Agreed it tells nothing about how to choose the right cam. It simply tells us different applications and this mans opinion of what is in each class he chose to list. How does that help choose the right cam for a given set up? It does nothing.
For street, think about the cam you want, then go slightly milder. Giving up torque for that peak HP number isn't fun. You'll be spending more time below 4k than you will past 5500.
I [like many] learned that the hard way, many years ago. If people could put an auto swictching set of hour meters on their engines [one for up to 3800rpm and one for over that], they would be shocked by their optimism. A guesstimate of 20% of run time being upper end probably turns out to be 5 or 6%. Circle track guys wouln't care about those numbers because caution flags don't describe intended purpose: scream off the corners with buckets of torque any time its green.
The most important things about how to select a cam are left out of this video. Knowing the flow numbers of your heads is a must when selecting the right lift of the cam. If you put a cam in with more lift than the heads flow then the intake runners become saturated with air and you end up losing power. So if you go out and get the biggest drag racing cam you can find and stuff it in your stock 350 or 305 with it's factory heads, more than likely your engine is going to be a dog. If all you do is cruise around, a high lift cam with lots of duration and narrow LSA because you like the sound, it's going to suck driving around town. Know your head flow numbers, how you plan on driving, what RPM range your intake it rated at, weight, trans type, gears will help you choose the best cam for your application.
An angine likes a head that serves up velocity in the 300 to 325 fps range in the runner at peak lift, and the hardest limitation to work around is throat area under the valve seat - giant intake runners do not change that for the same size engine. Personally I am fond of valve numbers close to 2.00" intake and 1.58" exhaust on a fun [small block] street build. If throat is 91%, that puts cross section at 2.86"/1.96" square, minus valve stems. On a sbc, that makes a 1205 intake gasket reasonable: crosssection is 2.68" - bang on for the common 11/32" stems. A 1206 can work, being 2.89" square but... that may take a number of manifold choices off the table. Never get carried away opening up pushrod pinch point way past throat restriction is a detail worth minding. Long story short, flowbench your heads to discover where you want to limit lift - cfm gains vs lift will plateau on common aftermarket heads somewhere between 0.600" and 0.700" valve lift except some porting is done. Bone stock heads? Best to stay under 0.490" lift most cases.
Maybe someone here can help me out a bit. I have not worked on engines since the mid-90s. So I am rusty on knowledge at this point. My son bought a 1994 4x4 Chvey Blazer with 350cid. It is only being used for winter dring only as it snows quite a bit in Ohio. The issue is that the truck has those wide heavy 33" tires. It gives the truck a slow take off from a dead stop. I told my son that we could give the 350 a little extra horsepower. What I was thinking was just adding a larger cam, new intake manifold and a 600cfm carb. (probably all Edelbrock) I also figured shortie headers to help along as well. I am just not sure if there is more needs to be done. I was figuring just leaving the heads/lifters alone. --- Side note: Apparently the previous owner said the 350 had been rebuilt but do not know how long ago. I thought maybe someone could give me a general idea here. I am friends with a mechanic and I do not want to look so outdated and clueless ....... lol
@@nazfan01 I know this is 3 months old, but what did you pick ?? My suggestion is build your engine around a "towing" cam, dual-plane Edelbrock, some bowl blending in the heads, nothing fancy, smooth any sharp edges in the combustion chamber, detail the oil pump and make sure the catalytic converter isn't "plugged up".
@@peterdarr383 - Funny thing about the truck. My son bought that truck from a friend of mine for $2000. Drove it 3 miles home and parked it in the garage and it sat all Spring and Summer and never moved it. Now 7 months later Winter was coming along and just pulled it out of the garage and the guy he bought the truck from happen to come by and said he wanted to buy it back for $2',500. My son took the money. - You see, after sitting 7 months and pulling it out of the garage and parked in the grass the brakes went WOOSH. That when we realized it was rusted pretty bad underneath. The friend stopped, saw the brakes wemt out and offered the money. Something tells me he sold it for more. But hey not a bad profit for a 21 year old young man that never drove the truck
Very good explanation but im kinda confused between endurance and street. I need a cam that for a little but if street racing just some pulls here and there but I’m also daily driving the truck. That imcludes some pretty long trips what do you suggest? I don’t want to replace the cam that much or damage my valve terrain. Just fyi this is on a 1993 5.7L small block Chevy 350
3 cam choices the blub blub blub cam (just say it fast it'll make sense) 8.5-10 to 1 stock to 3.73 the potato cam (this is where most people fall just say potato really fast) 10-11.5 to 1 3.55- 4..30 gears or the last one the whipeout cam intro drums to whipeout 12.0 to one and up 4.56 and up there, now you know how to select a cam !! lol
I’m assuming duration is measured @ .050” lift, which would be nice to mention, but not much was. Also, EFI vehicles may require 112-114 deg overlap due to sensors, but 106-108 deg (for carburetors) provides a broader power band… as I understand it.
Thank you for the help...I just slapped a 279 cam in my 350 small block and well even tho the idle was rough...it was always ruff and low rpm so it was no problem smoothing it out with carburetor
I got a rare opportunity to upgrade my cam (im in highschool) and im looking to build for circuit racing. hears endurance cam used for road racing and durable *HAPPY NOISES*
Hello power nation i enjoyed watching this video and learned basically a map pertaining my cam specs and knowing what those numbers mean and where they stand thank you.
Don't forget bigger is not always better, it's also the CFM of the heads on a flow bench where it's tested & the complete saturation by lift of cam so if your heads max. Out at .465 you don't put a larger cam
Very good explanation but im kinda confused between endurance and street. I need a cam that for a little but if street racing just some pulls here and there but I’m also daily driving the truck. That imcludes some pretty long trips what do you suggest? I don’t want to replace the cam that much or damage my valve terrain
Ok ah...I'm gonna just say it. Don't listen to this guy except for talking to your engine builder. 1) flowbench your heads (improve or leave as is depending on your goal). 2) match intake ports with intake and head. Now you can listen to this guy
the title is how to choose the right cam, not what you need to do to you engine before you pick a cam. if your at the cam pick part you already did all the other stuff
What i would like is someone to demonstrate on a dyno how changing one variable effects the engine. so start off with stock 350 then put in a cam with longer duration. then a cam is stock duration but different overlap. then stock except lift.
