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Street/strip solid roller question

fourgearsavoy said:
Current cam in the car is an odd ball Isky roller. Got it in a stash of 4-speed parts had a tag on it 528 lift 244@ 50 and I'm running it with 1.6 rockers. Last summer it went 11.97
Fastest the car has been was when I ran an old Comp flat solid XTQ series cam.
Duration - 294/299
Duration @ .050" - 264/270
Lift - .567/.579
Lobe lift- 0.378/0.386
It ran 10.91 @ 124 mph
I had a Richmond 5-speed with a 3.27 first gear and 3.54 rear gears back then and the car weighed 3540# with the same EZ head 493 with 11.9 compression
Click to expand...
is putting the old comp cams back in an option?
 
If you were satisfied with the performance and street aspects of the Comp 264/270 solid, it would be easy enough to come up with a roller that gets you into that range.

Duration-wise, the Powell cam looks pretty close.
Just see about doing something with less lift that can live with springs that aren’t hard on the valvetrain during the street driving.
 
If the Howard’s cam is a solid roller, and If I had the associated valve springs, I’d give that a go. The lobe profiles look a little aggressive.
 
Frankly.... I'd go back to the sft you were happy with, or it's equivalent.
That Howard's cam with only 28 degrees from advertised to .050 looks pretty aggressive to me.
 
The Howard’s 260/264 cam looks to be a shelf grind .904 solid.
.616/.620 lift with a 1.5 rocker…… .657/.661 with a 1.6

Those are the kinds of lift numbers I’d be looking at out of a more valvetrain friendly roller.
 
From my experience with EZ heads you can't use a spring more than 1.55" in diameter without opening up the spring pocket.
 
I had a Richmond 5-speed with a 3.27 first gear and 3.54 rear gears back then and the car weighed 3540# with the same EZ head 493 with 11.9 compression
Click to expand...

I’m curious about what the reasoning was behind taking the 5 speed out.
 
PRHeads said:
I’m curious about what the reasoning was behind taking the 5 speed out.
Click to expand...
It's a race faceplate deal with a Long V-gate shifter. not really an easy cruiser box.

FACEPLATE.JPG
 
PRHeads said:
If you were satisfied with the performance and street aspects of the Comp 264/270 solid, it would be easy enough to come up with a roller that gets you into that range.

Duration-wise, the Powell cam looks pretty close.
Just see about doing something with less lift that can live with springs that aren’t hard on the valvetrain during the street driving.
Click to expand...
I contacted Daniel Powell and he's going to spec a cam with lift in in the lower 600's for me.
 
So you have a solid roller in it now, correct?

If so, consider this: if you know the specifications or part number of your current valve springs, give that info to Powell, and see what cam he can offer that will work with the current springs. Maybe nothing that you like, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask.
 
BSB67 said:
So you have a solid roller in it now, correct?

If so, consider this: if you know the specifications or part number of your current valve springs, give that info to Powell, and see what cam he can offer that will work with the current springs. Maybe nothing that you like, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask.
Click to expand...
Yes it's a small solid roller and the springs are good to 650 lift. I'm confident we will come up with a good cam that will work with my combination.
 
PRHeads said:
Looks like the emphasis is more on the “strip” side of street/strip.

For something that will see regular street use, I tend to lean towards cams that don’t need a lot of spring.
Not everyone agrees or is on that page.

My advice for the OP is…….to just make sure he understands what you’re looking for from the cam swap, and that you understand what pieces you’ll need to upgrade to facilitate using that cam.
Click to expand...
I agree that it’s too much cam for those heads. The flow isn’t gonna be there. Very little gain for the work and expense. Kim
 
I was messing around with some numbers trying to get before and after horsepower numbers. I'm thinking you have lost over 100hp between the two cams; isky roller vs comp cams. How is that possible? Are there other factors or changes? I can't see a big cam change making up the difference. Maybe before you blow a bunch of bucks on a cam start looking and testing what you have now to see if there's some hidden factors.
 
I've been running a short oval track solid lifter roller cam in my hemi on the street since 1965 and have put nearly 300,000 miles on the car. 264 degree / .480 lift

Were it not for a brand new Hot Heads oil pump failure in 2011 (bolt fell out of the pump cover at just 1800 miles doing a steady 70 mph eastbound up a long hill on I-68 just over the border in western Maryland).
1772901218819.png

I'd still be running the cam but one of the three connecting rods that disintegrated the front of the block took out the cam as well. Crower made me a new cam using the original grind and it's in there right now.


If a rev kit spring broke, the push-rod end would be toast in less than 50 miles.
1772900344322.png

Note the broken spring on #8 intake rocker.

Keeping the slack out of the push-rods is critical and these Milodon springs kept the push rods under tension all the time so that the only gap is at the valve stem.

Drain the coolant, loosen the intake manifold bolts to take the strain off the heads so that you don't disturb the head gasket seal, pull the 10 head bolts and remove the rocker assembly.
Replace the spring and reverse the process.

Did that in the motel parking lot in Oklahoma City once as well.

Solid lifter roller cams, if they're used on the street for any substantial time, need a lot more attention than a drag race cam in an engine that gets pulled down every other week or sooner. Radical lift and duration coupled with the necessary rock-solid valve springs will negate any prolonged reliable street use.

1772901218861.png

Your's truly running the valves between rounds on our fuel dragster at Lebanon Valley Dragway in 1966.
 
PRHeads said:
Any idea of the brand/part number and installed height?
Click to expand...
I got them from AndyF and the box was marked Comp 939-16 . I checked them at 1.910 and they were 136# on the seat and 400# at .650
Maybe should look into some new springs?
I talked to Daniel about my cam and he said .625 is doable with his core.
 
Yeh, that should be fine for the old Isky cam, but is way light(imo) for a more modern profile.
That’s where I am on a lot of HR cams.

I’m sure he’ll be able to provide some spring guidelines for the new cam, but for reference…….my starting point for a street/strip BB solid roller spring is more like 200/500 …… and I’ve seen several recommendations higher than that.
 
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