235 cam car vs truck specs?

could I use a passenger (hydraulic lifter) cam in a truck (solid lifter) engine? they're both later type full-oilers.
are the cams alright using either kind of lifter? and the cam profiles the same or too far off? I want to keep torque, no need for high rpm

 

i was told that you can't use the solid lifter cam with hydraulic lifters. if you want hydraulic lifters in your truck you have to change the cam too. go to www.stovebolt.com and do a search. i'm sure that they have talked about this very subject many times.

my truck with solids only revs to 3 grand anyway. so i don't think that you will lose anything by switching to hydraulic lifters and cam.

 

that can't be right what you're saying there, the shop manual says the Brake Horse Power is rated at 4200 rpm, so I don't think yours only revs to 3000. You can get them up to over 5000.
I need some real info, asked on stovebolt and no success, just talk about quiet hydro lifters (I LIKE the sound of solids) and other semi-related stuff.

 

Stovebolt engines suitable for hydraulic lifters can be identified by a horizontal hole that intersects the lifter bores which is how they're fed. Pull a lifter and if you can feel a hole in the side of the bore you have the choice of hydraulics or solids. If the hole is not there solids are a must.

 

1958 and newer blocks are all drilled for use with either type of camshaft.
1957 and earlier blocks that originally had solids can only use solids.
If you don't know, do what Curt says about pulling a lifter and looking for the hole.

It's been my experience as well as many others that solids are the way to go in any 235/261 engine. Resurfacing the tips of the rockers will take out alot of the noise associated with solid lifters.

 

alright, but here's the actual question: if I put a cam from a hydraulic block (from a passenger car) in a truck engine (with solid lifters etc), what will happen? nothing? different engine characteristics? will I lose torque?

 

In a stock engine you arent going to notice any appreciable gain or loss of torque by changing stock cams no matter what lifter is used.

BTW we have had nothing but problems with hydraulic lifters for 20 years. i was a hydraulic guy to the end, but no more.

 

In my opinion, if you're going to go to the trouble of a cam swap, put something back in that will give you something over what you've already got. There are several cam grinders out there that would regrind your camshaft for a nominal fee for more usable torque.

 

There isn't much difference in camshaft profiles on stock 235 cams, so switching back and forth won't really matter much. The Corvette, 261, and later 235 cams were the largest cams the factory used. So no, you won't know the difference. But if you are switching cam types, switch the lifters too. If the solids are the milkcan style and you go to hydraulics, you will also need to swap out the pushrods because of the difference in length.

The best thing to run is a split pattern solid lifter camshaft from Tom Langdon or something similar. Delta cams can grind you one as well.