Hey there name's Stefan & from northern California, about 40 minutes north of SF. This is my first post on the HAMB. I have spent quite some time looking over threads as a non-member and the time has come to sack up and get some solid advice I own a 64' c10 shortbed fleet side in which I have a 283 sbc, single rochester 2bbl, and I am building another motor for the truck at school. This is my first time building a sbc & I fortunately have a watchful eye to guide me through the journey. i need some advice/opinons on parts. it's a '59 283 bored 40 over, 2 main bolt, corvette casting. I'm going to be running the 283 power pack heads (1.71 intake), about 9.5:1 compression, forged small journal crank. wondering what the best choice of cam could be for this motor? i'm wanting to run around 500-600 cfm for carb, ram horn manifolds. truck has 3.73 gears mated to a granny 4 speed. great for pulling stumps. i may swap to a tranny that has a usable 1st gear down the road I'm looking for a streetable cam, and heard of the duntov 097 which is pretty mild. also considering what they call an RV cam. thoughts? advice? ass chewing? anything is appreciated. thank you much Stefan
Hey Stefan don't go any farther , buy one of those o97 Duntov cams and use the stock stamped steel rockers and chrome tin covers They had a loose valve setting and made cool ' ticky - ticky - ticky ' sounds from the valve train that is all-time bitchen We all used those cams in out tri 5 chevys while hanging out at ' Bob's Big Boy's ' in the late 50's and early 60's If you want to have a period sounding ride get that cam and part's Sent pic of my 57' street racer DND
You do not state how you are going to use your truck. Streetable can mean a lot of things such as everyday driver or streetable hotrod... I would choose your combo on your intended use of your ride... just because it sounds cool does not mean it is best for your intended purpose ...
By streetable I mean that I'll be driving it several times a week, maybe long distances on occasion up to Oregon. I'm looking for a nice cruiser with decent pick up off the line. Won't be towing a whole lot but I think I'd like to lend a helping hand to any ford stuck in the mud Wouldn't be the first time.
DND thank you for sharing, very cool picture of the '57. Wanted to go with the 283 because it was different-everyone has 350s these days
Hey Welcome, One of my Favorite small block's, I had one in a 55 truck, m-21, 4:56, an 6-71, would regularly run it up to 7K, at 7400 I broke a "z28" valve spring, but had bought lathe turned valve locks, limped home, aired up, changed spring, Go! Awesome engine, with no special parts... Other than forged flat top pistons(blower), back in my day one of the best cams for street fun was the 327/350hp cam, all around Good, not sure how far off it is from the one you mentioned..
As I recall the Duntov 097 cam was in the ' 57' Corvette 270 Engine ' for 270 HP with the two 4 barrel carbs , and 283 HP with the factory fuel injection Then at the dealers you could order a passenger car with the Corvette 270 engine, and that was how my 57' was built With a bit of a tune up and glass packs they would run 95 mph at the drags, that was pretty dam good for those days and we sure had a blast street racing those early tri 5 chevy's And I mite add that those cars made for a pretty fair skirt chaser/date nite ride too and you can't forget the lady's DND
I always run the factory 327/300hp cam in my 283's....and my next one waiting on the engine stand will have that cam along with the original 2brl carb...re-jetted if needed. The 300hp cam was used in a lot of 283 and 327 factory combo...mostly with 4brl carbs. They have a nice sound, get decent mileage, 12-15mpg, and with that 3.73 rear ratio, the cam should be on top of it's sweet spot. I never buy a cam for its sound...it has a job to do.
if you want a good everyday cam that is no muss no fuss snag an L-79 cam. They are a hydraulic and a little less radical than the duntov 30/30 and a little more radical than the 097. It will work fine in a +.040 283 (been there done that). So now you have a lot of opinions to go with. You're up around Santa Rosa? Welcome aboard.
Beaner has it right. Stefan, just Google L79 blueprint camshaft. You can buy 2 or 3 cams from the aftermarket for what NOS "151" cams are going for nowadays. Most cam mfgs have their own version of them, any will work fine. A good cam to use in a mild 350 is the Comp Cams "268", I had that combo in my 66 Suburban and it moved that down the road quite nicely.
Actually Crane has the rights to the exact GM blueprint. That is what I am running in my 355 it was an 80 dollar cam shaft in '97. Lunati makes a nice cam shaft for a small displacement small block as well. I would have to go to the garage to get the number maybe later. I got to do something else right now. OK I went in the garage please don't tell on me it is Lunati 06103 high efficiency cam shaft. I actually used one of these in a +.040 283 about 10 years ago with real good results. here is a link to the cam card: http://www.lunatipower.com/CamSpec.aspx?p=06103
Another L79 Fan here.. I have a 283 bored .60 with 305 HO heads and 2 1/2" Ram Horns...Cam is the L79 . Carb is a 500 cfm Edelbrock with Edelbrock Performer 2 intake, plus some other stuff. It is a very well behaved sweet running engine. Cam really kicks in at about (2800) rpms and will get to (5000) rpms very quickly. Being a small displacement it is not a torque monster taking off... I offset that a bit by using a Saginaw four speed with a 3.11 first gear and a .373 rear end. Good luck !
Thanks for all the information fellas, you've given me a lot to work with here. I'm thinking about going with the l79.. Looks like it'll sound mean with good pickup (for a 283) will this cam run ok with 9.5-10:1 compression? Even with those little pea shoot valves? (1.71 intake) any recommendations on who sells good grinds close to those specs?
Yes sir I'm about 20 minutes south of Santa Rosa in Petaluma I'm up in rosa everyday for school to studying metal fab srjc is great
Stefan you mite want to stay with those early Dutov cams the 097 or the 30-30 as they were designed to work with the small valves, you can chase your tail on here as there are a ton of cams made for the small blocks
I understand that is a solid lifter cam, I may consider going hydraulic as I'd like to avoid maintenance with valve lash. Perhaps I could go with one with similar specs as the 097
I like the Crane, lots of fellas don't but I still run crane cams. My sis still lives in Santa Rosa, I can remember when Petaluma was just a wide spot in the road. LOL
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