Hello everyone! I am thinking about installing a new camshaft this year to help bump up my HP. Which cams have worked well for you guys/which ones should I avoid? I have a 72 cutlass S with the original rocket 350. Aftermarket parts include an edelbrock intake manifold, dual flowmaster 2.5'' exhaust (don't know if I should move up in size) and a Holley 600cfm carb, but I am thinking about moving up to 700 or 750. Any advice would help, and thanks in advance.

 

The 2.5 inch exhaust is just fine. I would add an x pipe. That helped me when the fan was much slower. If your engine is near stock ( my assumption) you really don't have much room for growth in the cam depart. I would recommend the comp 260h. It's a great cam. I had a set up running 13's ok n the 1/4 mile with that cam and it was near stock. It was a 73 350 with 72 heads. Edelbrock intake , edelbrock 600 cfm carb ,headers x pipe. Very mild. Just my experience with that cam. I have ran it in a few engines I have built throughout the years and it's perfect for a near stock set up.

 

First, don't move up to a 750 Holley with your stock 8 to 1 Olds 350, it is a lot carb for your current motor. Spend some time tuning it as is, if anything. Adding a wideband tuner will take out a ton of guess work. It is on my to do list as well this year. Also add a bunch of part throttle timing, go for 38 total and don't restrict the vacuum advance. A dial back timing light is very handy to see total timing and how quick it comes in. A far as the cam, stay small. You need smaller dish pistons to raise compression any amount unfortunately. I ran the 204/214 cam in a 76 350, also 8 to 1 with the cam 4 degrees advanced on the timing set. I ran a 9.9 in the 1/8(mid 15's in the 1/4) but that was with the ignition breaking up over 4000 rpm. A lot of that Ok time was the 3.42 gears. They not only made the car feel much faster, it gained .6 in the 1/8 over 2.56 gears. Cutlassefi has custom cams ground on very tight Lobe Separation Angles for these low compression 350's. Consider an upgraded torque converter, stock TH350's stall around 1600 rpm, very lame. I had a TH2004R which stall around 1900, even that makes a difference. Put in a 2000 stall and seriously consider a gear swap, especially if little highway driving is done.

 

As mentioned change the gear first.
An RPM intake with a PROPERLY TUNED 750 should work fine, BUT don’t expect huge gains as your comp ratio is limiting your options.
I’d leave the cam alone at this point. Waste of money with your current combo.

 

Thank you guys for the advice! Looks like a gear swap may be in store soon.

 

Gear swap is a great move, as well as all moves recommended that don't involve a cam swap as is.

The bottom really fell out on Olds 350s after 1970. Still helped make a great car but were no where near the performers they were pre 1971.

1974 Cutlass Salon 200 HP 350, performance 0-60 in 15.6 seconds and 1/4 mile was 19.0 @ 78 MPH (Car and Track)

1973 Cutlass Salon 180 HP 350, performance 0-60 in 10.2 seconds and 1/4 mile was 17.15 @ 79.8 MPH (Car and Driver)

1972 Cutlass Supreme 4BBL 350, performance 0-60 in 11.3 seconds and 1/4 mile was 18.4 @ 77.8 MPH (Motor Trend)

1971 Cutlass S 4BBL 350 dual exhaust, modified. Performance for 1/4 mile was 16.02 seconds @ 86.04 MPH (Hot Rod)

Hot Rods car was enhanced, the carburetor was tweaked as was the timing. The car also had the G92 handling package with 3.42 posi rear. But the real kicker was its cam, 285* / 287* adv duration and .472 / .472 lift with a 66* overlap. Test weight 3690 LBS the 1/4 mile MPH indicates 183 HP flywheel net.

Now people with some Olds knowledge will tell you that's a lot of cam factory wise. A lot more cam than any regular automatic 350 ever came with 1968-1980. Its test weight is on the light side and they were manually shifting the TH350 at 5800 RPM and 5400 RPM respectively.
(Factory shifts were 4600 RPM and 4400 RPM)

 

Is the engine healthy? Have you done a compression test recently? Are your vacuum readings steady @ idle & 3000 rpm? Check cam timing against new cam card. A cam change may require a valve spring change. Consider Jones cams, that's all I use. Hope your project works out well. http://jonescams.com/street-performance/