--- 112 LSA --- 3500-6500
CCA-07-467 --- 230@ .576/ 236@ .570 (1.5RR)--- 113 LSA --- 2000-6000

I'm thinking that if they told you it would work with a Th-350 then it would turn some pretty good RPM.

 

I believe you're comparing apples with oranges. The Crane cam you listed is a LSx cam, for a completely different engine having 1.7 rockers, etc.

The 467 is a XFI cam (I'm running one) and that lift is with 1.6s, not 1.5s.

I never meant to imply that intake duration was all there is to it. I don't believe most readers would conclude otherwise. My point merely is, for a frame of reference, look at dyno graphs of engines of similar size, heads, etc., and see where the power peaks with a 233 (+/-) cam.

Anyway, I'm not going to allow this to turn into a back and forth over something as simple as this. He asked for opinons, (didn't he use that word in the title of this topic) so I gave him mine. Now I'm through with it.

Jake

 

thats fine, im grateful for your oppinion, but i havent been able to find any dyno charts for a cam like this(like i said its not a standard off the shelf cam) so things like the LSA and advance might take a big part in the power range or peak power compared to a curve, and i honestly dont have much experience with this so i was looking at what other people thought about the top end of this cam and where it would do well at, cause i dont know and i cant find s dyno graph for the cam.

 

more thoughts on this cam?