Not a good indicator at all. Dynos are run at wide open throttle. How often do you plan to be at 40 to 60 mph at wide open throttle? How often are you going to be at idle to 2500 at wide open throttle? See what I mean?
My cam doesn’t suck. Heads flow 250cfm at 500 lift, cam lifts valves to .550 so just a little more under the curve, coefficient of flow from .200-.400 lift is 76% so pretty good, cam has longer exhaust duration so it helps scavenge, my cam choice was an xe266hr12, for a 10:1 332 Ford powering a 4600lb Manual Bronco, I’m happy
Timely info. Selecting a cam now for 94 Mustang GT w/ GT40p heads w/ back cut intake valves, tfs 2500100 spring kit, aode, Explorer intake and 75 mm throttle body. Trying to stay at .500 lift or less, 210-220 dur at @.050 & max rpm 5500 to match parts selected. Target is 300 HP at wheels and reliability. Elgin E-1835-P cam is an option. Or Ford letter cam arpund .480 to .490 lift. I'm open to suggestions if you have a favorite.
No, except your starting point is a specific horsepower number goal. For most? Decide what rpm range you will be operating in [and top vehicle speed desired], and based on displacement pick a cam best suited for those. If you're racing there are further metrics to apply [circuit, oval and 1/4 mile make some of those decisions for you, which are all their own topics but gearing, torque and top speed figure heavily]. Crunch your numbers twice [I use UEM compression calculator alot], then go pick heads - focus on dynamic compression ratio [there may be some milling involved] in picking chamber size, then worry about flow rates. CFM used will be a high percentage of calculated volume: 87-92% is ballpark, most combos. You are managing velocity primarily, so... too big or too small is a bad thing: the former kills bottom end torque, the latter kills horsepower. There's alot of decent off the shelf cams favoring a 9.5 to 10.5 compression ratio for fun street builds. As for milling heads...DEGREE that cam please, before going to a machine shop! I get 0.006", 0.015", 0.020" and 0.050" numbers. The difference between 0.020" an 0.050" in degrees tells alot about how intense a cam is - small numbers are great for racing, but harder on seats/valvetrain. The topic is truly huge, so better look at people who know more than me. Jenkins is as good a starting point as any - guy has done his homework. garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/need-some-bump-stick-101.10226/
I like having two different cam profiles for my engine, get the best of both worlds, good streetability and economy, and good power and broad rev range. VTEC FTW. almost 2hp/cubic inch.
The first prob I have with anyone giving advice, especially on cam profiles, is You nor I will never know what the advice giver's pet peeves are. Does the advice giver like his engine parameters mild, moderate, or max'd for any given scenario. A few of you are getting onto this guy for his Duration#'s; and you should; but not simply because of the #'s he gave. Instead you can get onto him for not explaining how he came up w/the #'s given. Those Duration#'s he gave I'm [assuming] are the @.050" figures and not the Advertised figures. If you want the Advertised figures you can simply add another .045" to .050" duration to his numbers for a roller cam; add .035" to .040" to his numbers for a mechanical roller cam. The second prob I have w/anyone giving engine builder advice is the advice is usually broad brushed. Its given that way because the average individual isnt educated on engine parameters. The third prob I have w/general advice on engine parameters is that the advice is always given as if the engine is one dimensional. The engine is NOT one dimensional; it is multi'dimensional. The last prob I have with the engine builders advice, from anyone - not just this guy, is that no one actually teaches how to qualify what engine parameters are required for a small, medium, large displacement engine relative to a mild, medium, maximum output engine. You cant really fault this guy or anyone else for trying to simplify the subject; but you can fault him for not explaining where n how he came up w/his #'s. If you wanna educate yourself on why the engine behaves the way it does, you have to grasp the underlying dynamics. Educate yourself in: 1) Dynamic Compression Rato to Static Compression Ratio relationship. This one requires the use of The Slider Crank Mechanism 2) Intake Port to Cylinder relationship; deals w/fluid dynamics and principles in combustion 3) Peak Output to Peak RPM relationship; deals w/pressures and mechanical efficencies Yea thats a lot to take in as you are dealing w/a lot, but if you get tired of vague generalizations then you are gonna have to hit the library books and educate yourself. Good luck n dont give up. In the end, once you get it, it will be well worth it.
Many factors involved for sure. But most people are simple minded and they all copy the same combo, so making a cam recommendation for a typical dude trying to build a hotrod ain't hard to do. Everything has been done to death. Most normies just want something that sounds rowdy. And most people that build serious engines don't need a cam recommendation, because they already know what works for what combination of parts.
Hi, I own a Peugeot 206 With Tu5jp4 engine The car has been tune to stage 1 and wanted to upgrade it to higher stages and I've come with a question about the camshafts The camshaft I've chosen is newman ph3 that takes place somewhere between stage 2 and stage 3 of tuning The duration of cams are 264 degrees and the lift is 10.15 (0.400) and just wanted to make sure is it fine for daily uses and sometimes drag races between friends cause you sometimes stock in traffic and it's also my daily car I travel with it and go to work I have changed other parts too such as exhaust manifold replaced by headers, exhaust pipe, center and muffler were all changed Stage 2 Air manifold (nfs), And pistons were also changed and now have higher compression ratio Just wanted to know that this camshaft is proper for daily street uses or not
Ok so I have a stock bottom end 5.3 lm7 going into a foxbody. I want a cam with a good choppy idle that still gives me some power. Street car I doubt I’ll ever take it to the track
It's a starting point. The one thing people must ask themselves first is what rpm range do they want to live in most of the time? Street is pretty much under 4k, while full race is above that - measure tire diameter, verify ratios [axle and transmission] before even thinking about ogling a new cam. The marine end [endurance] is the odd duck as you don't care about the middle much but need crisp reliable response at the low end maneuvering around harbors or no-wake zones [without being twitchy vs. prop size], and when getting somewhere fast pushing 5k or so for hours demands reliability.
Flinch I got a 89 Sierra shortbed single cab stepside with a K&N cold air intake, throttle body spacer, flowtech California legal headers and just one flowmaster I forgot what series anyways I want to have a reliable work truck but with some balls you know show up to the meets with the boys and burn some tire when asked I don’t know nothing about performance cams and I was wondering what’s a cheap reliable drop in cam for my setup?
