Cam witch one

[xippman]

what is the best one out for a streetable car. but over stock, and no torque converter. thanks

 

[racemybuick]

speed-pro, edlebrock 204/214 cam. I just got one for a good price, and I hear it is damn near the best for our car as per idle and performance. If you throw in the roller rockers and lifters, boom...HP comes flooding in!!

John

 

[turbobooster]

does that 204/214 cam rev higher than stock? wats the difference between the 204/214 and the 206/206?

 

[cool 84]

My favorites so far are the 206 and the 210-205. I had bad luck with the 204-214. While most people had good luck with the 204-214, mine fell on it's face. The 206 or 210-205 will rev to 6,000. With the stock turbo, exhaust, and intake, you're not going to rev that high and make power with any cam. You need supporting mods to be able to take advantage of the cam. Almost anything from stock to ~212 will make good power and rev as high as you want to on the stock bottom end without losing much if any low end.

 

[turbobooster]

hmmm interestin info that would be nice to have my car rev to 6000 so when choosing the cam the higher the number like 206 or the 210 the more power its better for? i mean im pretty much stock right now and interested i putti in a cam and do have big plans for it later down the road would like to 12s anywhere in that range but i want to drop in a cam that i can have now and stillbe good for the day i reach that goal dont wana have to change cam alot

 

[xippman]

where would the best place to buy the cam?
what else should i do to the motor while its at the shop ? looking for low 13's

 

[racemybuick]

Summit, Comp Cams are a good place to start for that cam. As per the motor at the shop...is it being machined?

If yes: .030 TRW Forged pistons
Clevite bearings
Rubber seals all around
Open Up those Chambers!!! Gasket-match the heads and intake to the felpro's, and hold onto your hat!!!

If you are not machining...consider it!!!!

Get the double roller chain and gear set-up while you are in there, and make sure that front cover is good to go. They sell cheap on ebay for a brand new one if you need one. Definately replace the water pump, no matter what...A new one is not only piece of mind, but will most likely flow better for the cooling when you put in the 160 stat!!!

Good luck and let us know what you are doing!

John

 

[Bryan C.]

At this point the cam will make little to no difference. The money would be better spent in other areas. If the engine comes out for a rebuild, I would throw a cam in then. Be careful when selecting the cam as well. Quite a few people have went ahead and thrown in a big cam and wonder where the performance went. Make sure hwatever cam you do pick is not too big. It is all about the combination and you must have all of the other pieces that will support that cam when the time comes. It is easier, and cheaper, to match a cam to your combination than to match your combination to your cam. Remember, there are cars with stock cams running deep into the 11's and a few in the 10's. Just my $.02.

 

[Drac0nic]

Originally posted by turbobooster
hmmm interestin info that would be nice to have my car rev to 6000 so when choosing the cam the higher the number like 206 or the 210 the more power its better for? i mean im pretty much stock right now and interested i putti in a cam and do have big plans for it later down the road would like to 12s anywhere in that range but i want to drop in a cam that i can have now and stillbe good for the day i reach that goal dont wana have to change cam alot

The bigger the cam the higher you're moving the power band up, be careful with this you'll need the turbo, exhaust and stall mods to make the most effective use of this move. There are half a dozen or less cam choices that are commonly used, do your research.

Personally, I'm going with the 204/214 for a few reasons, but I'm not trying to move you towards a particular cam. These are some of the things I looked at, maybe they'll help towards a choice. Is it right? Time will tell. The best advice I can give is get a cam for where YOUR car makes power.

1)Cost-I'm not the richest person in the world, and the 204/214s are quite inexpensive and avalible from lots of sources.
2)Documented success with it-The 204/214 has had some impressive times behind it, but this can be said of most any of the cams used and isn't saying much since 10s have been run on the stocker.
3)the extra duration on the exhaust-Turbo motors don't "sweep" the exhaust, you've gotta pump it out and hopefully in theory the extra duration will help spool some.
4)the RPM band-Summit's info on the 204/214 lists it as idle-5500 revs, and most people say it pulls to 6 grand. This power band is more desireable to me then the listed 1200-5500 on the comp 206/206, as hopefully the extra bit of low end will hlep with getting the turbo in motion.

