What cam shaft to select?

Asked by donhill Nov 19, 2014 at 02:27 PM about the 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle

Question type: Car Customization

What would be the best street performance cam for my stock 396?

2 Answers

40

That depends on several questions; what is the RPO of the engine(325, 350, or 375 horsepower. Has the engine been rebuilt , what is the current compression raio ? What gears are in the car, automatic or manual trans. What do you want as far as drivability(high RPM horsepoer or low RPM torque)? The sound of of the exhaust(lopey idle or smooth) ? Decide these questions first, then go to any major cam manufacturer's web site and look around.

40

If you want the solid lifter sound, you could do worse than the Crane L78 replacement cam. The Cam Dynamics 272 Energizer is a very nice street cam and works with the stock valve train as will the L78 cam. A little heavier valve spring might be advised if you want to turn wild rpms but you won't be making any power up there anyway with these cams. Nice street operation though.

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