My cousin just bought a 69 delta 88 convertible with a 455 and 2 barrel carb, it seems to be all stock from what we can tell. Anyway he already purchased an edelbrock 4 barrel intake for it and a 750 carb which we haven't installed yet, the other day he was talking with a mechanic he knows and was told he needs to change his camshaft because on the 455's they left the factory with different camshafts in the 2 barrel vs the 4 barrel carb setups. Is there any truth to this, and if so what would be a good cam choice for a street cruiser ? Not really wanting to change out the cam if possible, motor has 70,000 miles and runs good was just looking to switch out to the 4 barrel setup.

 

If it's running well then switch to 4 barrel only.
When you start opening it for a cam you get might as well for .................water pump ..harmonic damper......HEI ignition etc.
joepenoso

 

Yea that's the plan, just wanted to be sure the cam wasnt going to be undersized to the point where it would actually hurt or decrease performance. Planning on switching out to HEI also

 

I agree. Just go with the intake & carb to start. Cam is a much bigger undertaking.

 

To the O.P.'s original question, the non-hipo cam in the 455 was the same 258/272 deg profile with 0.435 lift in both the 2bbl and base 4bbl motors. Hipo 455s and Toro motors got a different cam (and big valves).

If this is an otherwise stock motor in a relatively heavy D88, I wouldn't worry about changing the cam for now.

I WILL say that you should pull the front cover and check the timing chain. The plastic teeth on the cam gear are usually only good for 80,000 miles or so.

I'll also suggest that the best carb for that car is a spreadbore like a Qjet.

 

Thanks Joe that clears things up for us.