Selecting the correct camshaft size is basic and simple. When the camshaft provider asks what size cam your after the answer is, “ yeah, choppier than a dozen beavers”. 🤣😂👍
I want the most reliable, but badass and choppy sounding cam for a truck that I mostly use to tow with.... based on the data in the video I would be looking for a tighter lobe separation, with the lift and duration relatively mild? Only additional mods to the engine is a full exhaust, and intake. 1996 f150, 300 I6
I know I’m late to this video.....but what’s a good cam for a 4.8l v8 (99 Silverado singlecab) and what eles should I pair with so it can ride smoothly and fast
my favorite question is when asked, what piston are you using, then i answer... then its well your cam depends on your pistons and your pistons dictates your cam, what intake are you using... what cc are your heads, what size carburetor are you using, and what size intake runners.... i want to come across the counter on people and say, " THAT'S WHY I'M ASKING YOU! MR. KNOW IT ALL, HELP ME HELP YOU SELL ME SOMETHING AND GIVE ME INFORMATION THAT WILL HELP ME PURCHASE THE PARTS I NEED FROM YOU "
Question.... I have a 5.3ls and I am having the hardest time figuring out what cam to select for my project. I don't want to touch up everything other than the cam and springs .. basically keeping it street with more hp... I will be using a ls6 intake everything else is stock...? Any good suggestions on cam selection
got a question for u ..i got a 1990 k5 blazer 700r trans 2000 to 2400 torque converter in it and im thinking about buying this race motor it has 12.5 to 1 sbc 355 030 over with elgin e-1090p solid flat tappet cam with scorpion 1.6 rockers for total lift of 573intake 594 exhust can i use the torque converter i have on this engine,,..i no i got alot of things to change because it is a tbi fuel injection
So how do I go about finding the right camshaft for a stroker engine, just wondering if there's a formula for duration vs cubic inch? I have a big block mopar low deck 471 stroker, trick flow 240 heads 1.6 rod ratio ,, 11.3:1 compression & a rod ratio of 1.71 (if that matters) Car is a dart 3100# 3.91 gears. Street75% strip25% I'm thinking between 250-260 @.050, any advice will be appreciated, thank you all.
@@maistrote7539 if your running a pretty much stock 350, I'd stay below around 480 lift, 230@.050, and get the tightest lobe separation you can find in a cam that size. Most cam company's sell a version of that cam.
How do I know if I need flat tappet or roller lifters? My truck came with roller lifters can I swap to flat tappet? Pros and cons of each? Thanks in advance!
If your dealing with a SBC. Buy David Vizards book, "How to build max performance Chevy's on a budget", turn to cam section, and pick your cam from list based on C.I., compression etc...then go punish the rear tires.
Ok before you go rushing out to buy a cam based on what this guy says, keep in mind your intake manifold, your torque converter, and size exhaust you want to run. Those three are usually the dictators of what cam you need. DO NOT USE THESE GUIDELINES on an engine that will be running factory injection or carbs less than 700cfm. Trust me KABOOMS will happen.
Loft out so much. Choosing a cam depends on what you're going to do with the engine and what heads you are using. The cam has to match the heads. As well as the intake. If a set of heads only flows 200 CFM on the intake at 550 lift. That's the lift I'm going with. If I'm running an automatic transmission on the street I'm going with a lower duration. LSA depends on where I won't torque to start coming in.
Questen Atwood Ditch that spark plug breaking piece of junk and swap in a coyote 5.0 and use a standalone ECU. If you keep that engine, please watch your oil changes because everything is run off of oil pressure and the slightest piece of gunk seems mess up your cam solenoids and other oil pressure regulated engine components. If you get a different cam you’re going to need supporting mods as well like valve train, intake manifolds, ECU tuning, and so on. You’ll need a cam that matches the flow rate of your heads/intake manifolds and you’ll definitely need a tune as well. First you need to decide if that engine plate-form is even worth the money/time. Then you need to figure out what you want to do with that vehicle. Towing? Racing? Mostly low-mid rpm or mostly high rpm? I know I didn’t answer your question but I hope I gave you some helpful insight. I hope everything goes smoothly with your build, cheers!
I am building a mopar 318, it will go with A500 OD trans and final ratio 2.71, manifold and heads restricted from emissions, Rochester Bi-jet carburettor (2 bbl), I am interested in gas mileage .... what is the cam that suits me?
I would suggest an "RV" cam in that application because it provides good low and mid range torque, isn't hard on the rest of the valve train and at idle it is smooth but you can tell it is more than a stock cam.
nofrop Texas speed stage 3 truck cam will get you close but if you have vvt you might need the vvt cam but 5.3 usually need heads to reach that to the wheels but to the crank it can be reached a lot easier call Texas speed they have everything even in packages
actually the most important aspect of Cam selection is the lobe Center angle and it's closely tied to the valve size in relation to the cubic inches the valve is feeding
Building a 385 stroker sbc considering a xe268h from comp cams is that going to be okay? Stock torque converter about 10.7 CR and it’s going in a lifted k5 blazer if that’s not a good one suggest a good one for me to look into?
What’s a great cam set up for a 2017 Chevy Silverado 1500 With a 5.3 engine? So far I have long tubes, high flow cats, Cold air intake, Sct tune on 93 octane Thanks!
You really dont need to change anything on the 5.3. The stock cam is good up to around 500 horsepower. Nice list of parts but the determining factor is your intake manifold for the LS style platform. You can put the wildest cam you can find in it but it wont matter because the stock throttle body is 92 mm. It's a choke point. The LS cam has a larger cam core then the old school small block Chevy. The lift is more gradual rather than a fat man jumping off a ladder. I wouldn't worry about your cam until you are ready to replace the intake manifold, injectors, and throttle body. After that sky is the limit. Remember when you are watching videos about twin turbo LS's making 1000 horsepower on the street. How often do they drive them? 500 HP for the street is no joke. Anymore then that, you should be on a track, not the street.
Im putting a 2004 tahoe engine into my 95yukon so no clue its more then likely a stock engine, plus i bought a 4l80e transmission to hopefully mount up to it
What about cam thrust button clearance on retrofit hydraulic roller cams? The tightest clearance I've been told is .003" and the loosests I've been told is .012". Everyone says to file the nylon buttons until you get the desired clearance, but what if I'm running a cast timing cover and a double roller timing set with thrust bearing? The nylon is by far the softest part of the whole thing. Won't it just self clearance to a minimum spec when I start the engine the first time?
