097 sbc cam

[Racer97]

Has anyone tried a gm 097 cam with rocker ratio of 1.7 to 1.8 ? I have one I installed in a 350 and wanted more lift and it's a basically free or next to nothing build for the fun to see what it will do.

[F-BIRD'88]

Its more fun to just change the camshaft for a funner cam.
Lots of choices for fun/$$$...effect.

[Walter R. Malik]

Has anyone tried a gm 097 cam with rocker ratio of 1.7 to 1.8 ? I have one I installed in a 350 and wanted more lift and it's a basically free or next to nothing build for the fun to see what it will do.

Years ago, we used to have that lobe ground on a 292 Chevy 6 cylinder camshaft core.
They have 1.74/1 rocker arms and it worked great on the short oval tracks.

[Racer97]

With a 1.8 ratio it should be about .480 lift . Z28 springs should work fine or factory springs possibly.

[F-BIRD'88]

Yiu can get stock diameter ".550" lift racing springs for the same money.. Much better. Summit, pioneer ,Elgin, Howards, Isky etc
1.7 or 1.8 sbc rockers will cost more than a new cam that has more lift anyway. You might see 10 horse but will see a lot more with a new cam and 1.5's..
If yiu don't have these 1.8 rockers sitting there to try out you are just wasting your time and money..

[Tuner]

F-bird, you're being a Debbie Downer. The OP specifically said "097 cam" and "for the fun to see what it will do." I've had a lot of fun with an 097 cam. Spent the afternoon helping swap one into a '56 265 and the evening at the drive-in with a junior high sweetheart (I think the movie was "The Blob", Steve McQueen's first staring role). To get in the drive-in for free my date and I hid in the trunk. Cruising the gut after that with the rockers doing the castanets thing. I recall the cam, lifters and gaskets were less than $30. That was fun. It would be fun to do it again.

Summit has these 1.6 ratio for only $62.99

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum- ... gL2BfD_BwE

[CamKing]

Is it really "FUN" to spend money on a set of high ratio rockers, and all the time it takes to set everything up, just to find out you are making less power everywhere, then what you would have made with some generic off the shelf cam ?
That doesn't sound like "FUN" to me.

[Tuner]

I guess everybody missed the OP saying the 097 and lifters is already in the engine and all he wondered about is changing rocker ratio.

OP, it may be to please these folks you better just do the LS swap thing or change heads or turbos or something equally profound. Nitrous and new pistons. A lot of new pistons.

[PRH]

Is it really all that easy to put 1.7 or 1.8 rockers on a SBC?
Especially if it has factory old school heads.

[Racer97]

That's a good question about how hard it is to put 1.8 rockers on a gen 1. I have the rocker for free to try . I do have a 6.0 ls but really don't want to do that to my camaro. I think the gen 1 is more relaxing for me to work on. I work on new stuff all day . I do have a new technology cam and lifters but am saving that stuff for my 406 I'm building .My machinest dad passed away so I'm giving him time to catch up on stuff and am messing with this 350 for now .

[rustbucket79]

A 1.6 rocker on factory Gen 1 heads can lead to pushrod rubbing on the casting, you’re definitely machining to fit higher than that.

[Walter R. Malik]

A 1.6 rocker on factory Gen 1 heads can lead to pushrod rubbing on the casting, you’re definitely machining to fit higher than that.

Over the years, I have used a "Louis Tool" many times ...

[rfoll]

"rockers doing the castanets" In another lifetime I had an L79 327 in my 60 Bel Air. I was riding in my friends Mach 1 along side my bother in the Chevy. My bother dropped down a couple of gears and wound the 327 out to about 7000 with us along side keeping up. The sound of the 327 screaming at high rpm was pure music.

[CamKing]

Is it really all that easy to put 1.7 or 1.8 rockers on a SBC?
Especially if it has factory old school heads.

No. This is something we did multiple times on limited circle track classes.
It's about impossible to get the geometry right with 1.8 rockers on a GM head. In most cases, the geometry is so far out of whack, the rocker ratio right off the base circle is over 2:1. This causes all kinds of issues.

[motormonkey]

1.8 on a Gen 1 sbc ....
1.7 you either need a offset trunion or your moving the stud/ shaft setup. Push rod needs some room also. Couldn't imagine a 1.8
If it was something that made money, I'd roll the valve angles first so not to get caught.