Sometimes the guys at the cam companies get carried away. I always tell them I'm looking for something conservative and easy on parts, unless I'm looking for that last HP and that last hundredth of a second. On bracket stuff, or super class stuff, I go conservative. I guess I shouldn't be surprised they came up 10 degrees bigger than I'd want, I usually have to tell them not to get carried away. I should have remembered to tell you that. My fault.Ron Gusack wrote:What do you think of 725/725 279/287 @.050. Waaaaaay big, right? That's the cam that I got after talking to one of the guys you mentioned.On the cam, there are a couple of guys here you can talk to, Mike or Harold for example, or you can talk to Tim Cole or Chris Padgitt at Comp.
I'll contact Bub. I used to race with him back in the early 70's. He had a CMP Nova and I had a BMP Chevelle. We used the same machine shop back then and it's the one I still use today.
Here's what I'd look at running, if you want to order something out of the catalog, and get it quickly. Part number 11-715-9, grind 296CR-8, 262/270/108, 714" lift on both valves. If you want a custom I've been looking at a 266/272/108 .723/.731 that I think would work well. I think either of those cams will give you a peak that fits the RPM you're running.
Sure, you can run a really big cam. But you won't gain a whole lot, you'll need more RPM, and it'll be harder to drive, harder to tune, and less consistent. Cam companies will almost always tell you to go big, because they know people tend to buy the bigger cam that is suggested. So they want to be at least as big as the other guy you talked to.
On the subject of "smooth as glass" cylinder walls. There's a big difference between really smooth and slick but "frosty" cylinder walls, and those shiny slick cylinder walls. It ain't the shiny ones you want. Shiny and smooth as glass almost always ends up being the same as burnished or glazed.