grumpy, I'd like your opinion one last time!!!

[NYH1]

grumpy, I want your opinion one more time before I start to assemble my motor. I bought THIS Lunati Voodoo 262/268 cam. A few weeks ago I called Lunati and the tech I talked to said this cam work really well in my set up.

I posted the cam I bought and the rest of my set up on another forum and talked to a few friends about it. Some guys seem to think I should have gone one size up to THIS Lunati Voodoo 268/276 cam.

Here is the rest of my set up.

SHORT BLOCK-
*385 stroker (4.040 bore x 3.750 stroke) 2 bolt main block with ARP main bolts, block casting number 3970010. Pistons are in the hole .008" to - .012" with slight piston rocking.
*Forged Keith Black FHR IC9945 19.6cc dished pistons. SCR 9.1 with 67cc heads. DCR 7.93 with 262/268 cam. DCR 7.28 with 268/276 cam both with .038" head gasket. I don't want to use copper head gaskets. Compression ratio come from Keith Blacks Compression Ratio Calculator.
*Scat 3.750" stroke Cast Pro Comp Stroker Lightweight Crankshaft.
*Scat 6" Forged 4340 I-Beam Pro Stock Rods.
*Assembly has been internally balanced.
*Melling oil pump part number 10552 10% over stock volume output. Moroso 5 quart pan with rear baffle. Passenger side front oil galley plug drilled with a .0315" hole.
*Lunati double roller timing chain and gear set part number 93099.

HEADS AND OTHER UPPER END PARTS-
*Summit Vortec heads.
*Comp Cams 1.5 self aligned roller tip rocker arms.
*Edelbrock's regular/non Air-Gap Vortec Performer RPM intake.
*Edelbrock 650 AVS carb.
*Stock HEI distributor that is going to be updated.

CAR-
*78 Camaro stock weight, I have no plans on trying to make it lighter.
*Current tires are 235/60-14 all the way around. I may go to 255/15-15 rear and 225/60-15 front. That won't happen any time soon.
*Hedman 1 5/8" full length headers
*Flowmaster 2 1/2" full length dual exhaust system.
*TH350 transmission. I plan on using a 2000/2200 stall converter max. Maybe a 700R4 or TH2004R in the future, no time soon though.
*8.5" rear end with 3.42 gears.
*I'd like to run it on 89 to 91 octane fuel if possible.

PLANNED USE-
*Daily driver/mild street performance car. It's not going to be a "weekend Warrior", it's going to be driven quite a bit.
*I definitely like my motor to make power up to at least 5600 RPM's. However I'd like to keep my RPM's under 5800/6000 max. My rotating assembly has be balanced by a really good machine shop.

Given the above information do you think I should just go ahead and use the 262/268 cam or do you think I'd benefit from the larger 268/276 cam? I'd like to have at least a "slight lope" if possible.

Thanks, NYH1!

 

[grumpyvette]

Looking over the info you posted ,either cam you may select of those two,will work fairly well, but the milder cam 262 cam,you currently have will be a better match for a car with the listed components used mostly for transportation in my opinion
theres no doubt that the 268 cam will produce more peak hp, but the average hp/tq in the rpm range youll use most as a daily driver car will be better matched to the milder cams power curve...it makes little sense in my opinion to cam a car to produce more peak hp in an rpm band near 5500rpm-6000rpm you'll seldom reach more than 5% of the time at most or use on the street, and sacrifice, low rpm torque in the 1000rpm-3500rpm to get that extra peak hp when you could potentially use that extra low rpm torque about 90% of the time, everything's a compromise and having bragging rights is nice, but having dependable and easy to drive transportation for years beats the glow you get from bragging about peak hp numbers every once in awhile, especially when the milder cam will probably allow you to burn the tires longer even if the cars a bit slower in the 1/4 mile (maybe a couple hundreths of a second)

cams are cheap and easy to swap, Id suggest you go with the 262 cam, if you want to upgrade for more power later that's a simple weekend project, easily done, but if you select the more radical cam you may find, your less than pleased in traffic. Its your choice but you'll almost always find that a car used for transportation , thats under cammed is preferable to having it over cammed.
The most common mistake I see younger guys make is over camming their cars, in your case you can,t really make a really bad selection, but as I stated, id suspect that the milder cams a better choice here.

P.S. after you get it broken in for a few hundred miles , of driving it like your EX wife and her lawyer were trying to catch you to serve you papers forcing you to support her for life, let me know how the car runs after you wipe the silly grin off.

 

[NYH1]

I agree with you 100%. I just wanted your opinion one more time. You've never steered me wrong so I really value your advise and opinions. I'll stick with the 262/268 cam I already have.

Thanks again my friend, I really appreciate it, NYH1!

 

[NYH1]

P.S. after you get it broken in for a few hundred miles , of driving it like your EX wife and her lawyer were trying to catch you to serve you papers forcing you to support her for life, let me know how the car runs after you wipe the silly grin off.

Just noticed this, lol. Will do!