@@abielm123 timing belt? We're talking about cam in block, overhead valve engines that usually drive the cam with a chain unless you are getting into some serious rpms. You still have to restrict longitudinal cam movement because it drives the distributor and can cause erratic ignition timing and, if it moves too far, a lifter can fall off the cam lobe. When that happens you get LOTS of metal in the oil. Cam thrust is important.
Just ask your tuner he knows what cams work and what cams dont work I did hours of my own research and picked my own camshaft for my LS1 and it turned out to be 1 duration number off the experts pick for best ls1 cam for a street car.
Advertised duration numbers don't really mean shit. Good for selling cams or bragging to normie buddies, but @.050 is a direct comparison between cams.
I guess my cam is too big for street. Shit. Lol. If you have an ls motor. You can go around .600 lift and 230s duration and you will enjoy it. The lobe type is Pretty important on Valvetrain durability as well. Seen a couple people asking about cam for a 5.3.. comp cam makes a cam XR275HR that would give you a nice chop with that many cubes. May need a stall. Had that baby cam in my car once. Good overall powerband.. came on around 2500rpm if I remember. My cam now is 235/243 .630/.610 111LSA and it’s much better in terms of power and torque but it doesn’t make much below 3,000. But You can see how the trend goes. Don’t get one that’s puny and too small. Cause you’ll kick yourself in the ass just like you would if you went monstrous. Stick in the high 220s to mid 230s. Ls motors like a split duration cam favoring the exhaust side. Good luck. There’s just as much torque lost in the heads as there is in a bad cam. Be warned the biggest isn’t always best in heads and cams
If its stock and you want to bring it up a bit but not be too crazy? I would go with a mild RV camshaft or maybe one from a truck. Those motors usually have longer runners to take advantage of torque at low RPM but still give you good midrange for the street. If you go too radical, dont plan on using the freeway anytime soon. You may even want to change the gears in the rear end to help also.
Sadly from 2030 on all combustion cars including classics will be banned from public streets in entire EU and Scandinavia :-( In Germany the Green Peoples Party gave order to shorten fuel supply from 2025 on by reducing all conventional fuel stations to only one state operated central gas station per city or county. Now they want to slow down all the gas station fuel pumps from 20 litre per minute to 2 litre per minute...From 2027 on in the EU certain car spare parts will be banned too....as exhaust systems, turbo chargers and even some engine and gearbox oils...California and New York will do the same from 2027 on.... So no investments should be done in oil burning cars any longer....They even created a new kind of crime here, called emissions and smoke crime. :-(((
Pick the right cam first requires knowing where the head quit flowing , compression and desired rpm range. Without that all the rest is simply garbage information, or like this guy said call someone and they will tell you because this vid sure didn’t help anyone understand flowing air through a motor
This white board has nothinv to do with which cam.. a 305 has a different cam than a 383, 9.0 :1 is diffetent that 10.5:1. 3.0 diff against a 3.7 diff. Auto, manual is diffefent. You need a calculator and all the above comes into it. STAY away from hyd roller cams, the lifters are junk and the grinds are junk. The right cam will give you 60 to 80+ hp. Off the shelf cams,, no thanks.
This video literally tells me nouthing about how to select the right cam
Thanks for making a great video on how to choose a cam 😄 love your vids!
It does tho
Then you probably shouldn't choose one yourself.
Agreed it tells nothing about how to choose the right cam. It simply tells us different applications and this mans opinion of what is in each class he chose to list. How does that help choose the right cam for a given set up? It does nothing.
It’s hard to get into the details in a 3 minute video. For more details, try this... ua-cam.com/video/JPAeepqrY-0/v-deo.html
For street, think about the cam you want, then go slightly milder.
Giving up torque for that peak HP number isn't fun. You'll be spending more time below 4k than you will past 5500.
Old rule of thumb taught to me, pick your cam then buy 1 or 2 sizes smaller.
I [like many] learned that the hard way, many years ago. If people could put an auto swictching set of hour meters on their engines [one for up to 3800rpm and one for over that], they would be shocked by their optimism. A guesstimate of 20% of run time being upper end probably turns out to be 5 or 6%. Circle track guys wouln't care about those numbers because caution flags don't describe intended purpose: scream off the corners with buckets of torque any time its green.
The most important things about how to select a cam are left out of this video. Knowing the flow numbers of your heads is a must when selecting the right lift of the cam. If you put a cam in with more lift than the heads flow then the intake runners become saturated with air and you end up losing power. So if you go out and get the biggest drag racing cam you can find and stuff it in your stock 350 or 305 with it's factory heads, more than likely your engine is going to be a dog. If all you do is cruise around, a high lift cam with lots of duration and narrow LSA because you like the sound, it's going to suck driving around town. Know your head flow numbers, how you plan on driving, what RPM range your intake it rated at, weight, trans type, gears will help you choose the best cam for your application.
An angine likes a head that serves up velocity in the 300 to 325 fps range in the runner at peak lift, and the hardest limitation to work around is throat area under the valve seat - giant intake runners do not change that for the same size engine. Personally I am fond of valve numbers close to 2.00" intake and 1.58" exhaust on a fun [small block] street build. If throat is 91%, that puts cross section at 2.86"/1.96" square, minus valve stems. On a sbc, that makes a 1205 intake gasket reasonable: crosssection is 2.68" - bang on for the common 11/32" stems. A 1206 can work, being 2.89" square but... that may take a number of manifold choices off the table. Never get carried away opening up pushrod pinch point way past throat restriction is a detail worth minding. Long story short, flowbench your heads to discover where you want to limit lift - cfm gains vs lift will plateau on common aftermarket heads somewhere between 0.600" and 0.700" valve lift except some porting is done. Bone stock heads? Best to stay under 0.490" lift most cases.
Maybe someone here can help me out a bit. I have not worked on engines since the mid-90s. So I am rusty on knowledge at this point.
My son bought a 1994 4x4 Chvey Blazer with 350cid. It is only being used for winter dring only as it snows quite a bit in Ohio. The issue is that the truck has those wide heavy 33" tires. It gives the truck a slow take off from a dead stop.
I told my son that we could give the 350 a little extra horsepower. What I was thinking was just adding a larger cam, new intake manifold and a 600cfm carb. (probably all Edelbrock) I also figured shortie headers to help along as well.
