need cam suggestion please

[6SENSE]

I am leaning back towards my first notions of three years ago, that I have a mechanical problem with my car : the cam. I believe its got to have at least one bad lobe.
I am thinking of using the stock type cam that was in my 10,000 mile (rebuilt) engine when I first got it. I know any cam in good working order will be better than what I have now (extremely low vac, very bad gas mileage, bad miss/loping idle, lack of topend/performance, doesnt respond to tuning!, etc, etc).
Question is......... its definately good on the wallet if I use the old cam, but with my combo (see below) should I be opting towards another aftermarket cam, and if so which one do you guys recomend? Ive always heard that the stocker is good for some pretty low ETs and there isnt much of a reason to change it, but what do you guys think?

 

[6SENSE]

P.S I dont think there is anything wrong with the Postons cam, just my Postons cam . I was always worried that it may have been damaged during brake-in. I had trouble keeping the car running, and a couple of times it was just sitting idling while I was fooling with it.

 

[Boost231]

ATR

Get a ATR roller cam.

brent

 

[WFO]

i'd look at the speedpro cam like red and others have had good luck with.i think it's about 214 @ .050,maybe he'll chime in with the exact specs.but they're cheap and seem to work well,that's a pretty rare combination.

later,sean

 

[turbowrenchhead]

I asked Lee Thompson what he liked for a cam. He said he has used over 10 different cams and the one he liked best was from eastern performance. It is a 208-224 cam. I bought it and I like it. Shnieder Racing Cams makes them for eastern if you dont want to deal with eastern.

 

[6SENSE]

I remember the Speedpro mentioned before, anyone out there with this cam care to comment on it ........ Red?

turbowrenchhead, just saying Lee's favorite cam should be enough to sell it! However, Ive kind lost track of what his combo is like now, would that cam be okay for my combo?
How is it as far as driveability (Idle quality, etc.) ? Also, how was Eastern as far as getting it to you in a timely manner? I got my 3" DP and MAF pipe from them a few years back, and it took 8 months!!

 

[crazygn]

I hear nothing but good things about the speed pro 204-214. Plus its only like $101.00 . I just ordered one for my brothers car and i think i will go with one my self soon.

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

you'll lookin for me

need to get more fuel to the motor.
I almost tried a 208-224 cam but I had a lil problem with 2 lobes disapearing but dont blame the cam any of them cam wipe out and that was a used one that wiped out on me.

Anyway I put my 204-214 back in it and still going strong but


cs1016r
1500-4000
dur at .050 204/214
dur at .006 280/290
valve lift 448/472
lobe c/l 112
overlap is 51 degrees

speed pro rates their valve lift with 1.6 rockers and our stock rockers are ~ 1.55 ratio so take valve lift divide it by 1.6 then multiply it by 1.55 and you'll get actual valve lift with stock rockers.

see I dont bad mouth everything I likes my speed pro cam

 

[6SENSE]

My 2800 stall good enough for either of these cams you guys have mentioned? And Reds, how is the street driveability with the speedpro. I know, I want to have my cake and eat it too, but I always pictured the car as smooth idle & decent gas mileage but when you get on the pedal its a monster. This is my first fuel injected car, if I wanted gas guzzling and loping I could just go with......... well, that describes my Suburban! My car lopes and goes through as much gas as my Suburban , that aint right!

 

[6SENSE]

Also, 1500-4000 pwr range (speedpro). Would 4000 be considered kind of low? The cam Ive got now :

Poston's GN107T
adv. duration= 254 Int, 254 Exh
at .050= 202 Int, 202 Exh
valve lift= 430, 430
pwr range= idle- 5600
max rpm= 6000

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

well it idles with 17" 's of vacuum in park and around 13-14 in gear
It sounds stock except when first fire it from dead cold you can just so slightly hear it but that's gone in a min. or so

I shift the car at 6000 and it has no problem hitting the 6200 limiter in the chip.

I ran this same cam the whole time even with stock converter with no side affects

oh yea I get around 25 mpg on the highway and I havent checked it around town cause my foot is always in it but it does good to me

I have to recomend a ROLLMASTER brand double roller chain with it as it seems to be hard on stock style chains

and yes I feel I can have my cake and eat it too..

 

[6SENSE]

Thanks, Reds. Im jealous, all that you mentioned is what Im looking for.
I really hope that this is the problem with my car that has been holding me back. Vac is 8-9 psi @ idle and no more than 12 in park/neutral. Fuel economy....I dont want to talk about . Idle quality is not good, lopes like a beefed up chevy. And.... get same results with 15psi boost as I do when running well over 20psi !! I dont think air is pushing through the motor, probably just sitting around because valves arent opening right ? Probably the reason why I havent blown a head gasket yet either . Its got to be the cam! I want topend pwr!
Where do you get the Speedpro from (and what is the part #) ?

P.S. I was just looking at the Eastern catalog, they seem to know what they are doing with the cams also. They have a "stage 3", "stage 4", "ESP grind", and "ESP" race. Which one is the 208-224 that was mentioned above?
Hmm, speedpro or ESP...... anyone that would be better suited for my combo? (and everyone used to say just keep the stock cam! )

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

before it died I did notice the 208-224 didnt have alot of vacuum but sounded cool sitting there bumpin..

I get my motor parts from northern auto parts

1-800-831-0884

part # cs1016r
lifter# ht969

they have a site at www.northernautoparts.com but they dont list much for buicks but so far everything i've needed they had

my rollmaster chain come from www.racemufflers.com which is

STRAIGHTLINE PERFORMANCE, Inc.

517-381-8801


timing chain aint cheap but very nice piece about $100

 

[6SENSE]

Thanks Reds. I think Im leaning towards the speedpro after hearing that. I dont want my vac to be real low and I can do with out the bumpin idle, Ive got that on my other vehicles. With this car I want my cake and eat it too, remember .
Besides 204 int and 214 exh sounds good to me, it goes with the idea of the bigger exhaust which I think is a good idea with a turbo car, keep the exhaust velocities up. Is speedpro a sealed power product?

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

Originally posted by 6SENSE
Is speedpro a sealed power product?

of course it is..

sealed power , speedpro , trw.. same stuff..

they do own other companies like comp cams but they mainly bought the name and I was hopeing that when they bought comp cams they would improve their products but still hasent happened.

 

[6SENSE]

Went ahead and ordered speed pro cam ($101) and sealed power lifters ($2.83 ea.) from Northern Autoparts today, they said I should have it Monday. I checked with a few other places but noone else had it in stock and only one had a lower price (Summit : $94.39, but will take 2 weeks).
Thanks for the input guys!


P.S. Hey Reds, whats the deal with the cam being hard on the stock style chains? I just put in a new GM set back in April. I had a double roller in there that I can put back in (it only had a little over 10,000 miles on it), but I would like to keep the GM one in if I could.

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

I had problems with tensioners breaking off from the chain slapping ..

any cam over stock is going to be harder on the chain and slap it back and forth more.

as most know double rollers make a lil slapping noise but thats better than broke tensioners.

most double rollers still have cast gears with them where the rollmaster chain has machined gears so I believe it will outlast the others.

 

[turbowrenchhead]

Where does one get the rollmaster chain? How much is it?

 

[6SENSE]

Originally posted by REDS HOT AIR :

my rollmaster chain come from www.racemufflers.com which is

STRAIGHTLINE PERFORMANCE, Inc.

517-381-8801

timing chain aint cheap but very nice piece about $100

 

[49-blues]

reds-do you think the reason the 208/224 cam didnt have that much vacuum is because the lobes were worn? and that maybe a new 208/224 cam would have a better vacuum? thanks