Anyone use the Lunati W31 camshaft? Recently picked one up very reasonable. It's going in 70 350 that's in my 72 supreme. PN 11800. The cam card on their website says it's around 2800-6000 power range. Does this seem right?

 

Yeah that seems about right. With that said, that cam is outdated and you can get a much better one today. That cam is a dog down low, will idle like crap, may give you problems with power brakes, provide poor milage, and overall produce less power than a more modern designed cam. Other than that it's great!

 

i hate that term 'out dated' these cars in that respect are out dated going on 40-50 years old that was a great cam for the cars it was intended for and was legit for racing guidlines it has some draw backs like a rough idle and low vacuum with its duration...but its a legend

 

This cam was the W30 cam back in 67 and possibly 66 too. I have one in my 67. Idle is nice and not real choppy but has a lope to it, I like it. It was designed to be used with open headers, 10 plus compression, 355 and higher numericly rear gear and a higher stall Torque converter if auto trans. For what it was back then it served its purpose well.

 

Also used in the 1968 H/O

 

You can hate the term 'out dated' if you want but the fact there are cams ( and tons of other performance parts ) that are 'more modern' and work better. That's what happens with the passage of time, new parts come out that perform better than the old stuff and allmost everybody takes full advantage of those parts.. I'm sure those skinny bias ply tires back in the day were 'legendary' but they stink by todays standards so nobody uses them anymore. All of our Olds cars are completely 'out dated' but at least we can help them out as much as possible utilizing more modern tech so we can still enjoy the charm of an older car while still taking advantage of newer, better parts.

 

a w31 cam obviously is not for you...it was intended for a hypo olds to run as it came from the factory.... and i still have bias tires

 

The engine it's going in is a stock 70 350 4 barrel. I will eventually build the original 350 the way I really want it, provided it's not ruined as the car sat in a shop since 86, it's stuck at the moment and I've put no effort into tearing it down. That being said, I do have an Edelbrock performer intake, and the car had a set of Hooker Comp headers. Doesn't really seem like this intake and cam will work really well together, but it's what I have at the moment. Really looking forward to just getting this car back on the road and enjoying it. Any thoughts on this combo?

 

I guess not.

And that seems to me to be the only reason to use one i.e. you're building a period correct factory stock engine/car which is perfectly fine of course. Since the op didn't specify that as being his goal, I can only assume he was simply enquiring specificaly about the W31 cam since it was a cam he had some familiarity with. Most people asking about the W31 cam are those simply looking for a 'high performance' cam and assume that cam is the hot ticket without realizing there are better cams available now.

I assume it's because you want a period correct factory style car as opposed to having the 'best' stuff available which again is perfectly fine. Heck I even ran my old 350 in my 85 442 on the computer because I wanted the engine to look period correct/stock. Didn't care at the time if it was the optimal choice or not so I do get the whole period correct/factory/stock love.

W30rocks here's the way I see it; those parts may not be the 'best' for performance but they will work fine. I'm not a fan of the W31 cam but it worked back in the day so should work the same now. That Edelbrock intake will be at least as good as what a stock W31 engine would've had so it will be fine if not optimal ( the RPM intake would most likely be the better choice for performance ). Any headers should be better than manifolds so you're good there too. That's my take on it.

 

On a stock 350 with 8.5 to 1 Cr and a gear in the 2.7x to 1 ratio, the car will probably be quite sluggish off idle, but might "sound" pretty good. IMHO.

 

A 70 350 4 barrel was rated at 10.25 to 1 CR though it has been said the actual CR is almost always a little lower than advertised. But yeah if the gears aren't addressed than a big ol' cam is going to be a big ol' dog!

 

Were all 4 bbl 350s high comp? I thought that they came both ways, with 14cc dish and 6 cc dish, someone correct me if I'm wrong. If it is a 10 to 1 engine, that cam would work but would still "like" a little gear and converter.

 

If this is wrong count me in

 

Sounds good!
There is no "right or wrong" it just depends on what the goal is.