Something that I will point out about this is look at the HP/torque splits of dyno results, then look at the cam installed. The ones with a stocker cam are usually near %25 higher torque then HP, while the cammed ones are a fairly even HP/TQ split.

IMHO a cam is a "while you're in there" addition to a motor, not something that should be done for the sake of doing it.

 

[turbobooster]

hey drac0nic that was some really good advice hit the right note in wat i kinda wanted to hear to help wit my choice hmmm well my engine is freshky rebuild i just thought that if would of been best if i change cam if i wanted to go wit roller so is the stock cam ok to use roller rockers wit? and do they make them for a stock cam ?

 

[cool 84]

Don't worry about roller rockers, they aren't worth the money on a stock based motor. On the other hand, I really wish I would've gone with a roller cam while my motor was apart.

I doubt most people will be able to feel the difference between the popular flat tappet cams. I know from experience that the 200-200, 206-206, 210-205, and 212-212 showed no loss in bottom end and the top end was close to the same.

If your torque convertor stalls at 2,400rpm stock or more modded, why would it matter if one cam is supposed to pull from idle and one from 1,200? I promise, you won't be able to tell the difference.

What size turbo you have will dictate your powerband and stall needs much more than your cam choice as long as you don't go crazy on the cam.

With stock unported heads and intake, I would stick with the smaller cams.

 

[turbobooster]

roller cam huh well i dont mind having that done but thats wat im tryin to get at the fact that im gonna get all that done port n polish heads and intake and much more done so wat i just wanna know is wats the best thing to do stay in my stock cam or think a bout a different one that will in some way benefit everything one to the car i mean ur runnin a 212/212 for a reason right cool? wat got u to drop that cam in there?

 

[cool 84]

I chose the 212 because I'm running a 4.1. The 212 is still a relatively small cam and a bigger motor can use a bigger cam without side effects. Plus, I have more compression than stock so low end is not an issue. My new motor is incredibly responsive from idle right on up.

If you're going with ported heads and intake, you will be able to take advantage of a bigger cam. A friend of mine just put a 212-212 in his GN1 headed hotair and it's working great. I just don't think you're going to see dramatic gains from changing flat tappet cams. Whatever your choice of flat tappet cam, I think you will be satisfied with it.

With a roller you can see gains even with the same duration as a flat tappet. In other words you can make a ton of power and still retain bottom end, good idle, and pass emissions. Not to mention our cars like to eat flat tappet cams so a roller is worth it from a reliability standpoint. I wish I would've gotten one but I was broke at the time.

 

[xippman]

This is what I plan on doing port and polish heads, bigger vales , 3 angle vale job, port intake the motor is board 30 over . 38 or 42 fuel injectors, and al the stuff like fuel reg.,fuel pump. This is what I'm going to need a cam for.

 

[turbobooster]

i might just save up and go wit roller cam does anyone sell a whole complete rollercam setup for our 85s? so wat is a good cam upgrade size then ? or should i stay wit the stock duration but roller?thanx for all that info really helpful

 

[cool 84]

Originally posted by turbobooster
i might just save up and go wit roller cam does anyone sell a whole complete rollercam setup for our 85s? so wat is a good cam upgrade size then ? or should i stay wit the stock duration but roller?thanx for all that info really helpful

You can't go wrong with the 206-206 roller or anything close. You can order a cam for the 86-87s and make sure you use cam bearings for the 86-87s.

 

[turbobooster]

so i can order a 206/206 roller cam for an 86 87 and it will fit my 85 motor?wit no problems ? thanx for tip

 

[cool 84]

The cam for the 86-87 is fine. Now that I think about it, I think it was Lee Thompson that corrected me with which cam bearings to use. I believe you have to use the 84 bearings due to a difference in diameter. I could swear I used the 87s with no problems but the guy who did my motor operates a full CNC operation so there could've been a problem that he fixed without me knowing about it.