I am just not sure if there is more needs to be done. I was figuring just leaving the heads/lifters alone. --- Side note: Apparently the previous owner said the 350 had been rebuilt but do not know how long ago.
I thought maybe someone could give me a general idea here. I am friends with a mechanic and I do not want to look so outdated and clueless ....... lol
@@nazfan01 I know this is 3 months old, but what did you pick ??
My suggestion is build your engine around a "towing" cam, dual-plane Edelbrock, some bowl blending in the heads, nothing fancy, smooth any sharp edges in the combustion chamber, detail the oil pump and make sure the catalytic converter isn't "plugged up".
@@peterdarr383 - Funny thing about the truck. My son bought that truck from a friend of mine for $2000. Drove it 3 miles home and parked it in the garage and it sat all Spring and Summer and never moved it.
Now 7 months later Winter was coming along and just pulled it out of the garage and the guy he bought the truck from happen to come by and said he wanted to buy it back for $2',500. My son took the money. - You see, after sitting 7 months and pulling it out of the garage and parked in the grass the brakes went WOOSH. That when we realized it was rusted pretty bad underneath. The friend stopped, saw the brakes wemt out and offered the money.
Something tells me he sold it for more. But hey not a bad profit for a 21 year old young man that never drove the truck
Very good explanation but im kinda confused between endurance and street. I need a cam that for a little but if street racing just some pulls here and there but I’m also daily driving the truck. That imcludes some pretty long trips what do you suggest? I don’t want to replace the cam that much or damage my valve terrain. Just fyi this is on a 1993 5.7L small block Chevy 350
3 cam choices
the blub blub blub cam (just say it fast it'll make sense) 8.5-10 to 1 stock to 3.73
the potato cam (this is where most people fall just say potato really fast) 10-11.5 to 1 3.55- 4..30 gears
or the last one the whipeout cam intro drums to whipeout 12.0 to one and up 4.56 and up
there, now you know how to select a cam !! lol
Ahhh, answering questions truthfully is going to be a problem for me.
Video: how to choose the right cam
Answer: ask a cam guy.
Thanks video for wasting my time!
Cool video, I’m glad Tom Greens brother could help me out with understanding came more
I’m assuming duration is measured @ .050” lift, which would be nice to mention, but not much was.
Also, EFI vehicles may require 112-114 deg overlap due to sensors, but 106-108 deg (for carburetors) provides a broader power band… as I understand it.
Me.. cam selection time. Biggest is best
I go for the most expensive like a dumbass
That's the myth that leaves you with a boat anchor.
Biggest is worst*
Yup
Yeahhhh welllllllll. Try a 4k stall and hang on 👍👍. Stall fixes EVERYTHING 🤣🤣
Thank you for the help...I just slapped a 279 cam in my 350 small block and well even tho the idle was rough...it was always ruff and low rpm so it was no problem smoothing it out with carburetor
I got a rare opportunity to upgrade my cam (im in highschool) and im looking to build for circuit racing.
hears endurance cam used for road racing and durable *HAPPY NOISES*
Hello power nation i enjoyed watching this video and learned basically a map pertaining my cam specs and knowing what those numbers mean and where they stand thank you.
Don't forget bigger is not always better, it's also the
CFM of the heads on a flow
bench where it's tested & the complete saturation by lift of cam so if your heads max. Out at .465 you don't put a larger cam
Get this man a pocket organizer
looking for the cam card video
Thanks for this info I just got a full understanding on how things work
Very good explanation but im kinda confused between endurance and street. I need a cam that for a little but if street racing just some pulls here and there but I’m also daily driving the truck. That imcludes some pretty long trips what do you suggest? I don’t want to replace the cam that much or damage my valve terrain
Application is every thing. What rpm band will it spend most of the time? The bigger the displacement the more duration it will tolerate for street.
Ok ah...I'm gonna just say it. Don't listen to this guy except for talking to your engine builder. 1) flowbench your heads (improve or leave as is depending on your goal). 2) match intake ports with intake and head. Now you can listen to this guy
the title is how to choose the right cam, not what you need to do to you engine before you pick a cam. if your at the cam pick part you already did all the other stuff
This video helps but still can't find the camera I'm looking for, on thr engine u have so goddammit enjoying, like a thorn in my side
2:52 is the best part
thanks for teh video, i am trying to sort out cam selection for my engine.
Comp 270 thumper is always a good answer
What i would like is someone to demonstrate on a dyno how changing one variable effects the engine. so start off with stock 350 then put in a cam with longer duration. then a cam is stock duration but different overlap. then stock except lift.
Not a good indicator at all. Dynos are run at wide open throttle. How often do you plan to be at 40 to 60 mph at wide open throttle? How often are you going to be at idle to 2500 at wide open throttle? See what I mean?
Yes this cam thing is tough. I pulled the trigger on a cam. Hope it doesn’t suck
My cam doesn’t suck. Heads flow 250cfm at 500 lift, cam lifts valves to .550 so just a little more under the curve, coefficient of flow from .200-.400 lift is 76% so pretty good, cam has longer exhaust duration so it helps scavenge, my cam choice was an xe266hr12, for a 10:1 332 Ford powering a 4600lb Manual Bronco, I’m happy
Timely info. Selecting a cam now for 94 Mustang GT w/ GT40p heads w/ back cut intake valves, tfs 2500100 spring kit, aode, Explorer intake and 75 mm throttle body. Trying to stay at .500 lift or less, 210-220 dur at @.050 & max rpm 5500 to match parts selected. Target is 300 HP at wheels and reliability. Elgin E-1835-P cam is an option. Or Ford letter cam arpund .480 to .490 lift. I'm open to suggestions if you have a favorite.
Shouldn’t you determine the flow rate of your heads first, then find a cam that is complimentary?
No, except your starting point is a specific horsepower number goal. For most? Decide what rpm range you will be operating in [and top vehicle speed desired], and based on displacement pick a cam best suited for those. If you're racing there are further metrics to apply [circuit, oval and 1/4 mile make some of those decisions for you, which are all their own topics but gearing, torque and top speed figure heavily]. Crunch your numbers twice [I use UEM compression calculator alot], then go pick heads - focus on dynamic compression ratio [there may be some milling involved] in picking chamber size, then worry about flow rates. CFM used will be a high percentage of calculated volume: 87-92% is ballpark, most combos. You are managing velocity primarily, so... too big or too small is a bad thing: the former kills bottom end torque, the latter kills horsepower. There's alot of decent off the shelf cams favoring a 9.5 to 10.5 compression ratio for fun street builds. As for milling heads...DEGREE that cam please, before going to a machine shop! I get 0.006", 0.015", 0.020" and 0.050" numbers. The difference between 0.020" an 0.050" in degrees tells alot about how intense a cam is - small numbers are great for racing, but harder on seats/valvetrain.