 

I ran the comp cams "modern" version of the w30 w31 cam. It was a 490 lift 230 duration @ .050. It needs converter and gear for sure. I ran a tight converter with 3.73's and the car could bearly spin em on the street. I went with 2800 stall and bigger carb snd it was holeshot city lol. In my car I went 13.3's @ 103 mph in the 1/4 with the smal carb and converter. I ran cast flat tops from a w31 big valved heads with no port work just the bowl , an edelbrock rpm intake and headers.




Here is the link to what mine sounded like., very similar to the other link almost

 

In 68-70, all of the 4 bbl 350's were high comp and all of the 2 bbl 350's were low comp. In 71-72 though they were all 'really low comp'.

 

My main goal is just to have a driver. This is my first olds that I have been able to work on, I've always loved Oldsmobiles, but have always had a Chevy budget. The reason I ask about this camshaft is because I have one laying around and was wondering what to expect from it. Maybe I'm better off using the stock cam and just swapping intakes? I really want something I can get in and drive whenever, wherever, I feel like going. I haven't dug into the car far enough as of yet to know even what gear ratio it has. I want to enjoy the car for a year or two before I dig into really tearing it apart and not being able to use it at all, like when I replace the sheet metal, do the bodywork, prep for paint, etc. Over all, the car is in pretty good shape, seems to be mostly all there, just needs some love to be a good driver. The camshaft I have is supposed to be a somewhat modern version of the W31 camshaft. It is a Lunati, and based on original specs, is a bit different, but being new to Oldsmobiles, I don't want to treat it like a small or big block Chevy like I've worked on in the past. I also had a question about the intake manifold swap. I have a new valley pan and a set of gaskets for the intake. What is the preferred method of installation, valley pan and gasket, just gaskets, just valley pan? Not trying to sound totally ignorant, just dealing with a different animal and want to approach this with as much info as possible!
I appreciate all of your input and help.
Thanks
Jared

 

Sounds good and thanks for your input

 

Dig that, too. Thank you as well for your advice

 

Cam card says
310 adv dur
232 @ .050
480 lift
113 lsa

 

I think it is too big and that will not be happy with it. Those are long, lazy ramps. Anyone know why it is on a 113?? Get something quicker with more lift and less duration. If you truly have 10 to 1, something in the .510/225@.050 on a 110 range might be a better choice, IMHO. You don't want a stock cam, too mild for high compression with today's fuel.

 

I'm going to say it was Olds way of taming the overlap. If it were any tighter than that the already poor idle would end up even worse.

 

Thank you

 

What type of camshafts do you all run. As stated this is an otherwise stock 70 350 4 bbl engine. The car is auto with stock converter, power brakes, and AC
I was looking at something like this also,
Advertised Duration (Int/Exh): 256/262
Duration @ .050 (Int/Exh): 213/219
Gross Valve Lift (Int/Exh): .485/.499
LSA/ICL: 112/108
Valve Lash (Int/Exh): Hyd/Hyd
RPM Range: 1000-5300

 

What gears are you running? This is important.

I ran the cam one step smaller than that one you posted in my low comp 350 and it worked very well as a daily driver. The one you list is just a hair bigger and would work well too but those cams build alot of cylinder pressure and even though the one you list is one step bigger than the one I had, I fear it would build too much pressure in your much higher comp engine.

It may be difficult to find an off the shelf cam that fits your exact application ( fairly high CR but want it small enough for daily driving on pump gas ). I would talk to an Olds engine builder and cam expert such as Bullet cams.

 

Contact cutlassefi on this site, he is a cam dealer, and can make a good recommendation for your set up.

 

I agree with this but he will want to know the true compression ratio and the gear ratio.

 

I have one just about like this and you won't be happy. I do have 3.91 gears and I'm not happy. You MUST have a high stall converted for this cam and NO power brakes. I'll put it this way, imagin approaching a red light and your vacuum drops to nothing and you loose power brakes. If it is thrills you are looking for then this is it. I am replacing the converter with something in the 3000 stall range and adding a vacuum canister to help the brakes.

Just my experience!

 

Thanks for the heads up!!!