TexasRoadRunner68
Well-Known Member
I bought a lot of used parts a while back. Cam was supposedly Hughes, but is engraved Demos cams and has their grind number. Any chance these are outsourced or did I end up with a mystery camshaft?
They were definitely engles. No idea when they changed to howards.I thought at one time I had heard that Engle ground their cams?
Guess they were mistaken then.Cam was supposedly Hughes
WHY would you buy a used camshaft, yet alone an UNKNOWN grind for an unknown application from an unknown company.....with no specs to compare ???? Just like buying "a pig in a poke" must have been cheap.I bought a lot of used parts a while back. Cam was supposedly Hughes, but is engraved Demos cams and has their grind number. Any chance these are outsourced or did I end up with a mystery camshaft?
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It was in a cheap lot of parts. Overall it was worth if for the other stuff. Like I said, I have a brand new lunati in my build.WHY would you buy a used camshaft, yet alone an UNKNOWN grind for an unknown application from an unknown company.....with no specs to compare ???? Just like buying "a pig in a poke" must have been cheap.
BOB RENTON
I noticed the same thing years ago when perusing my Ultradyne catalog (pre Bullet days). So I called old buddy Tim at Ultradyne, and he explained the initial movement vs ramp velocity/intensity "thing".What is interesting is the FT cams, above: for the same 050 duration, the FT cams have more lift than the rollers & generally only 1 or 2* @ 200 lift.
It seems that Howard's lobes stay at max velocity just a couple degrees longer, which tranlates to the additional lift. This is where the extra spring pressure is needed, as given more lift over same duration requires "deceleration/closing ramp" to happen quicker (more abruptly) than a lobe with less lift for a given duration.The larger lifter diam was the basis for using mushroom lifters, to get more lift & 'area' under the curve.
How has Howard's managed to get 0.020" or more lobe lift for the same 050 number than other companies??? That is a huge amount. They all use computers these days
I had said, IIRC in relation to Harold Brookshire introducing assymetric lobes. I did not recall correctly, a little research, and I found that OEM's have been using asymmetrical lobes since the late 40's.Brookshire was NOT the first to design asymmetrical lobes, he just spruiked the concept to make it sound like he invented them. He designed a lot of the Comp lobes when they opened in the mid 70s. My early 1970s Isky catalog had AS lobes in it.
Since you asked, I'll give everyone a very very short history of me, so you'll know where I came from.
1969---Went to work for State of Mississippi as computer operator, rose to be lead operator at CDPA, Central Data Processing Agency.
1972---Began working on cam design program in my spare time.
Dec 15, 1972---Sold 310AP SBC solid to Reed Cams, Georgia, for $125.00.
1973---Made $3000 selling to Reed, Isky, Engle, Norris.
1974---Designed Reed's RxxxULX line of rollers, and a lot more, including Benny Parson's 1975 Daytona 500-winning cam. Also Shirl Greer's TF/FC NHRA National Champion Nitro Funny car cam, designed for Norris, and it was a True Chrysler flat tappet, with .438" lobe lift.
1974---Became General Kinetics' cam designer, worked with people like Bill Jenkins and Jack Roush on the cams for their ProStockers.
1976---Jenkins wins Pro Stock Natinal Championship, with GK doing large-barrel cams.
1977---I start in January with Competion Cams, as their original cam designer. Over the next 3 years, I design them hundreds of cams, including the 268 High Energy. I introduce them to the unsymmetrical cam.
1979---I write them their 1st in-house cam design program. Before that, we shared a program with Cam Dynamics.
1980---After negotiating since late 1976 for some stock ownership in Competition Cams, I leave and start UltraDyne on April 1st, 1980. The 1st month I design the 288/296F5 and the 288/296R6, the 2 most popular cams I ever made.
1981---In September, I hire my 1st employee, Mike O'Neal, who ran my shop, made all my models and masters, etc.
1982---We're running 2 shifts, from 7:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Tim Goolsby comes to work for me, he is Mike's brother-in-law. I also design UltraDyne's first hydraulic cams, such as the 272, the 276, the 288/296H.
From then on until 2000, we all just worked. UltraDyne grossed over $1.2 Million a year from 1990 to 1999.
2000---A number of independent factors began to take their toll---Federal Mogul acquiring my 2 major solid lifter core manufacturers, and their later Chapter 11, Lifter companies disappearring, tremendous cash-flow problems in the end of 2000, initially triggered by the UPS strike---We lost around $50,000 in the strike.
2001---A un-named cam company in Memphis hires 8 of my 12 employees, and 2 more just leave because they think --that's it. Only Tim and Gail are left with me.
2001-2003---UltraDyne is in the Chapter 11 'Death Spiral'. I take a $0 salary for 2002, and pump all my, and my wife's, retirment money into UltraDyne, along with all the equity I could get on my house, etc, etc, etc.
June 2003---Everything is gone, the government locks the doors.
August 2003---I go to work at Lunati, charged with completely re-doing their entire line of cams. Mike is already there, waiting for me, along with Steve Slavik, who worked for me for 13 years (Mike for 19...). Then I meet the corporate world.....
Oct 2004---Lunati introduces the VooDoo cams. And they really work good.....
This has been the line and times of a cam designer, and even with the down sides, it has been the time of my life, and I'm going to stay at it as long as I can.....
This has been the line and times of a cam designer, and even with the down sides, it has been the time of my life, and I'm going to stay at it as long as I can.....
No comments are necessary, you are all a great bunch, and as that Great American, Minnie Pearl, said, "I'm just so proud to be here!"
Thanks,
UDHarold
PS---None of those were re-packaged cams. They were ALL designed by me, and unsymmetrical, as always.
Now that's a career - hell, a legacy right there! Thanks for sharing this so that future readers can find it.I had said, IIRC in relation to Harold Brookshire introducing assymetric lobes. I did not recall correctly, a little research, and I found that OEM's have been using asymmetrical lobes since the late 40's.
I was very wrong......lol
Also, Brookshire referred to his designs as "unsymmetrical"(?) and used multiple polynomials to create the curves.
FWIW, Harold's actual claimed history from the man himself. (Harold passed away in 2015 RIP)