Stovebolt.com Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop cam upgrade for 54 235.what should i know?

Im thinking of putting a hoter cam in my 235.What brands have you guys used and are there any dos or donts i should be aware of.I want a notcible difference but i want to keep it driveable.Are there any brands to stay away from?Your experience is greatly apreciated
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One thing. Howard solid lifter cam (M4F) with new lifters. Can get from Patrick's in AZ. Use stock settings to set intake and exh.

Patricks is the place to get cams for the old Chevy six. Prices are good, and be sure to buy the new lifters, too. The cam will come with a spec sheet giving your valve lash, which is not the same for the M4F as stock. It runs better with the lash set from the spec sheet.

Fred T. Maybe you are as good a person to ask as anybody this question: When I got the M4F cam last year and installed. The valve lash settings they had on the cam card did not seem correct (005 tighter for break in) so I called the Cam Company. They said the cam card was incorrect and to set the lash at stock settings. What I did find out though was the cam needed to be set 4 degrees advanced. Maybe thats why mine runs strong and with no lifter noise with the stock settings.

Fred is right, try Patrick's .Its wise to degree in an aftermarket cam to be sure of getting the best performance.

what carb setup are you guys useing with the m4f cam and how would youn rate the overall preformance.While i like the look of the 2 and three carb setup ive heard keeping them tuned is a pain.im leaning tward a 4 barrel for ease of tuning but would that be over kill for that cam?

Right now I am running a "worked over" one bbl. A two stage two bbl would work, and dual ones aren't that bad to keep tuned. Bigger problem is those leaky rochesters. Inliners has a good tech tip on reworking the ones. A four bbl in the 390-450 range will work on a 235.

As for the valve lash, I can't find my card or my notes. I recall talking to Patricks, set the lash per his instructions, set the timing with a vacuum gauge, then hit it with a timing light, it was at 4 degrees. That was good enough for me.

The cam card for the M4F I put in my 261 5 years ago says .014 on the intake and .016 on the exhaust.I degreed the cam 4 degrees advanvced as recommended on the cam card.A few degrees of cam timing change will move the power band of the engine up or down a few hundred rpm no big deal.
What stock valve lash settings are you talking about, .006 and .016?

I set the Howard M4F solid lifter cam when everything was new a "tight" 006 & 013 cold. Make sure to add a quart of EOS from Chevrolet and break in the cam at 2500 rpm. Its all correct on the cam card supplied at the time except the valve settings, per my previous observation.

I found the timing card for the Howard's M4f cam I installed in my 261 6 years ago.Says set valves at .014 and .016 hot. Today I reset the valves to .008 and .014 hot. This setting killed the mid range although it was just as smooth.Checked the settings again, still the same. So I reset the valves to .014 and .016 hot.Much better, the difference is quite noticable, runs great as it has for 6 years.Its my assumption that valves are adjusted hot, that way the valvetrain components are temperature equalized. The factory manuals go to great length about warming up the engine prior to setting the valves.Perhaps Howard's changed cam profile and the lash settings.Set it the way it wants run best.