I am currently putting together a 59A 276 cu. inch flathead with 4 inch Merc crank Ross pistons and Mallory electronic ignition. I have two rebuilt Stromberg 97s on an Eddie Meyer exhaust heated intake and am using a NOS(original) pair of Sharp 59A style heads. I was planning on running an Isky 400 Jr cam until I was talking to a friend of mine and he said he took out the 400 Jr cam out of his roadster and replaced it with an Isky Max 1 cam because the 400 Jr cam was an absolute pig on fuel. He thought the 400 Jr cam wasn't suitable for street use. His engine is a 59A pretty much stock bored .60 over with a 4 inch Merc crank. He has Edelbrock heads and a Thickstun PM7 intake. I am wondering after talking to him if I should be going with a little milder cam and forget about the Isky 400 Jr cam. The flathead I am building is going in a 1929 Model A coupe that will see a lot of street mileage. I don't want an engine that is going to be a pig on fuel or hard to run. I do want a flathead cam that has a great sound to it and something I can expect reasonable gas mileage from. Anyone have any experiences with the Isky 400 Jr flathead cam. Is it streetable or not?
I can't comment on gas mileage with 400Jr. because I built the engine in which I had a 400Jr. in about '58 or '59. Gas was cheap and I didn't care about gas mileage! Car was '32 3wdw Ford that I still hate myself for selling. It was fenderless, East Coast style, channeled width of frame, no chop. Engine was "3/8 X 3/8" ported and relieved, dual carbs, alum heads. Rear gear was 3.54:1, with 28 tooth trans. Yeah it had a serious lope, and you had to stay in the gear box in town, plus it sure helped if you learned to "double clutch" so as to get into low gear while still rolling slowly. But to me, at 21 years old, "high test" at less than 40 cents/gal, it was great, and if I was building a flathead again, I'd do it again!
You and I are on the same wavelength DOM. I realize probably a long shot, but if you have ANY pics of the 3 window, I for one, would LOVE to see them.
Streetable is a subjective term. My streetable may not be yours. I have never run one but lots of folks have. First thing see if you have sufficient valve pocket clearance in the head for a .400 lift cam. I don't know what the seat to seat duration numbers are for this cam as Isky gives you @.020 lifter rise duration so overlap is impossible to gauge. At least by me. But having heard a few of them run it is quite a bit. You might be better off with a Littero L-100 lots of guys on Fordbarn say they are great, never heard one myself. Search KIWI-L100 on Fordbarn as their is a guy offering regrinds and Schneider has their version as well. Pete Samuelson, "Pete1" on here has ground more flathead cams than most so you might give him a PM and ask his advice for your application.
Go to the back of the class george. Maybe he could grind a .030-.030 profile on a flathead core. (this should start a fecal microburst)
We have a roadster with a 400jr that we have about 300 miles on it so far. Car sounds fantastic with Porter mufflers. Motor is a 59L 288 cubic inches with a PM-7 and ford aluminum heads....about 7.2:1 or so. Transmission is a T5 with a 39 rear 3.78. Car is extremely streetable with the low first gear in the T5. Top end is even better with the overdrive. Of course, head clearance was checked (valve to piston clearance was OK from the start). I cant imagine a better setup for the sound.
Based on my experience I would not recommend the 400jr for street use. The Max1 or better yet the L100 would be your best choice. Do more research on Fordbarn site.
Quickchange V8, I had a '53 Merc flatty built and wasn't quite sure on what cam either but decided on the Max1. Mine is running straight pipes, stock heads, 2 Holly 94's and an Offy Regular Dual. I love the way it sounds and you can hear the cam lope a decent amount. It idles just fine and the sound out the back is perfect to me. I had the bore opened a bit and the same with the ports but other than that I just wanted a nice sounding driver. I can't send any sound clips or I would but if you want a nice sounding flatty that you can maintain and drive I say go with the Max1. Hope that helps!
i ran a 400jr in my '49coupe--239, edelbrock heads and 4bbl. no around-town power. ran like a raped ape 40+ mph. gas mileage stock--16, dropped to 14 with this setup. my advice is the max1. in his latest supercharger book, joe abbin makes the same recommendation and says the max1 out-pulls the 400jr up to 4,000-4,500 rpm. won't have that same lopey sound, though.
As above "street-able" is in the mind of the beholder. However, I would error on the milder side. My 38 with a fairly mild 59 AB (48's, Sharp, Fentons etc.) has a Melling cam. Even-though I have a couple of fairly radical cams (winfield 3/4 and Isky 400 jr) I went with the mildest one that I had. My coupe' is very street-able and has a nice lope.
