Hey guys, you advice is needed here. I built this 283 a while ago without knowing what it may go into someday. Now that I know that it will be powering a 2200lbs 34 Ford with 3.73 gears, 780-15s rear tires and a BW T5 WC, I´m wondering what cam I should use. Here´s what I have: 1958 283 .060 over KB dome pistons with .125" dome Eagle floater rods Slightly cut camel hump heads w 1.94/1.50 valves and a little clean up with about 62cc chambers I was aiming for a cr of about 10:1, maybe a little more. I do have an old Edelbrock Performer Plus Camshaft Kit # 2102 I bought maybe 15 years ago ( before the flat tappet cam quality took a turn for the worse) that has the following specs: in 204°/ex 214° @050 lift with 112° LSA and a total lift of in.420/ex .442". All I want is a peppy little 283 and I´d like to avoid overcamming that little guy. I also have # 2103 kit that is a little more agressive @ 214°/214° @050 and a performer rpm kit that I think would be way too much cam for that little feller @ 234°/244°@ 050. So, what do you think, should I use one of these or do I need something all different?
This was always my favorite for good street performance. 3863151 L79 327 - 350 hp HYDRAULIC Lift .440/.440 or .447/.447 both listed Dur @ .050 220/220 or 222/222 LSA 114 Comp cams grind 151H (.447 lift, 222 dur, LSA 114)
Just got my '67 283 back for my '35 sedan. Advertised hydraulic 278/288 - 204/212 dur @ .050. Will have a 200R behind it.
what you have is a 292 sbc with a pair of reworked humps, small valve. What is "peppy"?--like in a drag motor for 1/4 mi. or cruise 75 mi. one way to a car show or meet? 10:1 is a lot for today's gas, most try for somewhere in the 9's for a cruiser. I had a 292 with an old 097 hydraulic chevy cam, thing was super strong for a 55 chevy at 3200 lbs. IMO its hard to beat what GM put out in those days, didn't require any valve adjustment for the hydraulics. Your choice, but the 350 hp 327 cam is a beauty for these, as well a the 097 grind that can be probably found at some cam mfgs.
Here's my son's 64 Chevelle (about 3700 LBS) 283 + .030, 350HP 327 cam, 305 58cc heads, 2 1/2 in dual exhaust, Rochester 4 Jet on a stock cast iron manifold, wide ratio 4 speed with 3.08 rear and 27 in tires. It sounds great and scoots along nicely. Your #2102 cam kit should work good, but those heads will probably put it considerably over 10:1 comp. It should move a 2200LB car really good. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iqy4vxW3LiQ https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7XinAfC0R5c
Direct answer to your question is use the #2102 kit that you already have. Before doing so however I would get the detailed specs on the KB pistons that you have and calculate the CR with the heads and head gasket you plan to use. I mention this because I have used a number of KB pistons and many have a compression height that differs from the original spec to put the piston higher up in the bore from stock. Plus the bump from the dome. So I would want to feel that the CR is more precise than a guess. In my youth long ago I built a number of 292s and 301s, and at that age was guilty of a number of them being over cammed and over carbed. But hell, they were a lot of fun to drive with a tank of Sunoco 260!
Thank you all for sharing your experiences. I should have added that our cheapest ( which is not actually cheap at € 1.75 per liter) fuel blend here is E10 which is already rated at 95 octane. My .040 over 327 is also a little over 10:1 cr with a bit more cam than I plan for the 283 and runs great on e10 . I could also buy 98 , 100 or 102 octane blends a most stations if necessary. So I think I´d try and run as much dynamic compression as I can get away with , making it as powerful and efficient as possible, without going all out race. I don´t need the last bit of hp out of this little motor but I´d like it to run good for what it is. Interesting the 350hp 327 cam has been mentioned. 222/222° @050 and 114LSA sounds like it´s worth lookin into...
I was wrong on the dome height. I just checked and they are .170" and supposedly -4cc. These are what I have, https://www.summitracing.com/parts/uem-kb166-060# they sure went up in price lately. I think I bought them for around $300 maybe 10-12 years ago Thanks for the heads up on the dome specs! I had the block zero decked to these pistons back then and with the blue FelPro headgasekt we came out at slightly over 10:1 cr, steel shims would have put it closer to 10.5 if I remember correctly, so I went with the blue FelPro. Wow, that little feller rumbles nicely! I´ll certainly look up this 327 350 hp cam. It may be just right.. btw I already mentioned this 327 .040 over that I have in my 56 Chevy. That engine is a little more agressive than I´d like my 283 to be. It has L2166nf040 Speed Pro Pistons, milled 2.02/1.60 camel humps, a Edelbrock RPM cam ( 234/244° @.050 with 112° LSA ) and Performer rpm intake manifold, long tube headers. I had to play a lot to get it dailed in, it just does not have enough vacuum signal at low speeds. I got it figured out, but just a hair milder than that woul be great. Growing old I guess.
Just checked, it´s been 13 years that I built than engine and 11 years thatit´s been sitting in my living room time flys . And that´s the 327in the 56
Use the small cam you've listed , you won't regret it. It is slightly longer exhaust duration [than what I'm using On my 283 we decked the block so the flattop pistons were 0.005" above and when cc'd it netted a genuine 9.4:1 Coupled with the above cam and a dialed in Rochester 2G it pulled like a diesel from down low ,which is great for 3 on the tree, synchro-smash 1st [in a 57 chevy] Your car will have really nice "off the throttle" response with your cam and compression, Just don't over carb it.
The old Duntov grind is hard to beat for that engine,,,,I think a few companies make a duplicate of that cam,,,,at least very close to spec . Tommy
Thanks for sharing ! It´s great you are crossing the topic of too much carb, that´s another thing I´m not quite sure about. The car being a fenderless and probably hoodless hotrod a single 2bbl just won´t cut it in the looks department, you know I think a 500 cfm -ish single 4 bbl would be tplenty enough but lookswise I´d tend to run an old and pretty small Corvette 2x4 intake I have with two Rochester 4GCs ,which I dont have and probably are worth more than gold in case they match that intake... and maybe too much carb anyways.
The cam you have should work great. I'm with Desoto291Hemi on the Duntov. Always loved the idle on the 30-30 but, the one you have will have better drivability. I have an old 11:1 327+.030" with an old Crower Monarch 280/460 Hydraulic. It was outstanding on the street.
A 500cfm carb is good for 6000 rpm with a 288" engine [at 100% volumetric efficiency] 90% of the time it will be "off the throttle" on the primaries. Don't over-cam an engine [unless it is purpose built] even a stock cam can run up in the Rev range. The best modification you did was put a 2200lb car under it! If you want to use that Corvette 2x4 intake use 2 x Holley 8007 [390 cfm vac secondary 4 barrels] and 2 x adaptors from 4GC to Holley. And a pair of "Faux" Oil bath style air cleaners to give it some height in the engine bay
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