Hey everyone,
I'm preparing to replace the water pump and timing chain and gears so I thought I might as well swap the cam for something with just a little more oomph. But is a new camshaft worth it if I stick with the stock intake and exhaust manifolds? I'll be putting on duel exhaust as soon as she's road-worthy but other than a newly rebuilt Q-jet, the 350 is completely stock. I'm looking for more low end power. I drive a lot of interstate and need to keep my 2.56 gears in the rear, at least until I can afford an overdrive tranny. I've read everything from "a camshaft is the best way to increase horsepower" to "it's a complete waist of time and money".

71 Cutlass Supreme

-Mac

 

your asking to much out of a camshaft with your current parts to get a real difference in low end power, i believe

 

Cam is just a small puzzle piece to a complete picture. For better performance you need matched components. I would not do more than a small a RV type cam if the rest is stock.

 

The stock setup is tuned to work best in the (relatively) low-RPM range.
There is a chance you may get a slight benefit from an "RV" cam, but I'm not sure it it'd be worth the time and money.

Is your motor low or high compression?

Ask Mark (CutlassEFI) for his opinion.

- Eric

 

As said above, it's all part of a system ... changing the cam alone will just unbalance it ... unless it was already off balance and then it would just be blind luck to happen on the right cam to fix it. If you want more low end acceleration without losing your highway mileage, the best (and in my opinion, simplest) option is swapping for a 4 speed trans and a changing the rear gearing to match (again, a balanced system). You'll end up with better performance, without costing you on the gas mileage.

 

Huh?

 

A little more info - do you have any reason to believe your current cam is no good? How many miles are on the engine?

 

I think he is saying everything has to work together.

 

right
the chance of improving on the factory balance of parts by randomly [or even with some insight and consideration] stabbing in a different bumpstick [sorry, waxing mag-speak there], is.... not so good.

Different is not equal to better

 

Pretty much what I figured. I do understand that matching carb, intake, cam, manifolds/headers, exhaust, and gears will show the most improvement. I mean, it's kind of a big air pump, right? But like I said, since I'll be right there at the cam, I thought I'd ask.
As far as how many miles...the jury's still out. Might be 52k, might be 152k. But I'm telling ya, I've stripped the motor almost completely bare and I haven't found one hose or one wire that wasn't original. Other than that nightmare triple electric fuel pump.
Anyway, thanks guys :-D

 

Torque is the by product of efficient filling of the cylinder, at any rpm.
Yes you can enhance low end torque/power with a cam change, or any change that enhances cylinder filling at any given rpm.
Remember the stock cams were designed to satisfy many different applications. Something more specific to your combo should help.

Thanks.

 

Since this is a camshaft thread i figured i'd ask it here. Are there NOS camshafts floating around out there?

Mark, I know you make camshafts right? I was wondering if it made good sence to throw a stock 4BBL camshaft in my 350 if i recently upgraded the car from 2BBL to 4BBL? Using an edelbrock 7111 performer RPM manifold?

Maybe i'm asking too much from a tired-never-rebuilt 350 rocket with 120K miles...

 

Believe it or not, Tony, all '68 to '75 350s with A/T (except for a few high-performance models) got the same 400084 camshaft, whether 2nnl or 4bbl.

- Eric

 

BY GEORGE YOU'RE RIGHT

Tony = Happy

 

I'd like to see some more under-hood pics Tony. That 7111 looks badass Olds gold.

 

I'm having CutlassEfi grind me a special cam, one matched to my intake (bought a new 3711), rear gearing (very high), stock manifolds, dual exhaust, weight of car, etc. This is my first hot-ish rod and I want to do it right. Although I think I've already spent my tire/wheel money and I'm still just in the engine compartment

 

If you give me a couple hours when i get home from work i can snap a few with the factory air cleaner installed. it JUST fits under the hood.

I used Dupli-color engine gold at around 8 bucks a can

 

Actually, a little back story behind the 7111, not sure if eric remembers, but i broke a water neck bolt and couldnt get it out on my old 3711 manifold (previous owner used cheap bolts and it snapped.

So, i had a friend parting a cutlass, had a new-in-box 7111 that i offered him 50 dollars for and he took it. Otherwise i would have probably gone for a stock 4bbl intake.

 

50 bucks?! Lol, yeah, hard to pass up. I ended up buying a new 3711 because I was wary of cracks and warping. I'm having the hardest time deciding on keeping the Olds gold on the entire engine or just the block and heads and going chrome/silver for the intake, valve covers, etc.
So I'm confused Tony, do you have an "S" or a 442?

 

I was gonna go all olds gold on mine but my buddy suggested black...I met him halfway olds gold valve covers and oil pan, bare al 3711, bare w cc oil fill cap, cast water neck and lift hook and black everywhere else...

 

Wow surprisingly the black looks really sharp.

Actually, I own a cutlass 's', in fact in 72 the 4-4-2 wasn't its own model, so since I added

Oem W-29 hood
FE2 suspension
Front grilles
Stickers

There's no 'real' way to tell that my car's not a 442.

In fact, I havnt drilled the holes for the fender emblems yet, so all those keen eyes 'muscle car Guys' keep telling me what a nice Chevelle I have. It's kind of fun

 

 

Chevelle? Lol. Olds is so much cooler than that!
Retro, I've been toying with the black/gold scheme. They do look really good together.

 

With the black block and the gold valve covers, it reminds me of the 390 in the 64 Thunderbird I used to own. Just needs the gold air cleaner.

 

Damn Retro ... that's sexy.

 

Try VHT black wrinkle paint on the VCs and Intake and you'll love it. Neighbor painted the VCs and Intake while using chrome bolts and I was floored at the look.

 

thanks Tony I like yours w the gold too i was gonna go w that originally

thanks

I have a chrome AC w the 350 olds sticker on it and a stock set up like tonys Im still futzing around on the final AC set up

haha thanks Prof...Ill post an in car pic later this week Ive put about 1k on it since my t chain episode turned motor out, repaint, regasket, etc MAW incident
link to thread

Yeah Ive seen a few engines w the crinkle VC and I really liked the black AC from (I think) Mr gasket only the price was not inline w my budget

 

in car pics... I havent had the time to give the PS pump and res the love it needs yet so thats still covered w grease...overall im happy w the black gold look. Over the winter I have a 455 i will be regasketing and cleaning up...the plan for that is to stay w the olds blue

 

Lookin' good. And those air cleaner stickers aren't cheap either. I looked.