Yea, well, you know what I always say...Speed kills, play it safe, build a flathead... Kidding aside, another vote for the L100...
Many thanks to everyone that replied and have added to this thread. As to any question regarding cam selection there is always a varied response as everyone has their favorites but the general consensus is to go with a milder cam either the L100 or an Isky Max1. In all fairness my friend's roadster had other issues other than the 400 Jr cam. He purchased the 1930 roadster as a finished car but from the get go it didn't run right. The original owner/builder of the roadster would take the car out for a drive and within a few miles the plugs would foul and he ended up changing plugs, sometimes more than once to get back home. He used to carry 3 or 4 sets of plugs with him. After my friend purchased the roadster the carbs were rebuilt by someone that knew Strombergs and the heads taken off the flathead engine and given the proper clearance. At this time the 400 Jr was taken out and replaced with a Max1. I have always been a real traditional hot rodder and I just love the sound of a flathead with that real lopey sound at idle. Since the 400 Jr cam is already in the engine I think I will leave it in there for now and see how it runs however I am going to take the advice offered here and purchase either the L100 cam or the Max1 cam and have one of these cams or both on hand in case they are needed down the road. I think I will get one of the guys on here to grind the cams. Thanks again to everyone and their input. This has been a great learning experience.
i also had a 400jr cam in my rdst. was a 53merc. eng,3/2's, cyclone heads, 30 over, 26tooth zyper trans, 4.44 columbia rear, 700x16. was a dog to drive the way i drive, ran good if accelerating, no good in traffic or just lospeed crusing. i quit driving it for a couple years, then took out the 400 cam and put the 53 stock merc cam back in is a whole different car now, cant tell any diff in performance the way i drive.
If you are building an engine for the street, you want one that has good low end torque. The 400 jr is not that kind of cam. I run a Winfield SU1-A in my 276 incher. Runs great and sounds good. Sat next to a car with the L-100 and you couldn't tell the difference at idle.
I have one in my Merc engine, I love it. Yea it comes alive higher up in the RPM range but I've driven my A pick up all over CA in all sorts of traffic and freeway blasts with that cam. Gets "eh" mileage but with 2 full time 97's on the same eddie meyer intake, it is what it is. I've been told numerous times that my flathead has presence when I pull in somewhere. Probably a combo of the cam and open headers, ha!! .
Here you go. http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=153535 And Schneider makes their own version called an S-100 with slightly different valve events. Actually about 8 degrees more overlap as I calculate it. http://schneidercams.com/S100flathead.aspx
I had a 3 5/16 x 4 with a stock cam 2 97 , offy heads 39 box and 3.00:1 gear 31" tire had good power 20 mpg put new rings in it and a 400 jr re grind ( not that new isky crap) car pulled hard, idled awesome ... Very good street manners and didnt run out of steam trying to merge with traffic on freeway the ONLY downside was the 14 mpg it now got..... I'd do it again too!
Well yea, but kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it? I mean, the 400Jr is 244@050 on a 111 LSA. the original L100 is 246 on the intake side on a 112LSA and a shorter exhaust side. If you grind an L100 on a narrower LSA (8 degrees more overlap than original) then you end up with pretty much the same cam as the 400JR with a lot less lift. It's gonna idle rougher than the 400JR, wasn't that the whole reason for suggesting the L100 in the first place???
KiWi Tony here......I grind the KiWi-L100 cam . I has been a huge hit since I have re-introduced it about 14 months ago with many happy users all over the US , Canada , New Zealand , Australia , Finland , Denmark , Sweden , England , & I now have a French flathead core being ground to return to Switzerland . Here is my email addy for anyone wanting to contact me [email protected] Thanks for all the support !!! Cheers KiWi-Tony
About 7000 miles on my 400jr in my T roadster. Quite a few miles at a 1/8 and 1/4 mile at a time, haha . I think it's a great cam on or off the street. I'm using a Winfield 1A in my coupe. It's a good cam too.
Great sound I’m also building a 21 stud with single 94 ported stock intake max-1 Lincoln valve springs Does anybody have sound video of Max-1 cam? Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Anything above 380-390 lift in a flat CAN result in the exhaust valve contacting the spark plug and resulting in a ‘dead” cylinder as the gap is sometimes reduced to 0 especially if the heads have been previously cut or milled. Most use the Champion H10 which many refer to as a “lawn mower” plug. I generally run cams in the 350–370 range. An easy way to check for clearance is to place a head being used less headgasket on the block and run several cycles to “feel” for interference(head is NOT bolted to block just merely sits on block. Most interference can be “felt thru your hands”. General rule for a compressed head gasket is around .060. A camwith .400 lift is very close to being troublesome.
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