Thread: My Chevy 355 has little real power - looking for suggestion on CAM change

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You need more gear. The 4.10's with the 35" tires are the same thing as running a 3.28 gear with a 28" tire. Install a 5.13 gear.

Too much volume under the carb. If the spacer is not a 4-hole model, lose it.

Too much carb for a torque motor. Borrow a buddies 600 or 650 to try it out.

Too much cam for the compression ratio. Assuming a deck of 0.025" (since you don't know), your static compression ratio is 9.08:1. Swapping in a Crane #113941 (216/228 @ 0.050", intake closes 35 ABDC) and advancing it 4 degrees will give you a dynamic compression ratio of 8.169:1. Since a good strong motor will need a DCR of 8.00:1 to 8.25:1, you'll be right in the ballpark. I'm not saying use this cam and only this cam. I'm just giving you a for-instance of what specs I would buy if I had to buy you a cam. This cam makes power from 1,800 to 5,600 with valve float at 6,200 if you use all the matching hardware from Crane. Use a converter with a stall of 2,000 r's.

At 184 cc's, the heads should work fine for you. Eric thinks they are a little large and I agree with that for a torque motor, but hey, where do you draw the line on cost? Ideally, they'd be 170 but I'd keep 'em.

Now call the cam tech guys and let's see how close I am. Hey, I don't know it all, but I usually hit it pretty close.

http://www.cranecams.com/?show=brows...tType=camshaft