The topic is truly huge, so better look at people who know more than me. Jenkins is as good a starting point as any - guy has done his homework. garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/need-some-bump-stick-101.10226/
Best part of the video was 2:53
I like having two different cam profiles for my engine, get the best of both worlds, good streetability and economy, and good power and broad rev range. VTEC FTW. almost 2hp/cubic inch.
The first prob I have with anyone giving advice, especially on cam profiles, is You nor I will never know what the advice giver's pet peeves are. Does the advice giver like his engine parameters mild, moderate, or max'd for any given scenario. A few of you are getting onto this guy for his Duration#'s; and you should; but not simply because of the #'s he gave. Instead you can get onto him for not explaining how he came up w/the #'s given. Those Duration#'s he gave I'm [assuming] are the @.050" figures and not the Advertised figures. If you want the Advertised figures you can simply add another .045" to .050" duration to his numbers for a roller cam; add .035" to .040" to his numbers for a mechanical roller cam. The second prob I have w/anyone giving engine builder advice is the advice is usually broad brushed. Its given that way because the average individual isnt educated on engine parameters. The third prob I have w/general advice on engine parameters is that the advice is always given as if the engine is one dimensional. The engine is NOT one dimensional; it is multi'dimensional. The last prob I have with the engine builders advice, from anyone - not just this guy, is that no one actually teaches how to qualify what engine parameters are required for a small, medium, large displacement engine relative to a mild, medium, maximum output engine. You cant really fault this guy or anyone else for trying to simplify the subject; but you can fault him for not explaining where n how he came up w/his #'s. If you wanna educate yourself on why the engine behaves the way it does, you have to grasp the underlying dynamics. Educate yourself in:
1) Dynamic Compression Rato to Static Compression Ratio relationship. This one requires the use of The Slider Crank Mechanism
2) Intake Port to Cylinder relationship; deals w/fluid dynamics and principles in combustion
3) Peak Output to Peak RPM relationship; deals w/pressures and mechanical efficencies
Yea thats a lot to take in as you are dealing w/a lot, but if you get tired of vague generalizations then you are gonna have to hit the library books and educate yourself. Good luck n dont give up. In the end, once you get it, it will be well worth it.
Many factors involved for sure. But most people are simple minded and they all copy the same combo, so making a cam recommendation for a typical dude trying to build a hotrod ain't hard to do. Everything has been done to death. Most normies just want something that sounds rowdy. And most people that build serious engines don't need a cam recommendation, because they already know what works for what combination of parts.
Hi, I own a Peugeot 206 With Tu5jp4 engine
The car has been tune to stage 1 and wanted to upgrade it to higher stages and I've come with a question about the camshafts
The camshaft I've chosen is newman ph3 that takes place somewhere between stage 2 and stage 3 of tuning The duration of cams are 264 degrees and the lift is 10.15 (0.400) and just wanted to make sure is it fine for daily uses and sometimes drag races between friends cause you sometimes stock in traffic and it's also my daily car I travel with it and go to work
I have changed other parts too such as exhaust manifold replaced by headers, exhaust pipe, center and muffler were all changed
Stage 2 Air manifold (nfs), And pistons were also changed and now have higher compression ratio
Just wanted to know that this camshaft is proper for daily street uses or not
Ok so I have a stock bottom end 5.3 lm7 going into a foxbody. I want a cam with a good choppy idle that still gives me some power. Street car I doubt I’ll ever take it to the track
So... It depends? That's helpful
Question.. what cam should I use?
How to choose the right cam: David Vizard’s Torque Master software.
Well stated. Very thorough and very informative.
Thorough lololol
Lol, hardly.
if only selecting the correct cam was that easy
It's a starting point. The one thing people must ask themselves first is what rpm range do they want to live in most of the time? Street is pretty much under 4k, while full race is above that - measure tire diameter, verify ratios [axle and transmission] before even thinking about ogling a new cam. The marine end [endurance] is the odd duck as you don't care about the middle much but need crisp reliable response at the low end maneuvering around harbors or no-wake zones [without being twitchy vs. prop size], and when getting somewhere fast pushing 5k or so for hours demands reliability.
Flinch I got a 89 Sierra shortbed single cab stepside with a K&N cold air intake, throttle body spacer, flowtech California legal headers and just one flowmaster I forgot what series anyways I want to have a reliable work truck but with some balls you know show up to the meets with the boys and burn some tire when asked I don’t know nothing about performance cams and I was wondering what’s a cheap reliable drop in cam for my setup?
Selecting the correct camshaft size is basic and simple.
When the camshaft provider asks what size cam your after the answer is, “ yeah, choppier than a dozen beavers”. 🤣😂👍
I want the most reliable, but badass and choppy sounding cam for a truck that I mostly use to tow with.... based on the data in the video I would be looking for a tighter lobe separation, with the lift and duration relatively mild? Only additional mods to the engine is a full exhaust, and intake. 1996 f150, 300 I6
Also, I am pushing the engine a little bit with a relatively heavy trailer, right around 8,000lbs
Great info ! Thx
Wich duration? Duration at 050 or Advertised duration??? Please i need the answer for choose the best camshafts for my street/strip
@.050
I know I’m late to this video.....but what’s a good cam for a 4.8l v8 (99 Silverado singlecab) and what eles should I pair with so it can ride smoothly and fast
Sloppy stage 2
Howard's rattler. And a 2800 stall
my favorite question is when asked, what piston are you using, then i answer... then its well your cam depends on your pistons and your pistons dictates your cam, what intake are you using... what cc are your heads, what size carburetor are you using, and what size intake runners.... i want to come across the counter on people and say, " THAT'S WHY I'M ASKING YOU! MR. KNOW IT ALL, HELP ME HELP YOU SELL ME SOMETHING AND GIVE ME INFORMATION THAT WILL HELP ME PURCHASE THE PARTS I NEED FROM YOU "
Question.... I have a 5.3ls and I am having the hardest time figuring out what cam to select for my project. I don't want to touch up everything other than the cam and springs .. basically keeping it street with more hp... I will be using a ls6 intake everything else is stock...? Any good suggestions on cam selection
got a question for u ..i got a 1990 k5 blazer 700r trans 2000 to 2400 torque converter in it and im thinking about buying this race motor it has 12.5 to 1 sbc 355 030 over with elgin e-1090p solid flat tappet cam with scorpion 1.6 rockers for total lift of 573intake 594 exhust can i use the torque converter i have on this engine,,..i no i got alot of things to change because it is a tbi fuel injection
What would be best for offroading?
