Technical Good cam choice for mild flathead

What would be a good cam choice for a mild flathead? 3.75" stroke .060" over stock heads milled .050 twin 94's Not building a race car here, just looking for something that sounds nice.

 

There are several cam grinders available. Bullet, Crower,Iski, etc. I would suggest an increase of valve lift, but not much increase of duration timing. It is wise to keep as much vacumn in the engine as possible. A wider duration gives vacumn away. Personally, I use a Windfield SU4 cam.
Nice hobby, enjoy
Bill H

 

Not to hi-jack, but Bluardun-Do you know anything about Bullet Cams? I just checked their website they seem to have a ton of grinds.

 

I would say do a search, and that will get you a ton of info. But it may just confuse you more.

to be honest. if you ask 100 flathead guys you might get 70 different answers.
for any mild cam you are going to have to put adjustable lifters in anyway, so go a bit more.

i have an L100 and like that, as do many. many swear by the isky 400jr. others love schneiders cams. pretty much just pick one you like the note on. or one that is in a car setup similar to yours that the owner is happy with, as trans and rear end will change the overall package.

never an easy choice

 

I'm leaning twards the indy max1. Just worry if its too much or too little... That 400jr sounds nasty! But may be a bit too much for daily driving.

 

subscribed

 

I do believe this very question is asked once each week.
If you do a search you will get about 38,000 opinions.

 

I have a blower on top of mine and it runs so good that I would not be worried to daily drive it at all. in fact I did one year for about 3 weeks while a mate had a loan of my other car at the time. I wouldn't be worried on any of the cam's that you have seen or heard regularly. I shy'd away from the 400jr as to me it sounded too tame!

The only thing I would say is that a cam doesn't make an engine, its more the whole package, including the trans and rear end and all the ratios. So again I would say, try and find someone with the same or similar car setup and ask them what they have.

The George McNicoll books and Joe Abbins books on flatheads might be a good place for you to start.

 

I'm contacting Pete-1 on the forum to see about a regrind....
Yep should have done a search before posting lol.
Not too worried about set up of car, going to have a t-5 behind it with 3.76 gears in an a. Thing should be like a sling shot.....

 

I put an ISKY MAX-1 in the flathead that went into my brother's '52 F-1. It's a bored & stroked 276, behind a T-5. We're very happy with that cam. It runs well with a single carb or duals. And it sounds soooo goood!

 

Very wise decision. Please report back as to Pete's advice.

 

That's really good to know, thanks for posting.

 

I'm running an isky 400jr. I drive it a lot, runs great

 

That cam sounds down right nasty for sure, I thought it might be a bit too much. What's the whole package your running? I'm keeping the stock 3.75" stroke. I know stroker motors tend to tame a wild profile a bit....

 

Pete recommend his 1007b grind, says it has a nice drive in lope to it. Sounds like just the ticket.

 

I had an Isky Max1 in my .60 over, 4bbl, Red's headers, 8BA.....nice mild lope....good performance....I liked it.

 

Same as what he recommended for mine. Now to figure out which block to use, the newly aquired 59A with 81A heads or the 1937 21 stud. Rod

 

The 59A IMO!

 

Can't say enough good things about Pete. He did my cam and it's great: Potvin Eliminator

 

Pete knows his stuff. That Potvin Eliminator is certainly no "mild" grind

 

Hi Banjo
It's actually much more streetable than I had been led to believe by the "experts"

 

Really? Cool to hear. Heck, it's a hot rod so too much is never enough.

I'd like to know more. Pete has always touted this as a street cam. It is certainly a radical lobe design.

Chuck Potvin and Bill Jenks knew their stuff for sure.

 

You know what this thread needs?? some nice audio or video of the cams so we can hear the different pkgs....

 

Here's one. I think I posted this before but maybe just on the barn. The engine was rebuilt by Jerry Livingston at United Engine Specialist in Wichita KS. and they grind their own cams. This one is a copy of an old Harman Collins but is very similar to an Isky Max1. The engine is a 276ci with stock heads and a single 94 (for the time being). Just click on my finger

 

http://youtu.be/YwbDeXM88Yw
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/YwbDeXM88Yw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

After a lot of questions and reading on here and the Ford Barn I went with the L-100 in my 276. Unfortunately, no one is grinding it currently. My second choice would have been the cam that Pete grinds.

--louis

 

It is in a 50 merc motor 4" stroke, 0.030" bore. Offy 400 heads. The motor is in my steel bodied 27 T on an A frame using a 3spd w/ OD tranny and 4.10 rear from a 53 ford. Lite car, plenty of power at all rpm. Pulls hard to 5k rpm. Edelbrock super dual intake with 2 97s.

 

Not to add too much confusion here, but I'm going with a Potvin 3/8ths cam.

Has about the same lift as a Max1, but a lot more going on other wise.

I think someone said this previously, if you are doing to the work of tearing the motor down, rebuilding it, etc., might not be a bad idea to try and squeeze every h.p. you can out of it.

I think the extra umph would be worth the payoff in what you can actually use and feel in the seat of your pants. Especially if you are going to use a T-5.

 

Im not too worried about squeezing every last ounce of power out of it, this motor is going into a full fendered 31 Vicky. The idea is to keep it looking as origonal as possible, like when popping the hood and seeing a flat head that looks like it belongs there, this means I will more than likely be staying with cast iron heads and being painted the factory green color. That is unless I start running into a tempature problem...
Lets face it most people that arent into cars would assume that its the origonal motor provided there are no trick parts showing and would assume the lope is just how an old motor runs LOL. We know better and its alot of fun listening to what others "think" it is. Just like the young buck that looked at my vicky today and said thats a real nice model T you have there and would like to find one for about 1,500.00 bucks. LOl I told him theyre out there you just have to look hard and could probably get one for free out in the woods by my house. Im so mean, but hay there is a nice tractor out there and a couple of 50's cars so atleast he will find something LOL

 

Isky Max-1 is my vote.