I have an old Crane Fireball Cam that has only a few hours on it. I was thinking of using it in my 455 which will eventually go in my 67 442. Any way to tell by the cam specs if it will work with my car? The car is automatic with 3.08 gearing. The cams duration is 314 degrees and .475 lift for both intake and exhaust. I can't remember what my plans were when I bought the cam.
Spec sheet attached. The car will be street driven only. I plan on using my low profile dual quad manifold, 750 Carters. By the duration, I think it is a high rpm cam. Thanks

 

Back in the day the Fireball series were reported to be pretty good and almost a street/strip cam. I knew a guy that had one in a street/strip 68 442 and he would drive to the track, uncork the headers and run low 14's and high 13's. He swore by that and the OLB edelbrock manifold. I would say the modern cams of today have it all over the fireball as they do the W-30 and W-31 factory grinds. If you are not after top/maximum performance in my opinion the Fireball will be fine.

 

That's more of a midrange cam. Not enough overall lift and exhaust duration to run much past that. If you have it use it if you want. Make sure you use lots of lube with new lifters.

BTW there are better cams out there. And dual 750's is a bit much for any real driveability. Unless you have the better part of about 11.0:1, with a 3.08 gear it may be a bit of a pig down low.

 

That cam, while not too radical, would probably like a little more gear. I don't know if a 3.23 ratio is available for your rear, but that would help while still keeping things civilized. More importantly, that cam would probably like a torque converter that stalls at about 2800 rpm.

As others have said, by choosing a more modern cam, one with a little less duration and a little more lift, you will achieve equal performace and better manners.

 

All, thanks for the replies.
I need to rethink my plans for the car. I do wish I had better gearing, I'll probably have to make do with it. Trying to keep costs down for now, I might need to rebuild the 455 keeping it fairly stock and save the dual quads and cam for my other 455 and install that in my other car since it is a stick car with 3.90 posi.

 

x2.