The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop big cam for stock 77' 400 sbc

I have a stock 400 small block out of a 77 chevy truck i want to put in my 66 c10. it is basically stock with a 600 edelbrock and edelbrock aluminum intake. for now all i want to do to this engine is clean it up and get a different cam and lifters, and headers. i dont have the money to change springs or the converter. my question is what is the biggest cam and lifter combo i can put in this motor and get a good choppy idle but not sacrifice drivability. I know nothing about cam specs or engines in general. thank you for any help you can give me

There is no quick answer to your question.

On this site there is a guy named Grumpyvette.

http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showforum.php?fid/72/

He has posted a wealth of information on your question. Whatever camshaft you pick, it should be matched to a number of other engine variables which also should be matched to eacn other and to your vehicle's torque converter, transmission gear ratios and rear end gear ratio.

Good luck.

If all you want is a choppy idle, there are cams available just for that. They're called "Thumpr" cams, but I think they have pretty high lift...check Summit or Jegs.

cm

Hmmmmm- - - - -too bad we don't have music on the site. This would be the perfect time to cue up the "Mission Impossible" theme. You cannot get a choppy idle without losing virtually all of an engine's low-end torque. With a stick shift, you can rev the engine up and slip the clutch to get moving, and only have to deal with a worn-out clutch on a regular basis. With an automatic, you'll definitely need a high stall speed converter, and you'll end up with a "false neutral" at every stop sign. The engine will rev up and the converter will slam into engagement at its stall point. It's a lot simpler and cheaper to get a rough idle by crossing up a couple of spark plug wires.
Jerry

Heh, heh...sounds like the voice of experience!
Mgriff, I am also building a 400, but I want to take advantage of the 400's inherent low-end. Following the advice of Hotrod Lincoln and others, I've put in flat-top pistons to boost compression a little, and a mild cam for RV/towing to enhance the low-end. With an upper limit of about 5000rpm, my Edelbrock 600 will do nicely, and I'm going to go with stock-type "ram's horn" exhaust manifolds.
I don't know offhand how much lift the stock springs will take, maybe Chilton's or someone on here has that info. There are lots of choices in cams, so do your research carefully.
Good luck.

cm

lol so it sounds like i should just leave things alone until i can afford to get everything i need to tie it all together. thanks everone for the good advice and the help. shows how little i know about engines. didnt realize i was basically asking for the impossible. i might look into the thumper cam. but i will probably be money ahead waiting and getting everything together. thanks again everyone. your help is what makes this site great.

An edelbrock Performer RPM cam is pretty lopey, and doesn't destroy "streetability". There are other, cheaper cams sold under Summit and Jegs label that are the exact same specs. However, you won't get any of the potential performance out of the cam without an intake manifold, good exhaust, and some head work. If you plan on just cruising around without revving too much, the springs won't be an issue, since the cam doesn't have radical lift. Gas mileage will invariably suffer from a lopey cam.

Que music!