So by the looks of it this has been covered about 2,000,000 times but lets throw another one on the pile. I just purchased a 72 rocket 350 with 7a heads, an Edelbrock 3711 manifold and 750 cfm carb for my 85 cutlass. I'm going to be using a 3.73 rear gear and 2400 stall 200/4r and wanted to know if the comp cams xe kit would be a good choice to throw in before I put it in the car??? Or should I leave it alone??? I think it has everything in the kit except pushrods. Would I need different length ones??? Here are the cam specs:
Exhaust Duration at 050 inch Lift:224
Duration at 050 inch Lift:218 int./224 exh.
Advertised Intake Duration:262
Advertised Exhaust Duration:274
Valve Lift with Factory Rocker Arm Ratio:0.475 int./0.480 exh.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

I'd use the xe250h instead. 72 engines just don't have the compression.....

 

Thanks J. As far as the 3.73 rear gear goes do you think thats to short? The car isn't going to be a daily, just a cheap toy to take out and romp on every now and then.

 

Whats wrong with the cam that you've got in there right now? i've got a stock 350 cutlass that can roast tires all day long.

 

I love the XE cams. Some will say the ramps r to fast and can cause some noise. But they sure produce a great amount of power.

 

at 8.5:1 she still puts out a good punch!

I did a compression test last weekend, my lowest cylinder was 125 and my highest was 135, with 125,000 miles, i still can't see any reason to do a rebuild...

unless of course i came into some money, then i'd probably throw a 455 into there..

 

There's nothing wrong with it to my knowledge. But its out of the car and on a stand and Im more trying to get at would it be worth throwing a cam in an engine that hasn't had a rebuild. Or should I just leave the cam alone and throw the engine in the car???

 

3.73 would be nice with the overdrive. The cam swap will be well worth it so long as you do everything correctly.

 

Ok got it. Thanks for the input guys. I'll keep you posted on the final outcome.

 

Also, what kind of headers should I use for the swap???