[chevyjohn123]

Hi Folks,
Looking for some sound advice. I am putting together a motor for my Nova. It's a 66, basically bone stock except for the motor/trans, so the weight of the car is approx 2800 lbs, I have a .040 over 350 with forged flat top pistons w/4 valve reliefs, Turbo 350 trans w/shift kit , 3.08 posi rear gear, and I plan on installing a set of pocket ported vortec heads with roller tip rockers and behive springs, a Weiand stealth intake and a holley 750 w/vacuum secondaries.
Now for the question, I'm looking for recommendations for a cam. Would like a noticeable idle with excellent torque. Going with a flat tappet hydraulic cam. This will be mainly a street driven cruiser. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Big Dave]

Hi Folks,
Looking for some sound advice. I am putting together a motor for my Nova. It's a 66, basically bone stock except for the motor/trans, so the weight of the car is approx 2800 lbs, I have a .040 over 350 with forged flat top pistons w/4 valve reliefs, Turbo 350 trans w/shift kit , 3.08 posi rear gear, and I plan on installing a set of pocket ported vortec heads with roller tip rockers and behive springs, a Weiand stealth intake and a holley 750 w/vacuum secondaries.
Now for the question, I'm looking for recommendations for a cam. Would like a noticeable idle with excellent torque. Going with a flat tappet hydraulic cam. This will be mainly a street driven cruiser. Thanks for any advice.

Comp Cams and Crane both offer modern profile hydraulic cams that share the same profiles as the great engines that Chevrolet engineers designed. Duntov's famous 30/30 solid flat tappet cam introduced in 1957 was still being used in high performance 350 Camaros and Corvettes as late as 1971. But in your case there can be only one choice. The famous L-79 hydraulic flat tappet cam recreated in a modern profile.

Here is the Nostalgia Plus L-79 cam from Comp:

http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/cam-specs/Details.aspx?csid=110&sb=2


and Part Number 967601 from Crane Cam's Muscle Car Blueprint selection.

http://www.cranecams.com/userfiles/PP0811A_SinglePages.pdf

You can hear the original factory cam at this You Tube video (skip ahead to 1:20to hear idle sound)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN93yBA8Jsk"]1972 Nova 3863151 cam - YouTube[/ame]

and you can buy the original cam still from GMPP:

http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/performance_parts/store/catalog/Product.jhtmlPRODID=2594&CATID=826.html

Big Dave

 

[18Deg70SS]

I had a 355 I put into an S-10 with flat tops and World Product S/R's with just port matching done to them. I used a GM performance cam here... http://www.summitracing.com/parts/nal-3896962/overview/ I really thought that it was the best all around motor I've had so far. I ended up pulling that motor and putting a 406 in the truck and regretted it. I could drive that thing anywhere with the 355 and it still sounded good and had plenty of motivation. I now have a 18 degree small block in my nova with a solid roller and don't get me wrong, it is more powerful than that origional 355 I had but that was still my favorite engine I've built so far. May have something to do with the fact that it was my first build, I built it with my grandfather, and it was the last engine he built before he passed.

 

[Jackel]

Hi Folks,
Looking for some sound advice. I am putting together a motor for my Nova. I have a .040 over 350 with forged flat top pistons w/4 valve reliefs, Turbo 350 trans w/shift kit , 3.08 posi rear gear, and I plan on installing a set of pocket ported vortec heads with roller tip rockers and behive springs, a Weiand stealth intake and a holley 750 w/vacuum secondaries.
Now for the question, I'm looking for recommendations for a cam. Would like a noticeable idle with excellent torque. Going with a flat tappet hydraulic cam. This will be mainly a street driven cruiser. Thanks for any advice.

With a 3:08 posi you want to keep the total duration down in the 270 range. I would recommend a Comp 270 Magnum cam but have Comp grind it on a 108 LSA. The lobe profile on this series of cam provides a more reliable long term valve train over the XE series. The cam would give you a great muscle car idle, quick intake close for an excellent stump pulling torque curve, very good street fuel efficiency and also give you probably above 400 HP and TQ. I would also get the "Nitride" option to insure a reliable cam break-in. With the Beehive option on the heads you could use 1.6 rockers for even more power through the RPM range. Jack

 

[StraubTech]

Hi Folks,
Looking for some sound advice. I am putting together a motor for my Nova. It's a 66, basically bone stock except for the motor/trans, so the weight of the car is approx 2800 lbs, I have a .040 over 350 with forged flat top pistons w/4 valve reliefs, Turbo 350 trans w/shift kit , 3.08 posi rear gear, and I plan on installing a set of pocket ported vortec heads with roller tip rockers and behive springs, a Weiand stealth intake and a holley 750 w/vacuum secondaries.
Now for the question, I'm looking for recommendations for a cam. Would like a noticeable idle with excellent torque. Going with a flat tappet hydraulic cam. This will be mainly a street driven cruiser. Thanks for any advice.

Vortec heads like duration split. At least 8 degrees at .050"