Cam Suggestions

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Rubber Truck

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I was wondering if anybody can give any suggestions on a cam. I'm looking to get one mostly for sound. A little more horsepower or torque would be nice to if possible.
 

82sbshortbed

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This guy's thumper cam sounds great and can do a burnout too. :burnout:

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DoubleDingo

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I was wondering if anybody can give any suggestions on a cam. I'm looking to get one mostly for sound. A little more horsepower or torque would be nice to if possible.

If you're going to spend the money and time for a cam swap, get the most bang for your buck. Don't waste it on a lopey cam just because it sounds cool. Spend it wisely, get a cam that works well with you engine, great low end torque and mid range. Unless you're going to be street racing the truck, then you want a cam that will go higher in the rpm range.

When I bought my '65 the PO had a lopey cam in it. It sounded cool, but was a gutless pig. I swapped in an old school grind 300hp/327 cam which has great torque off idle up to 5,500, and it runs much better. Nice smooth idle, good power, better economy.
 

Rubber Truck

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If you're going to spend the money and time for a cam swap, get the most bang for your buck. Don't waste it on a lopey cam just because it sounds cool. Spend it wisely, get a cam that works well with you engine, great low end torque and mid range. Unless you're going to be street racing the truck, then you want a cam that will go higher in the rpm range.

When I bought my '65 the PO had a lopey cam in it. It sounded cool, but was a gutless pig. I swapped in an old school grind 300hp/327 cam which has great torque off idle up to 5,500, and it runs much better. Nice smooth idle, good power, better economy.
I don't know much about cams that's why I thought I'd ask. No I won't be street racing the truck but I would take some more torque and power along with a little bit of a lope if it gives a cam that will do both.
 

Bextreme04

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Your best bet is to call a reputably cam company and tell them what you have, what you are planning on using it for, and what you want. They can recommend a decent cam then. I can tell you that just dropping a thumper cam into a stock truck motor will never sound like the truck in that video. The stock truck 350 has huge combustion chambers, crazy big quench height, and super low compression. There are several ways to fix at least some of that, including new cylinder heads, or decking the block with new flat top pistons, and then picking a decent cam to go along with the mechanical combo. Just throwing a cam in a gutless truck engine will help a little bit, but not much.
 

CoggedBelt75

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X2 on not wasting your time & money just to sound bad @$$. And also to call and talk to a cam grinder that can help with a choice. There’s a few young guys around that run the thumpers and flowmasters. For some reason people associate noise with power. But that will show different at a stop light. In the end it is your money so if that is what you what, go for it. We all have different tastes.
 

Turbo Dog

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A lot of good advice above. If you're looking for sound look into what mufflers you want. You can go with different length glass pack style ones to get some good sound. But most of that sound is made from a combo of the cam overlap and the compression ratio. A big drag racing cam will lope at idle but it will suck to drive around on the street. A standard cam like this might be what you are looking for:
https://www.compcams.com/high-energ...cam-and-lifter-kit-chevrolet-small-block.html

The cam in my 388 stroker has a Comp Cams XR252HR which is running a full roller hydraulic valve train with 10.5:1 compression with stock intake and exhaust manifolds, stock heads with no porting, and the stock two barrel TBI unit. It does not have a lumpy idle because it was custom ground to make 420 lbft of torque by only 2000 rpm. It can accelerate going uphill with 6000 lbs on the bed, but at a stop light you can run faster than it can accelerate because it was built like a pulling motor not a drag racer who makes peak power around 6000 rpm.

Have fun designing your motor for what you want and ask any questions.
 

Rusty Nail

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sirweesarunch

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Comp cams has a service that you punch in all your parameters and they will optimize a cam for those parameters. You want some lope ? It has drawbacks. Lower torque down low where needed , vacuum issues , wear and tear , crap driveability , etc etc. what people want and what they need seldom agree.


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