Biglinny

I am building a 455 BB for my 72 Cutlass. I want a street driver that is fast and sounds good. I want to hear that cam loping idle. I am using a stock block with cast iron crank. 10:1 pistons. What cam should I use? I was thinking around .490/500 lift. I don't know muchabout cams but someone told me to get one with 112 degrees. Please help a rookie.

BangScreech4-4-2

Rule of thumb for cams on the street is, less is usually more. Under most circumstances (other than racing) .490-.500 lift with a 112 degree LSA would probably be too radical. You can get the sound you're after with much better drivability and throttle response with something in the neighborhood of 218/225 @ 0.050 duration and around .460 lift with a LSA of 110 degrees.

However, that's just a ballpark. There are a few details that you're going to have to give us before anybody can give you any really valuable advice. Namely:

-- Rear gears
-- Transmission type
-- Tire diameter
-- Carburetion
-- Exhaust

Any of these can have a profound effect on your cam's performance and the complete package should be considered when choosing a cam. For instance, the combination of a 455 with an 850 cfm Holley on a single-plane manifold, long tube headers into a 3-inch exhaust, a high-stall torque converter, small-diameter sticky tires and a 4.33 rear gear will tolerate a lot more cam than a station wagon motor in a stock setup.

How you want to use it also enters into the equation. Is it 100% street or do you ever intend to race it? City driving or highway? Daily driver or weekend cruiser?

Things that make you say "hmmm ..."

cutlassefi

The op mentioned street driver.
Op, I'll need a bit more info in order to suggest the right cam for your build.

Thanks.

Biglinny

Weekend driver only.

Biglinny

Rear Gears are going to be around 3:93.
Turbo 400 with shift kit.
17" tires
Holley 4 BBL
Dual exhaust with magnaflow mufflers. Don't know about headers yet. Being told 455 in a cutlass is hard to put headers on.

oldcutlass

Who told you that BBO headers in a Cutlass are hard to install?

cutlassefi

Thanks.

BangScreech4-4-2

You are right about lift, of course, until ramp design enters into it. And any cam that has that much lift is likely to have an excessively long duration. With regard to LSA, I just used figures from a cam I knew would be likely suitable. The example I provided was an exaggeration intended to make the contrast clearer. Sorry it didn't work.

Regardless, I think you're going to have to educate OP a little further in order to get the information you need to recommend one of your cams to him.

Biglinny, you need to measure installed tire height in order to come up with a tire diameter number. What kind of torque converter is in your transmission? Do you know its stall speed? What size Holley are you using? Mechanical or
vacuum secondary? What diameter exhaust are you using? You should decide about headers now as this will make a difference too.

cutlassefi

You're assuming all lobe designs are the same, they're not. Off the seat time and lsa will effect lope, lift has next to nothing to do with it. You can have fast ramp short duration stuff that will yield lifts in the high .400's. Yet you can also have "dwell" type lobes that will have durations in the 240's at .050 but only yield valve lifts around .450.
Thanks.

My442

A good cam for a mild 455 is the Engle 20-22.

226/230 WITH A 110 LSA, low .500ish lifts.

14 inches of vacuum at idle, and pulls hard to 6000 RPM.

I really like it for a weekend cruiser.

Biglinny

Thank You

Biglinny

Thanks for the nice simple answer. I don't know much about Cams so when people are throwing numbers around it gets confusing.

ELY442

X2, I have the same cam in my 455. Joe Mondello recommended me this cam when he was still around.

cutlassefi

An Erson TQ50 would be a good choice as well. 228/235@.050 with .504 lift on both.

Thanks.

BangScreech4-4-2

I defer to your greater knowledge, that goes without saying. You know so much, in fact, that in trying to educate me, you've thoroughly confused the OP, who readily admits he's a novice. I didn't give him any advice that was wrong, and the questions I asked were intended to clarify his application and
intended use in order to make it easier for somebody like you to make an
informed recommendation. Sorry it didn't come across that way.

cutlassefi

".490-.500 lift with a 112 degree LSA would probably be too radical".

This was a general statement yes, but still incorrect. That 112lsa would be more tame than your 110lsa.
Thank you.

captjim

Exactly. It is why I pretty much stopped posting. Every time I disagreed (and gave a sound reason to support my position) I was deemed "argumentative". Some things are opinions and experiences, and those are subjective. Others just plain facts and not. Every time someone recommends a Chevy-type cam, low lift, long duration, lazy ramps, for an Olds engine, I want to scream. You don't need that type of cam, steep gears, and a converter to run fast with an Olds.

I personally like Engle cams in Olds engines, something Mark and I do NOT agree on! LOL The 20-22 is a great old-school cam for a hot small block, I can see it being good for a mild BBO.

oldcutlass

Lets keep the thread on track with info that helps the op and take the arguments to pm's.

My442

I used it with a T400 and a 2200 stall Coan converter.

It worked great with 3.23 and 3.91 gears.

Dyno'ed at 400 HP and 530 TQ.

rad

I would probably run something in the 220-230 @50 and about .500 lift and 110 LC for a street engine, most stock or mildly ported iron heads the airflow flattens out at .500 inch lift so much more then that isn't worth it. Another thing to consider is where the cam core is coming from some manufacturers use crappie cores and leaves a good chance of failure right out of the gate, I'm not sure who uses good cores anymore, from personal experience I dont like crane or comp