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hey guys, i recently purchased a 1 owner, so cal no rust 70/442 4 speed 342 posi car..its been parked since 1983, so i know the motor is worn out with 143k miles on it, i have a bone stock rebuilt 455 that my son and i are planning on putting in it. The car is a no AC, no power brakes go fast 442....I want a good modern cam for it that runs hard and uses all the stock valvetrain and intake and carb and exhaust manifolds...a cam similar to the w30 cam would perform nicely?....what do you guys recommend....Leaving the car all stock except for the cam is
the plan...dont want to get into headers and guideplates and screw in
studs and custom length push rods etc....just a hot little cam for the street is what we want...any recommendations?
I'll tell you right now: one of the best grinds I've had was a 236/242, .491/.510 on a 107 hydraulic roller. It was just flat, damn good all around.
I got it from Travato, BTR Performance in Rochester, NY...
Almost any decent upgraded cam you are going to use is going to require changing the valve springs at minimum. The ones that will work with the stock springs are probably not going to help performance enough to be worth the trouble of changing.
Just my opinion,
hey guys, i recently purchased a 1 owner, so cal no rust 70/442 4 speed 342 posi car..its been parked since 1983, so i know the motor is worn out with 143k miles on it, i have a bone stock rebuilt 455 that my son and i are planning on putting in it. The car is a no AC, no power brakes go fast 442....I want a good modern cam for it that runs hard and uses all the stock valvetrain and intake and carb and exhaust manifolds...a cam similar to the w30 cam would perform nicely?....what do you guys recommend....Leaving the car all stock except for the cam is
the plan...dont want to get into headers and guideplates and screw in
studs and custom length push rods etc....just a hot little cam for the street is what we want...any recommendations?
Which head code is on the original engine ? if it is a VIN matching engine ... fix that one ! Great car OMG !
Which head code is on the original engine ? if it is a VIN matching engine ... fix that one ! Great car OMG !
I read right over that he was putting a different engine in. I thought he was rebuilding the original to factory specs. Good catch. OP, you need to check that rebuilt motor to see if the crank has been drilled for the pilot bearing on that 4-speed. Most Olds motors were backed by automatics and weren't drilled for a manual transmission's pilot bearing.
You'll also need to know what your compression actually is to get a good cam recommendation. Some stock replacement pistons sit down in the bore, lowering compression, and most people replace the head gaskets with something much thicker than the factory gaskets, also lowering compression.
A factory 308 w31 cam may work of its 10 to 1 or so.
And also: '66-67 W-30, '68 Hurst/Olds (W-45) non A/C cars.
Originally Posted by BillK
Almost any decent upgraded cam you are going to use is going to require changing the valve springs at minimum. The ones that will work with the stock springs are probably not going to help performance enough to be worth the trouble of changing.
Just my opinion,
Get rid of valve rotators. Use springs that are comparable to W-30 springs and shim them to the proper height.
