Cams
05-29-2023, 04:59 PM
#2
Team Owner
Member Since: Feb 2003
Location: Sitting in his Nowhere land Hanover Pa
Posts: 49,089
Received 6,984 Likes
on
4,804 Posts
2015 C2 of Year Finalist
Go with a stock L72 The further you stray away the less street-able the engine will be. And unless your street racing the L36/L68 is a great driving engine for street manors and power.
05-29-2023, 05:17 PM
#3
Advanced
I would suggest calling Chris Straub from Straub Technologies. Chris can custom grind a cam based on your motor and heads. Chris is great to work with.
05-29-2023, 05:25 PM
#4
Le Mans Master
Dave - as far as you know is the cam in there now, the stock L68 Hydraulic Flat Tappet Cam? If so, you've got a very good, streetable cam already.
I've had a '70 402-330 horse Malibu and the Bigblock in my 66 L72 Roadster is a good running...but very mild...68 vintage 396-325 horse engine.
Both have great bottom end but the cam used in both of those examples is seriously mild. The duration is roughly around .198/.198 and the lift is
something like .412/.412. The L356/L68 hydraulic flat tappet cam was listed as having 390 horsepower and that's just marketing hype but
the cam in those two engines had duration of around 214/218 with lift up around .450/.480.
Going hotter in the cam can bring more horsepower but there could also be a tradeoff in bottom end performance.
What rear gears do you have now?
Mike T - Prescott AZ
I've had a '70 402-330 horse Malibu and the Bigblock in my 66 L72 Roadster is a good running...but very mild...68 vintage 396-325 horse engine.
Both have great bottom end but the cam used in both of those examples is seriously mild. The duration is roughly around .198/.198 and the lift is
something like .412/.412. The L356/L68 hydraulic flat tappet cam was listed as having 390 horsepower and that's just marketing hype but
the cam in those two engines had duration of around 214/218 with lift up around .450/.480.
Going hotter in the cam can bring more horsepower but there could also be a tradeoff in bottom end performance.
What rear gears do you have now?
Mike T - Prescott AZ
05-29-2023, 07:57 PM
#5
Safety Car
Member Since: Feb 1999
Location: Fountain Hills AZ
Posts: 3,626
Likes: 0
Received 10 Likes
on
10 Posts
The stock cam is mild in a 396 and milder in a 427. My heavier 396 El Camino had the same cam and was replaced with a Comp XE 268 and I love it. 224/230 @ .050. Good low end, much stronger mid and top end power than stock. Mild lope.
05-30-2023, 06:06 AM
#7
Safety Car
That's usually the right approach. I can tell you from personal experience, though, that a stock L72 cam in an otherwise unmodified L68 is a great combination. It doesn't give up much in the way of low end performance and street manners, and the boost in mid-RPM performance, up to about 5500 is seat of the pants noticeable. Perfectly usable as a daily driver even in traffic.
The following users liked this post:
427Hotrod (05-30-2023)
05-30-2023, 01:16 PM
#8
Race Director
Member Since: Jan 2000
Location: Corsicana, Tx
Posts: 12,626
Received 1,895 Likes
on
923 Posts
2020 C2 of the Year - Modified Winner
2020 Corvette of the Year (performance mods)
C2 of Year Winner (performance mods) 2019
2017 C2 of Year Finalist
The #143 396/375 and 427/425 cam was the "go to" cam forever. It's mild enough to not hurt parts....and drives well. Of course it's a solid lifter cam (there are some Hyd copies)...but an oval port 427 really wakes up with it. Many an 11 sec run has been made with a cast piston/oval port combo with that cam.
Chris Straub has several proven cams that take a different approach and work really well in mild combos. Probably even better than the L72 cam.
JIM
Chris Straub has several proven cams that take a different approach and work really well in mild combos. Probably even better than the L72 cam.
JIM
06-02-2023, 01:09 AM
#9
Instructor
