1978 454 solid cam, all street..

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pitts64
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1978 454 solid cam, all street..

Post by pitts64 »

I'm looking for a nice streetable solid flat cam for my 69 el Camino. It has a stock 1978 454, th400 with 2.87s

I'm looking for good street manners, 18" or better vacuum at idle, and big torque off idle...

Thank you..
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Re: 1978 454 solid cam, all street..

Post by pdq67 »

Your engine will probably have a CR down around 7.9 to 8.0 to 1 so you really won't be able to use a decently sized cam, imho.

I would hunt up an old pair of -206 heads that are large oval's and that have chambers down around 96.7 to 98 cc'c to up the CR. And use Chevy's stock .020" thick steel shim head gasket.

Oh, and I have a pair of these heads in my garage just for this type of build.

Add an old Weiand 8005 dual plane and say an 800 Q-Jet or Holley carb and a set of cheap, 1.75" dia., long tube, headers and go have more fun than John Law will allow!!

pdq67

PS., an old ERSON Part Number E120320 HI FLOW AH hy-cam should do nicely! And I also have one in my bedroom closet. But you will need to change valve springs due to it's lift.
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Re: 1978 454 solid cam, all street..

Post by bobmc »

going to have to be custom I doubt any shelf solid lifter cam is going to make that vacuum, Compcams has lobe no. 6114 which is 200 deg at .050 that should make for a smooth idle
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Re: 1978 454 solid cam, all street..

Post by PackardV8 »

Throwing a solid lifter cam at a low compression tall geared stocker is just bad science. Save your money until you can afford a lot more compression.
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Re: 1978 454 solid cam, all street..

Post by lefty o »

short term cheap cure would be to just throw a little more gear at it to start with . 3.55.1 or so.
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Re: 1978 454 solid cam, all street..

Post by travis »

Many years ago, i worked for a guy that got a ‘74 camaro with a sick stock 350/TH350/2.73 gear setup. We took a bone stock 454 out of a ‘77 or ‘78 1 ton pickup, and stuck in a generic 214/224@.050 hydraulic cam, a performer intake, and a crusty set of 1 3/4” headers mated to the existing 2” dual exhaust with some turbo mufflers, along with the stock truck q-jet. It wouldn’t rev above about 4500 rpms with the tiny exhaust and worn out stock valvesprings, but the low end torque was enough that it would spin both the 235/60-15 street tires from a dead stop at 1/4 throttle. He had maybe $500-600 in the whole upgrade. It was a little “floaty” at speed with the worn out suspension and extra heft of that 454.
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Re: 1978 454 solid cam, all street..

Post by mag2555 »

I fully agree with Packard!

There's no logic to that plan, especially with such low compression!

Since you don't mind solid lifter noise then why not run Rhodes hydro lifters and then kind of be able to have your cake and eat it too.

The best way to gain overall Torque levels even at low rpm without resorting to gear changes or milling the heads is to max out the port air speed / air flow that the head has, so I would set the heads up spring wise to handle .600" lift and then spend the bucks on 1.8 rockers.

This would be the perfect time to step into the 20th century and run a Beehive or Conical valve spring while your at it!
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Re: 1978 454 solid cam, all street..

Post by pitts64 »

I want the solid because I like the way they sound and how stable they make a engine run.. I am not looking for more performance but don't want to loose any.. I figure this motor is due for a cam, lifter, timing chain change since its been in there since 1978.

This 454 was out of a truck that was demolished with a couple hundred miles. The guy I bought my 69 el Camino from, bought the motor in 1978 and filled it oil and stored it for a few decades. He bought my el camino and thought it would be prefect for it and he was right.Thats suppose to be the story behind this mill. It has 781 heads and runs real nice. I recently changed the timing and it really came alive, for what it is anyhow. I unplugged the vacuum advance, the set the initial to 20 and changed the mechanical to 16, it comes in slowly and is all in by 2400 rpm.. I'm real happy with it and it runs on 87. It starts just fine, the extra timing did nothing to the factory starter and I don't hear any ping, even on 100 degree + days..

I've tried Rhoads lifters in the past, on my 455 Pontiac RA-4 cam, they were kind of noisy and the idle speed fluctuated with the oil thickness. The Rhoads sounded nothing like the solids that I've had in the past or the cars at car cruises I see with solid cams.. But for performance THEY DO WORK!! That 455 took off like a bat out of hell after installing those lifters. If I had a race car with a big hyd cam, I would defiantly use them. They are very well made too!!!

So far I'm looking at the L-72 cam. This is also know as the 969961 in Crane catalog and 11-106-3 in the Competition catalog. It might be a little too much for my compression. Having a big cam with low compression and a 2 series rear end is pure misery no matter how many cubes there is...

Surely somebody makes a torquer style cam for the big block Chevrolet that takes solids.. I might get the Crower "cool face" solid lifters...
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Re: 1978 454 solid cam, all street..

Post by tenxal »

pitts64 wrote: Fri Jan 10, 2020 8:43 amSurely somebody makes a torquer style cam for the big block Chevrolet that takes solids.. I might get the Crower "cool face" solid lifters...
Simply find the hydraulic cam you want and put solids on it. :)
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Re: 1978 454 solid cam, all street..

Post by CamKing »

Cam# BBCM, M64298-65302-110
206/210 @.050"
.507"/.513" Gross Valve Lift
110 LSA
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pitts64
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Re: 1978 454 solid cam, all street..

Post by pitts64 »

Wow 206/210 with a 110 in between.. I guess you can't tell me what the specs are.. I am very interested..
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Re: 1978 454 solid cam, all street..

Post by pitts64 »

Simply find the hydraulic cam you want and put solids on it. :)
[/quote]

Hey this does work! I put a set of Johnson solids on a Pontiac 041 cam once. It tamed it down and it ran better.. But I was always worried it would blow even after 20,000 + miles... Actually running straight timing is what really helped this motor. That cam was too big for a street 455..
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Re: 1978 454 solid cam, all street..

Post by pitts64 »

I wonder what the cam specs are for the factory hyd. cam that's in it now...
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Re: 1978 454 solid cam, all street..

Post by F-BIRD'88 »

The best you are going to do with a off the shelf street solid is use the mildest comp XE solid cam.
#11-674-4
Must replace the valve springs.
Degree it in slightly more advanced say on a 104 in c/l.
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Re: 1978 454 solid cam, all street..

Post by bobmc »

stock cam according to Seal Power cam CS-774 193/203 at 112 deg LSA
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