Thread: Comp Cams Magnum Camshaft

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I have torn down my 350 engine that I plan to go through and rebuild for a good street motor in my 63 Chevy II wagon for reliability and fuel milage. I pulled the current cam in it that supposedly has low milage (around 50 miles) and was going to change it since I dropped the lifters and push rods but may end up keeping the cam and buying new lifters, push rods, springs and rockers.
The cam is a 12-211-2 Magnum, Duration at .050 is 224 and lift is .470. It shows the RPM range at 1,800-5,800. What do you think of this cam in this motor of mine being used in a street car? Too big or will it work fine? I also heard that I can use Rhoad Lifters when I go to buy new lifters instead of a comps cam magnum rocker, lifter and pushrod kit. What do you guys think on this?
I did find out the pistons in this motor are L2256 TRW's (Forged, Speed Pro's) .030 over. They are supposed to have 9.72:1 compression with 64cc heads but I have 75cc heads so that should bring it around 9.0:1 I beleive (that's if it has not been decked). The manifold I am going to be running will be an Edelbrock RPM with most likely a 500 or 600 cfm carb (I have not decided on this one yet).
All I am asking here is what would you guys do, keep the cam if it specs out good or buy a new one with lifters and everything? I hear lots of good things about Rhoads lifters on bigger cams in a street car but never had experience with them myself or driven a car with them.
Thanks!

Shawn-

FMX
Looks like you've made some good choices.
I ran that same cam some years ago and loved it.
And I also used the Rhoad lifters and they worked great as well.
I did however have to put about a 2200 stall in it.
It was just a little to much cam for the stock converter.
But what a great pulling cam, You'll enjoy it.
I had ran the weind duel plan manifold that was port matched
to the heads and a 780 holley mech. carb and headers. Kurt

I would save the money on the Rhoads lifters and go with the Comp ones. The cam sounds good for your app. Edd

That is a good cam-also the extreme energy 268 is good-great sound and it works good. Forget about the rhoads, they tend to be noisy.

What do you guys think about the Edelbrock Performer RPM cam and lifter kit? I am running their Edelbrock RPM manifold which I hear is great and see that it is very cheap. Will running a stall and such hurt milage? That is one of the biggest things I am worried about.

I had a 350 with a CompCams 270 Magnum and liked it a lot. Like others have said, I would advise using a stall converter despite what CC says about using a stock converter. It has a nice lope, pulls hard to 5800 rpm. I run a 280 Magnum in my 383, and I would say the characteristics are similar. Use the CC lifters.

Well as much as I'd like to run this cam I think I may skip out on it since it seems that it will hurt milage because of the lope and stall needed. If this car was going to be my weekend hot rod or garage car then sure I wouldn't mind throwing in a 2200 stall and this cam but since it's going to be my daily driver I dont see the sense in it. Sure I wont have that nice lopey sound but I am just not going for sound and looks, I am going for reliability, function and fuel milage. I dont want it to be a stock 350 with little power of course but again I dont need a 450 HP daily driver wagon.
Since I need to switch out the lifters and everything I might as well go with an application that will not need a stall and such. The transmission I plan to put behind it is a TH350 and the kid I got it from said it has a small stall but I didn't notice a stall and I pulled the converter out and it has no numbers on it so I am guessing it isn't a stall?
When the engine was in the truck with this engine, cam and TH350 it idled fine and didn't stall out while in gear at a stop so that makes me wonder.

BTW, good to see you around Denny! I haven't talked or seen you around here in a LONG time. How have you been and what's new?

for every day and mild use i would use a RV cam like denny said the hi stall will not be EZ on gas .i would not use leaky lifters like rumrumm said .why not just build some thing off the bat that will work good then try to stick a big cam in it. if your just blasting it down the road every now and then stick a big cam in it. but if your going to drive it use a RV cam?

If you are looking for mileage you are going in the wrong direction,The RPM intake is just what it says,RPM! larger runners for increased fuel delivery,to get mileage you want an intake with smaller runners to produce increased low end torque and promote higher velocity at lower speeds,the cams discussed above will not promote fuel economy either.I am not really sold on the regular Performer intake either,you'll find tons of them on ebay and craigslist for $50.So lets look at this combo to get you going in the right direction,plug in these part#'s at www.summitracing.com Weiand 8125,Crower CRO-00904,Summit SUM-M08600VS .Hopefully Techinspector can run some numbers for you.

Thanks for the info guys. To clear things up Pat, that's exactly what I DONT want is a big cam, high stall, etc. I am looking for a mild cam that will help with a little performance and fuel milage, a nice intake (I also have a Weiand Street Performer or some kind of intake like this that was on the 350 already that I may go ahead and use already) and then a 3.08 gear.
I found a few cam kits that come with the lifters, springs, cam, pushrods, etc and they are Comp Cam Energy I believe that are supposed to be for mild to mid street motors for better fuel economy and nice low to mid range. Once I look at the numbers about that JeffB2 put up then I will post what I found and get your guys' oppinions on them.

crower 00915 or howards98111 or erson E110020 orE110022 but i would put a hyd roller in it any ways

Originally Posted by FMXhellraiser

Thanks for the info guys. To clear things up Pat, that's exactly what I DONT want is a big cam, high stall, etc. I am looking for a mild cam that will help with a little performance and fuel milage, a nice intake (I also have a Weiand Street Performer or some kind of intake like this that was on the 350 already that I may go ahead and use already) and then a 3.08 gear.
I found a few cam kits that come with the lifters, springs, cam, pushrods, etc and they are Comp Cam Energy I believe that are supposed to be for mild to mid street motors for better fuel economy and nice low to mid range. Once I look at the numbers about that JeffB2 put up then I will post what I found and get your guys' oppinions on them.

yep look at them cams i listed and i did say RV cam

Besides power and reliability what else will I get out of a roller? A buddy of mine said do not even mess with a roller and just put a plain Hydraulic flat tappet kit in it and the one he recommends (I haven't found yet) is a 327 350hp cam. He said they were used in the Vettes and are mild and great for street motors. He said he used a Speed Pro brand one a in a few customers cars and they had just a slight lope but they idled great and had a nice wide broad power range and are great for a street motor.
I am wanting to get some more oppinions here, write all the cam kits you guys show me and then start narrowing them down and decide from there. I am still trying to learn the whole deal on cams and head work and how to choose the right combo with what I have. I know on my 66 F100 I have a Comps Cam Xtreme 4x4 type cam that works GREAT on my daily driver. It's for more low and mid range and does great on the street. As for sound (lope) it is nicer than stock but nothing crazy at all. I was considering this as well since it seems to work in my 351W motor that is drive on the street (horrible on gas though which I think is due to the 3.77 gears and C4 tranny).

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...2&autoview=sku
What do you think about this kit? Is it too much of a cam or in the middle?
The thing I am still trying to learn is what is the stock duration and lift on a cam? I have looked but hear different things so am confused and not sure if they have kits that are like 2 or 3 steps up from stock, etc. That Crower one looks nice I am going to write that down and will be considering that.