So how do I go about finding the right camshaft for a stroker engine, just wondering if there's a formula for duration vs cubic inch? I have a big block mopar low deck 471 stroker, trick flow 240 heads 1.6 rod ratio ,, 11.3:1 compression & a rod ratio of 1.71 (if that matters)
Car is a dart 3100# 3.91 gears.
Street75% strip25% I'm thinking between 250-260 @.050, any advice will be appreciated, thank you all.
Why don’t I ever see you guys use a 292 duration camshafts in engines?
What's a good can that can give me that good popcorn sound and also has good HP performance for a 350 SBC in a 72 Impala?
@cv 67 someone suggested Extreme energy 274 cam. What you think about them?
Got a 351w roller cam, any suggestions? Street
That's a lot off pens in your pocket there boss!
What cam?
I just want "chopchop" on my 350
Big Maistrote same
Get a cam with a tight lobe separation.
@@thereluctantgearhead4544 Any recommendation?
@@maistrote7539 if your running a pretty much stock 350, I'd stay below around 480 lift, 230@.050, and get the tightest lobe separation you can find in a cam that size. Most cam company's sell a version of that cam.
@@maistrote7539 buy a set of "Z-28" valvesprings.
How do I know if I need flat tappet or roller lifters? My truck came with roller lifters can I swap to flat tappet? Pros and cons of each? Thanks in advance!
Rollers are a upgraded style to flat tappet, rollers build rpm faster and put less stress on the cam
This is just a tiny fraction of the information needed to choose the right cam for your application.
Anyone know the best for a dodge 318
good video smart man...
First step is getting your heads flow tested and matching to that.
If your dealing with a SBC. Buy David Vizards book, "How to build max performance Chevy's on a budget", turn to cam section, and pick your cam from list based on C.I., compression etc...then go punish the rear tires.
Ok before you go rushing out to buy a cam based on what this guy says, keep in mind your intake manifold, your torque converter, and size exhaust you want to run. Those three are usually the dictators of what cam you need. DO NOT USE THESE GUIDELINES on an engine that will be running factory injection or carbs less than 700cfm. Trust me KABOOMS will happen.
Could you tell me what cam I need to make about 100 hp more on my stock 1994 f150 5.0 or what will I need to change to have a healthy long lasting 5.0
Loft out so much. Choosing a cam depends on what you're going to do with the engine and what heads you are using. The cam has to match the heads. As well as the intake. If a set of heads only flows 200 CFM on the intake at 550 lift. That's the lift I'm going with. If I'm running an automatic transmission on the street I'm going with a lower duration. LSA depends on where I won't torque to start coming in.
What are some nice lopey cams for my 2002 5.4 v8 triton with cold air intake and longtube headers
Questen Atwood Ditch that spark plug breaking piece of junk and swap in a coyote 5.0 and use a standalone ECU. If you keep that engine, please watch your oil changes because everything is run off of oil pressure and the slightest piece of gunk seems mess up your cam solenoids and other oil pressure regulated engine components. If you get a different cam you’re going to need supporting mods as well like valve train, intake manifolds, ECU tuning, and so on. You’ll need a cam that matches the flow rate of your heads/intake manifolds and you’ll definitely need a tune as well. First you need to decide if that engine plate-form is even worth the money/time. Then you need to figure out what you want to do with that vehicle. Towing? Racing? Mostly low-mid rpm or mostly high rpm? I know I didn’t answer your question but I hope I gave you some helpful insight. I hope everything goes smoothly with your build, cheers!
I am building a mopar 318, it will go with A500 OD trans and final ratio 2.71, manifold and heads restricted from emissions, Rochester Bi-jet carburettor (2 bbl), I am interested in gas mileage
....
what is the cam that suits me?
I would suggest an "RV" cam in that application because it provides good low and mid range torque, isn't hard on the rest of the valve train and at idle it is smooth but you can tell it is more than a stock cam.
CompCams 12-432-8 350 ole school refit to take rollers
I have a 2010 5.3 lc9...looking to get it up to 400 or so hp..any suggestion ..i already have a 1 in 2 out muffler..thanx in adv.
nofrop Texas speed stage 3 truck cam will get you close but if you have vvt you might need the vvt cam but 5.3 usually need heads to reach that to the wheels but to the crank it can be reached a lot easier call Texas speed they have everything even in packages
actually the most important aspect of Cam selection is the lobe Center angle and it's closely tied to the valve size in relation to the cubic inches the valve is feeding
Is he talking advertised duration or @50
im back at this video again with the same question after going to summit..... i feel like he has to be talking @50
@.050
Building a 385 stroker sbc considering a xe268h from comp cams is that going to be okay? Stock torque converter about 10.7 CR and it’s going in a lifted k5 blazer if that’s not a good one suggest a good one for me to look into?
That compression is on the high side for that cam. Probably gonna need some good fuel.
@@thereluctantgearhead4544 yea ended up going a different direction lol mainly cuz of money haha going with the xe262 in a 350
@@jaredbarraza6027 I can understand that. 350 is a good all around engine.
What’s a great cam set up for a
2017 Chevy Silverado 1500
With a 5.3 engine?
So far I have long tubes,
high flow cats,
Cold air intake,
Sct tune on 93 octane
Thanks!
same here :/
Howard's Rattler. 224/236 .550/.550 108°
You really dont need to change anything on the 5.3. The stock cam is good up to around 500 horsepower. Nice list of parts but the determining factor is your intake manifold for the LS style platform. You can put the wildest cam you can find in it but it wont matter because the stock throttle body is 92 mm. It's a choke point. The LS cam has a larger cam core then the old school small block Chevy. The lift is more gradual rather than a fat man jumping off a ladder. I wouldn't worry about your cam until you are ready to replace the intake manifold, injectors, and throttle body. After that sky is the limit.
