how many have used a Chet Herbert cam?

I've been running a Herbert solid cam in my 324 Olds motor in my 41' Ford convert since 94' and it works fine. Not too lopey but it pulls hard through all four gears.

 

In the late '80's I had a BB Chev. powered drag car.('58 Yeoman) I ran one of Chet's flat tappet sticks for several outings at the strip and then it wiped a lobe. Chet's response "thats to high of lift for a flat tappet". I asked why he would sell me a cam that he knew may fail and he said because people want it because it's cheaper than a roller. He gave me a good deal on a solid roller and it made the car run so much better. Later I bought small block rollers when I built a few of my own sprint car engines. I would buy from him again, as many said you get a wealth of knowledge in tech from them.

 

Well... I'm SOLD !! Let down by Crane & Comp already. Thank Guys, JC

 

We ran one in our Jr. fuel digger. Ran cam and roller lifters. Ran 7.92 @ 202 with 309 inch SBC Direct drive on 100 percent Nitro. MEVER had a problem.

 

I have one in my vintage race car, works great.

 

Great cams, used to go over and get a cam at the shop by Angel Stadium, there he was in his wheel chair doin business. Invented the roller cam he and Brown, in the early-mid 60's all the big winners had a Herbert-Brown roller cam. I've been doing business with Rubin his last grinder, I've got 2 I need him to do. He's next door to the original location in Anaheim. Knows his stuff.

 

Stumbled on to this thread looking for info on a solid lift cam Chet sold me back in the late 80s He said it was a 555 lift for a sbc. The only marks on it are 4 yellow dots on the back. Can anybody give me some specs on it?

 

We have aCH roller in a 56 Linc. Load but runs good!!

 

I had Donnie grind me a roller stick for my blown 330 Desoto - super nice cam and he modded the rear dist drive gear to allow me to run the cam without a bronze dist gear.

Top notch work !!

Rat

 

I have.
jog my memory.
it went in my triumph tr-4

 

Bought many thru the years, never wiped a lobe on them. I can't say that about others I bought from "name brand" companies.

 

I ran one in a jet boat I had with a Ford 460. Also in a 360 mopar. Never had an issue with them.

 

In '64 I was 19 and called Chet for a recommendation for a solid roller and kit for my Gasser build. He told me to bring my heads so I could cut the spring pockets. When I got to his shop the first question asked was what transmission? Muncie 4-speed. He recommended the #70 roller based on my cars weight, 327, Muncie and 5.57 gear 9.3 rear. He brought out a piece of 4"x6" and a 1/2" drill with the cutter and spacer washers. He couldn't let me into the shop to cut the heads but while I was working on the heads in his parking lot he showed me how to degree the #70 camshaft. I never had a problem with any of his components and won many brackets at Lions, Irwindale, Carlsbad, Fontana. He was a brilliant engineer and was very willing to share his knowledge.

 

1963-65. when Bobby Allison was National Modified Champion, he'd talk to Chet about ways to up his long block or change fuel injection. Chet would always say, there's no such thing as too much compression. When he'd ship a new roller cam, I'd go to the Greyhound terminal and pick it up off the bus.

And yes, the roller lifters were held square by a length of 1/4" key stock inserted through the lifter oil galleries. Talk about noisy . . .

jack vines

 

My experience was once and it wasn't very good, the cam had no problems just customer service or lack there of did.

Probably told this story before but back like early 90's built a 455 Pontiac, ported and polished the heads, gasket matched intake and exhaust ports, did every trick that a home guy could do, I polished the rods, had them totally rebuilt with arp bolts etc. Only thing the customer wanted was that it look totally stock on the outside except for headers.

So after all the machining and detail work I told customer I had an idea for a custom grind, he said go for it so I called Herbert's up told him what I was building and he gave me recommendations on his cams I politely turned them down and told him I wanted a custom cam on my specs and proceeded to give them to him, 510 lift intake 525 exhaust, 238 duration intake 245 exhaust at .050 lift and 110 center line (these specs are damn close, don't remember exact, still have card somewhere) anyway at this point he gets irate, tells me it will never work, I don't have no ideal what I'm talking about etc etc and then tells me when I decide I can afford one of his cams to call him back at which point my exact words were " do you accept visa gold cards? " he says yes, " GOOD ! grab a piece of paper and a crayon and write these specs down!", he takes my card info and slams the phone down...

1 month later I receive my cam..... an Oldsmobile cam.... I call him back and an argument ensues, he tells me that's what I ordered and no returns on custom cams so at this point I'm mad, I say "HEY !! let me say something! You recommend these 3 cams ! " I read back the part numbers and cam specs he had recommended to me and which point I said " what the hell do these cams fit ??!!, he replies Pontiac, I say " so IF I wanted a Olds cam why the HELL were you trying to sell me your Pontiac cams !!?? " at which point he yells "SEND THE DAMN THING BACK!! AND I'LL SEND ANOTHER ONE!!" and slams the phone down.

I send cam back next day with explanation it was Olds, I needed Pontiac, and cam specs I wanted again. 2 & 1/2 months later I get my cam, put it in the motor, degree it in and check it against my specs and it was spot on, cam worked out great, nice 1000 rpm idle and a total brute from about 3200 to 5500 rpm, perfect. After the car hit the streets I had several guys try to get cam specs out of me l, sorry trade secret I'd reply. Motor ran for over 8 yrs on the street and never a problem, guy ended up selling just the motor, said the guy that bought it hounded him and offered way too much to say no....

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