Cam - Idle Lope & Car Shake

Grabbin' Asphalt

5 Year Member
Jun 10, 2013
2,029
309
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Atlanta, Ga
So I currently have an Ecam in my set up and it's your cookie cutter yada yada GT40p/Cobra set up. The car has great street characteristics that I love. Has a mean lope sound and no vac issues and the car shakes a little. But I rode in my buddy's 351 with Xcam with Trickflow upper, Edlebrock heads and that car shakes like a mofo. It would be a hard DD all the time and the ole lady would never like being that shaken up every time we go somewhere.
For my future plans:
Was wondering if the xe264r or 270 has that much of a shake???
Any other aggressive cams ideas that's good for a DD or maybe a lift/lobe range to look for???
The motor would be changed to a 347 when this is done, but basically an NA 347, .....I think:rolleyes:
 
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Your cam is going to depend on what heads you run, along with a dozen other variables. The reason people buy the alphabet cams is they make a good "rumble", when there are so many better choices out there. IMO when you are ready call Ed at TFI and do it right once.
 
Your cam is going to depend on what heads you run, along with a dozen other variables. The reason people buy the alphabet cams is they make a good "rumble", when there are so many better choices out there. IMO when you are ready call Ed at TFI and do it right once.

Yeah i like the rumble in my ecam now, i have little higher compression, so im sure that helps it some.
I believe I'll bgoing with 347 DD - streetable N/A high compression type set up
 
Idle speed seems to make a big difference with my n41. When it settles down real low, maybe 750 rpms, it starts adding a little shake to the car. If it idles a little higher, say 900rpms, it still has a great sound, but doesn't seem to shake the car really.

Joe
 
Your cam is going to depend on what heads you run, along with a dozen other variables. The reason people buy the alphabet cams is they make a good "rumble", when there are so many better choices out there. IMO when you are ready call Ed at TFI and do it right once.

Although I'm not a big fan of the alphabet cams either, there are plenty of members how have made good power and ran great times with them. The most attractive thing about the alphabet cams are their price. And while I agree that there are better grinds available, I don't think automatically suggesting a custom grind is always the best one. There are literally dozens of off the shelf patterns that would fit most peoples needs.

The "do it right the first time" statement has always kind of rubbed me the wrong way. On persons "right", may not be another's While one guy is thinking maximum performance, the other may be thinking minimal budget, or bang for the buck, or want to utilize certain parts together from the same manufacturer, etc. The suggestion to call a custom cam manufacturer for fear of "doing it wrong" sets the wrong mind set IMO. I've seen plenty of guys swap out perfectly good camshafts for custom units that have gained little or nothing in terms of performance and drivability. At least, nothing more than a lighter wallet and the ability to tell brag to people they're running a custom camshaft.

Custom camshafts are reserved for the guys running high end components, that need to meet very specific criteria. Not for your average GT40, or middle of the road set up. Personally, I'd take the money I saved buying a used alphabet cam over a custom whatever and put it towards a good dyno tune, or other supporting hardware. Most people would gain more in the line of performance and drivability going that route anyway.
 
My issue with "custom grind" is that more often than not, a custom ground cam isn't that at all...

Most cam builders have LOT of cams on the shelf with a LOT of different characteristics. They get a data sheet in with all of the things listed that go into the build for a specific combo and select one of these "custom ground" cams off the shelf that they think will best suits the combo in front of them.

Does the dude head out back to his machine shop and do a one-off for every data sheet that crosses his desk? No... I don't think so. :nonono: That would suggest that 99% of the builds possible for a 302 or 351 haven't been done hundreds of times over.

I "think" that what @Gearbanger 101 is trying to say (and if so, I totally agree) is that CAM SELECTION is where it's at. It really has nothing to do with whether that carefully selected cam is a letter cam or some one-off exotic with its secrets locked away into a vault somewhere.