Scheneider has done two fairly radical cams for me for my 261 motors, and reground two other cams, one for a 261 and the other for a 235. I wanted a little more lift out of those reground cams and just a speck more duration then the stock 261 cam, not so radical as the others. They were ground something along the lines of the old Clifford 264 cams. Jerry Cantrell is the owner, he is generally the one you speak to and is a terrific resource. I have not used an elgin cam not because I think there is anything wrong with them only because what I am getting from Schneider has been really good quality and I have had no problems with their cams being ground on too soft of a core, breaking in, longevity, or making good power (relatively speaking with these motors, lol) and/or torque (when I am building a more street oriented motor). I don't know about cost comparison but I messed up one of my radical cams clearancing the flats on the cam shaft for rod bolt clearance (one of the things that has to be dealt with when using the GMC rods in a chevy motor. Even though I had taped up the lobes and was careful I still managed to nick a lobe and then found out that when you mess with the cam like this you bend it all out of shape). I am pretty sure it was under 100 for the regrind and retreating of the cam. Broke in perfectly and runs like all get out.
Over the years I have used cams from quite of few of the cam grinders. One of my earliest was a Chet Herbert regrind. He use to advertise $39 any cam any grind. That was a really good cam. I still have the paper work for that cam and its noted as having a R31 grind. Over the years I have speculated that Chet did not actually grind that cam because that R31 was not how they generally identified their cams but its just speculation. Still in the motor but sitting in the back of my garage. Moon did one for me, it was ok. I have used at least two Clifford, they were fine but expensive, Erson was probably the original source for those cams. I used an Isky once (ran fine but not great) and a Howard (same thing). Tom Langdon at Stovebolt likes the Delta "Bull Dog" cam which I believe is a slightly hotter version of the 261 cam. You can call Tom at Stovebolt Engine Co. Tom is a good man to talk to, a former GM engineer, inline NHRA record holder, longtime member of inliners and about as smart as them come with these motors. Jerry (hotrod Lincoln) likes the Elgin 261 truck cam. There is always lots of opinions on cams for these motors. The thing for me is that I am not a cam engineer. What I know is that the exhaust of a 848 head flows at best around 110 cfm or so. The intake a little more but nothing dramatic. Depending on the vehicle, you can tinker with duration and lift to get some optimum results depending on what you are looking to get from your motor. Schneider is a good resource for me because I am not stuck with whatever grind is catalogued. I can get something a little more tailored to what I want the motor to do, sometimes just a nice stock regrind (which is what Schenieder is going to do next. I have a really complete 55 stick motor, never been apart with all the accessories intact. So I am going to restore that motor to stock.) The quality and advice are excellent so if they charge a premium I am happy to pay it to get a good product and so far theirs has not let me down so I am a little gun shy in trying another brand at the moment.
Last edited by Dragsix; 03/08/2018 6:49 PM.
