The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop What Cam should I use?

I have a 1958 - 235 bored 40 over. It's going in a 49 1/2 ton with a T5 trans w/ .73 5th gear and a 3.73 rear end gear. It's going to be driven every day around town with highway use on weekends. I'll probably put fentons on it and a bigger carb later on. Gonna run stock manifolds and the ole rochester for awhile till I can afford more. What would be the best cam for this engine. Also it is drilled for hydraulic, as the motor came from a powerglide car. Thanks in advance for any advice.

I am in the process of rebuilding my '56 235, and I am using a stock 261 cam. Patrick's stocks 2 different grinds, mild and rumpy. The 261 cam actually falls in between the 2, as far as duration. Mild-238 degrees, 261-241 degrees, rumpy-268 degrees. (The duration numbers are from memory, so may be off by 1 or 2). As far as using hydraulic, I wouldn't. First, the 261 cam, or most performance cams are soild lifter. Second, I was pricing both once, and it seems that the hydraulic were right around twice the price of solids. Finally, I've read that since they were a very early design, they had some bugs, and didn't work very well. Seems like they were known for trapping air. Keep us posted on what you decide.

Check with Comp Cams in Memphis, TN, and see if they have stovebolt cams in their High Energy series. The HE 260 degree cam has always worked well in the V-8's I've built. It's a hydraulic cam with slightly more duration and lift than stock, but not enough to interfere with an automatic transmission or power accessories. It doesn't really have an idle lope, it just sounds like a slightly out-of-tune stock engine. Once the throttle is opened just a little, it's obvious it doesn't need a tune-up!
Jerry

Fab 51 is pretty darn close with his memory. My Howards M4F is 236 duration, 420 lift (both) and 110 degrees lobe centers. It uses .016 clearance on both I & E. This is affectionately referred to as the "old 3/4 race" cam. Why?, I haven't a clue but I like it. :rolleyes:

The Howards M4F is a great cam for a daily driver and gives good overall performance.

@ 53moneypit My Howards cam card says exhaust 17 intake 15 but it probably makes no big difference.

The other cam is the - more rumpy - bulldog cam that Tom Langdon offers wich is close to the famous asymetric McGurk pattern. It is more rumpy but gives better power inthe uper RPM. I go try that on my next 235 :-)

Frank

Go to cliffordperformance.com. They have 10 or 12 different cams for your engine.