Remember when you are watching videos about twin turbo LS's making 1000 horsepower on the street. How often do they drive them? 500 HP for the street is no joke. Anymore then that, you should be on a track, not the street.
Willy Montano mini of Burkhead
What cam would you recommend for a street/offroad vehicle
what cubic inch, heads, compression, exhaust? does it need vacuum for brakes , is it computer controlled or carb?
Im putting a 2004 tahoe engine into my 95yukon so no clue its more then likely a stock engine, plus i bought a 4l80e transmission to hopefully mount up to it
All i know is its a 5.3 which is a 327 ci block
@@phyrexianjudgement 224/226 @.050 and .525 .525 should do nicely. About a 110 lsa if I had to guess.
What would be a good cam for a ss m6 ls1? Its gonna be a street car but borderline race/streetcar.
Endurance 676 lift 240 dur 114 lsa
What about cam thrust button clearance on retrofit hydraulic roller cams? The tightest clearance I've been told is .003" and the loosests I've been told is .012". Everyone says to file the nylon buttons until you get the desired clearance, but what if I'm running a cast timing cover and a double roller timing set with thrust bearing? The nylon is by far the softest part of the whole thing. Won't it just self clearance to a minimum spec when I start the engine the first time?
Limo Wreck dude just buy a cam and install in.at the end of the day all that specs don’t matter 😉
Ever seen a cam walk forward and drop a lifter off the lobe? It's rather nasty.
Limo Wreck what are the chances simply torque right the timing belt.i did mine not the pro way and still hav ent had any problem.just do it
@@abielm123 timing belt? We're talking about cam in block, overhead valve engines that usually drive the cam with a chain unless you are getting into some serious rpms. You still have to restrict longitudinal cam movement because it drives the distributor and can cause erratic ignition timing and, if it moves too far, a lifter can fall off the cam lobe. When that happens you get LOTS of metal in the oil. Cam thrust is important.
Look at some videos by myvintageiron.
I’m doing a genV swap this doesn’t really help
Just ask your tuner he knows what cams work and what cams dont work I did hours of my own research and picked my own camshaft for my LS1 and it turned out to be 1 duration number off the experts pick for best ls1 cam for a street car.
Those duration numbers don't sound right.
They make sense if we're talking lift at 0.050", as opposed to advertised duration.
Obviously@.050 he's speaking of.
Advertised duration numbers don't really mean shit. Good for selling cams or bragging to normie buddies, but @.050 is a direct comparison between cams.
😞😞I just want my truck to go chop chop this is too complicated
Get a cam with a tight lobe separation. 106 to 110 range will be noticed. Make more horsepower and torque too.
106 gets pretty lumpy.
Cam for stock 454 ??
I guess my cam is too big for street. Shit. Lol. If you have an ls motor. You can go around .600 lift and 230s duration and you will enjoy it. The lobe type is Pretty important on Valvetrain durability as well. Seen a couple people asking about cam for a 5.3.. comp cam makes a cam XR275HR that would give you a nice chop with that many cubes. May need a stall. Had that baby cam in my car once. Good overall powerband.. came on around 2500rpm if I remember. My cam now is 235/243 .630/.610 111LSA and it’s much better in terms of power and torque but it doesn’t make much below 3,000. But You can see how the trend goes. Don’t get one that’s puny and too small. Cause you’ll kick yourself in the ass just like you would if you went monstrous. Stick in the high 220s to mid 230s. Ls motors like a split duration cam favoring the exhaust side. Good luck. There’s just as much torque lost in the heads as there is in a bad cam. Be warned the biggest isn’t always best in heads and cams
I'm looking for a Daily driver cam for the 240 Volvo.
A broomstick should be pretty aggressive in that
@@tl5108 ?
how to choose the perfect cam...…. call john bewley
Oops… a “drag” cam is going in my daily vette😳😂
I have a 280h comp can need to know what to set valve lash at
Hydraulic?
H means a hydraulic cam. Set it to 0 lash then give it another half turn and lock it down
this didnt answer any questions :(
How to choose your cam in 2023
-find another video (Richard Holdener)
Should been a 4th group [Street/Strip]
What's a good cam for a 1994 mustang 5.0
I'm trying to find out the same thing for my 73 Mustang
If its stock and you want to bring it up a bit but not be too crazy? I would go with a mild RV camshaft or maybe one from a truck. Those motors usually have longer runners to take advantage of torque at low RPM but still give you good midrange for the street. If you go too radical, dont plan on using the freeway anytime soon. You may even want to change the gears in the rear end to help also.
Sadly from 2030 on all combustion cars including classics will be banned
from public streets in entire EU and Scandinavia :-( In Germany the
Green Peoples Party gave order to shorten fuel supply from 2025
on by reducing all conventional fuel stations to only one state operated central gas
station per city or county. Now they want to slow down all the gas station fuel
pumps from 20 litre per minute to 2 litre per minute...From 2027 on in
the EU certain car spare parts will be banned too....as exhaust systems,
turbo chargers and even some engine and gearbox oils...California and
New York will do the same from 2027 on.... So no investments should be
done in oil burning cars any longer....They even created a new kind of
crime here, called emissions and smoke crime. :-(((
Holly shit .900
900 + lift
Why he got so many pens
550 lift on a small block is not small
Just go to the bottom of the page....
🤔
Run the largest cam possible then gear accordingly. 😂
Pick the right cam first requires knowing where the head quit flowing , compression and desired rpm range. Without that all the rest is simply garbage information, or like this guy said call someone and they will tell you because this vid sure didn’t help anyone understand flowing air through a motor
This white board has nothinv to do with which cam.. a 305 has a different cam than a 383, 9.0 :1 is diffetent that 10.5:1. 3.0 diff against a 3.7 diff. Auto, manual is diffefent.
You need a calculator and all the above comes into it. STAY away from hyd roller cams, the lifters are junk and the grinds are junk.
The right cam will give you 60 to 80+ hp.
Off the shelf cams,, no thanks.
I'm now dumber after watching thing video.
This video is useless unless you specify the size of the engine that your installing the cam into........
BlaBlaBlaBla, just go to the bottom of the page.
Wast of media space
That was useless
This crap is so bogus. 🤣
I like pat, but that was a waste of time. If you need help selecting a type or profile of cam, hit me me up on here and will see what i can do.