Cam recommendations?

[BuickMike]

So I'm going to be going with stock crank, rods (resized for ARP's), Wiseco pistons and Champion Irons. I will continue to use my TE-44 and get some bigger injectors. The purpose of this motor is for street purpose with an occasional trip to the track. Budget restraints require me to go with a flat tappet cam.
I'm looking for some input of what cam to go with.

 

[FLGN]

206/206 or 210/205 are both great cams

 

[Just a Six??]

Erson 208 OR 214 & GM lifters make a Very Quiet Strong setup. Break it in Properly!! You wull be happy I promise! I used 3 214's & 1 208 with GM lifters & always ran great & very quiet!

 

[JP112_89]

..

Maybe a custom grind 210/210 from Comp Cams and GM lifters.

 

[Dennis Kirban]

kirban 2 cents worth

if you go with the erson product we did the private label of zddplus for them.

also we now have the zpaste available for cam assembly...Nothing on a national level is anywhere near as good as this product.....it is so good no special break in oil is required just this new zpaste and one bottle of zddplus with regular oil.

Flat tappet or roller set up....we just got in our production paste.

kirbanperformance.com

Takes the worry out of problems at break in....member the company behind this owns the largest GN and GNX collection in the world.

 

[BuickMike]

Thanks for the info. I did some reading and will definately use ZDDPlus and also use ZPaste on the cam when breaking in the motor. I feel more comfortable with sticking with a flat tappet cam now.

I wiped the #3 exhaust lobe on the original cam years back. It was most likely due to me putting in LT1 valve springs and switching to Mobil1. i replaced it with a Stock replacement from Melling. For that cam I used TONS of moly lube and drove the car east for 500 miles.

 

[BuickMike]

So has anyone used the X1 cam from FullThrottleSpeed?

Also, who sells Erson cams?

 

[V6POWER]

I like my Erson 208.

 

[87-TURBO-T]

I have not been able to find the erson cams...

 

[V6POWER]

I got mine from Mr. Gasket in 2006. The part # is E670101 and the description reads: Cam, GM, 196-252 RV10H. Cost was $115.20.

Here is a website for Erson cams (USA Performance Parts - Erson Cams) but I don't see mine listed. You could call them or check web for Mr. Gasket

 

[Just a Six??]

The 214-214 is part #TQ20H

 

[bison]

Stock cam is fine dont go bigger than 206 duaration

 

[BuickMike]

Stock cam is fine dont go bigger than 206 duaration

I'd like a little room for growth. That being said it appears that anything over a 208 / 208 will be overkill for my needs. I'm still interested in the 206 / 212 cam that Full Throttle has, but can't find any reviews.

 

[bison]

I'd like a little room for growth. That being said it appears that anything over a 208 / 208 will be overkill for my needs. I'm still interested in the 206 / 212 cam that Full Throttle has, but can't find any reviews.

Room for growth equals much less than optimal performance till you have the remaining parts to complement the combo and run them harder. If you are smaller you will sacrifice little to nothing.

 

[TTipe]

Cam

I think Weber used to sell a 206/206-109/110-.446 This cam will work well with iron heads.Flowbench numbers for irons show that flow volume increase slows way down after about .420" lift.You won't see much benefit of a lift over .420".This cam will run well on the street (nice low & mid pull) and not force a lot of exhaust dilution at low rpm.

 

[MichBC3]

Timing Gearset Dilemna

I am building a new 3.8L turbo engine that should be able to hit about 550 HP at the flywheel. I most likely will be running a hydraulic roller cam with less than 0.500 valve lift and maybe 206 to 212 duration. Whenever I assembled normally aspirated V8 engines in the past, I typically substituted a double true-roller chain with steel gears made by Cloyes to insure long life.

But I am using a Casper's knock gauge. I have heard that the knock sensor can "false" trigger if other than the stock nylon (or plastic?) tooth timing gears are used.

My thought is that because I plan to use a roller cam, there will be less stress on the timing gears and chain than when using a flat tappet hydraulic. But I can't prove it. So, do you think that using a factory stock chain with the nylon gear is the wise choice?

Thanks.

 

[dr_frankenstein]

I am building a new 3.8L turbo engine that should be able to hit about 550 HP at the flywheel. I most likely will be running a hydraulic roller cam with less than 0.500 valve lift and maybe 206 to 212 duration. Whenever I assembled normally aspirated V8 engines in the past, I typically substituted a double true-roller chain with steel gears made by Cloyes to insure long life.

But I am using a Casper's knock gauge. I have heard that the knock sensor can "false" trigger if other than the stock nylon (or plastic?) tooth timing gears are used.

My thought is that because I plan to use a roller cam, there will be less stress on the timing gears and chain than when using a flat tappet hydraulic. But I can't prove it. So, do you think that using a factory stock chain with the nylon gear is the wise choice?

Thanks.

umm.... no.

dont do it, you will regret it. stay away from that nylon gear.
I have never had any knock sensor issues until I swapped in a gear drive.

i would fair to say that 90% of people here run a true roller with no issues.

:biggrin: A.j.

 

[MichBC3]

Thanks. Exactly the information that I was looking for.

All the best, Bob

 

[bison]

Thanks. Exactly the information that I was looking for.

All the best, Bob

I would not run a nylon gear if using more than stock valve springs and cam. Steel gear will not cause KR. You dont need a roller but id pass on the nylon gear for sure. Imo the non roller chains are stronger by design. If you look at the roller vs. the non roller side by side you can see why even though ive never had a roller fail on me. It has happened in some 7000 rpm applications though.

 

[MichBC3]

Hmm. Well of course all roller chains are not equal. Lots of Chinese junk out there that "looks" ok, but isn't. That's why I have always stuck with a Cloyes Tru-roller chain and gears for my V8 SBC engines. One of those redlined at 8000 moving a 0.580/0.600 lift cam. Notionally, I would guess that the stress on the chain has to be smaller when moving 12 lifters instead of 16. And the intended redline for my V6 is only going to be about 5400 with relatively mild valve lift under 0.500". That is why I momentarily considered using a factory nylon chain. I will certainly go with the experience of this group though and look for a Cloyes - if they even make one for a Buick 3.8...