Cam kit selection help

L

Luke

Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2006
I'm considering installing a hydraulic roller cam this spring "if" all goes to plan. Even if I don't get a chance to do it, I'd like some direction for getting a cam that matches my setup. I'm looking for something that will give me a better 1/4 mile ET and give me room for more power in the future.

My setup:
stock block
stock Cam
stock intake
stock heads
RJC .030 Bulletproof head gaskets
Razors Progressive Alcohol injection
TE-60 (with garret .63 housing)
3" Down pipe w/cutout
ATR Headers
MSD 50# injectors
MSD DIS-4 Plus
PTE Front mount intercooler
Big mouth cold air with LS1 MAF
70mm Throttle body
ATI TH400 w/pro-start brake
3200 Stall 9" converter

Best ET 11.44 (head gaskets blew 3/4 down the track - not due to detonation)
MPH around 120
Best 60' 1.68 (ET Street Radials)

I was considering a comp cams 212/218 kit or Revolution X 210/215 kit. I've been hearing a lot of bad things about Comp cams on some threads on this forum so I'm starting to lean towards the Revolution X kit. Are these cams too big?

Thanks,
Luke
 
SouthernCal GN said:
Don't need a lot of cam- I'd go with the smaller profile.

Just curious- why/how the the HG blow?
Click to expand...

I think it blew due to the boost I was running. They were the original 20 year old gaskets and I was pushing 28 pounds of boost. The scanmaster showed less then 3 degrees retard. I was listening very very closely for pinging and detonation troughout the run since I'd just made adjustments to the boost + alcohol. The engine was running very smooth and I didn't hear any pops then the engine suddenly started hissing rapidly as I felt a loss in power. It blew the on the center cylinder into the lifter valley on the passenger side. So to the best of my knowledge it didn't detonate... Also the spark plug on that cylinder wasn't damaged.
 
By the time you hear the detonation, it may be too late:eek:

The goal is ZERO detonation. Scanmaster has a very slow refresh rate with regards to ALDL data. Sounds like that 3 deg did you in!

Cam- nothing bigger than a 214/214- and you're wasting the added lift/duration if you don't get the heads reworked. That area will become your bottleneck.

As the HG blew into the valley- do you run coolant or water? If it's coolant, the bearings are probably toast.
 
i thought if it blew into the lifter valley it will not leak coolant unless it is towards the edges of the cylinder? if that makes sense? 3 deg. of KR on 28psi is not good! aim for zero like SoCal said!

X2 on the head work, if ur gonna upgrade the cam atleast get the bowls ported/blended alittle on the heads. i run a weber hyd. roller 206/206 cam and it gets the job done for me.
 
SouthernCal GN said:
By the time you hear the detonation, it may be too late:eek:

The goal is ZERO detonation. Scanmaster has a very slow refresh rate with regards to ALDL data. Sounds like that 3 deg did you in!

Cam- nothing bigger than a 214/214- and you're wasting the added lift/duration if you don't get the heads reworked. That area will become your bottleneck.

As the HG blew into the valley- do you run coolant or water? If it's coolant, the bearings are probably toast.
Click to expand...

Well that's true that the scanmaster might not have caught it in time, but I always get around 2 - 3 degrees on my 1-2 shift so this wasn't abnormal to me. I said it was less than 3 (I think 2.7... But I'd have to recheck my notes at home)

I got lucky with the coolant. There aren't any water passages on that part of the block/head so I didn't loose any coolant. This stumped my friends when trying to diagnose it that night because the first think we checked was coolant. To add to the confusion, that cylinder was pressurizing the crankcase through the lifter valley and causing it to blow oil out of the oil breathers.

So it sounds like the 210/215 is as far as I sould take it. People seem to prefer the Revolution X cams over comp cams anyway.

Thanks for the input. As you can tell I'm no expert and I appreciate your help.

Luke
 
I got a Comp cam from Bill Anderson that I think is about 214/214, and it has great street manners, doesn't feel too big to me at all.

Don't know who makes that Revolution X cam, but if you put a lot of street miles on the car I'd try to get a cam that does not have a groove on the #1 journal. I've gotten too much cam bearing wear from the cams with grooved #1 journals, and I think it affects oil pressure after you get a bunch of miles on the car. That's one of the main reasons I got this Comp cam, so I could have a grooveless #1 journal. If it's a mostly track car, then no big deal.

John
 
FYI...Comp cams makes the Revolution X cams for Full Throttle.;)

I have FT's 210/215 roller, which works nice with ported heads and larger turbos.
 
Haha!

Jolly460 said:
FYI...Comp cams makes the Revolution X cams for Full Throttle.;)

I have FT's 210/215 roller, which works nice with ported heads and larger turbos.
Click to expand...

HA!!! Are you serious?! I've seen at least two other threads sofar pretty much saying that comp is junk and isn't what you used to be... then they go on to say the REV X is much better. Thanks for the info.
 
Different Duration for Intake and Exhaust?

I stumbled across the CamQuest 6 software on compcams.com and plugged in my setup. It looks like the 212/212 benifits my setup the best but I don't know how this would compare to a 214/214.

What's the benifit of having a longer duration for intake or exhaust? Cams like the comp 218/212 and the Rev X 210/215.
 
I have seen some Budget Rollers go Flat. These ductile Iron cams and these
Austempered Cam. The Front Noise is just Like Stock. I would get a Billet Roller if it was me. The Billet Rollers are Stage 2 Design with a Keywayed Removable Dist gear. The Rev X i am sure are ground and made by Comp Cams. If you go the ductile Iron /Austempered route i would want a Warranty
on the Cam and all the Parts in the motor that get wiped out by the cam going Flat. I had to rebuilt and bore twice and 2 sets of Piston because of Soft Cams going Flat.

How many miles are People getting on there Cars with no Problems on this
Cars with Ductile Iron Austemper Cams - Budget Rollers ? 5000 10,000
20,000 + Plus miles with no Problems lets here it?
 
While the original "budget" rollers did have problems, the cams that they have been selling since 2005 or so are different. Same material/heat treatment/whatever as factory roller cams if I remember correctly. I sure haven't heard of any particular wear issues since they made that switch. I think it is a non-issue now. Before then, yes, you had to go billet. No longer.

John
 
Luke said:
HA!!! Are you serious?! I've seen at least two other threads sofar pretty much saying that comp is junk and isn't what you used to be... then they go on to say the REV X is much better. Thanks for the info.
Click to expand...

Well I've never heard of any problems with the Comp austempered roller cams, but I have heard of people having problems with their roller lifters (both on Buicks and small block chevys).

My personal experience with Comp Cams on SBCs and now Buicks have so far produced great results and no problems.

If you're still iffy about Comp's roller cams and you have a little more cash to spend then a billet roller from Weber or TA Performance would be the way to go.:smile:
 
So you are telling me no one has any problems with these Cams? That if i buy one from any of the vendors and they would stand behind there Parts if the
Cam went Flat or if it put Metal shaving thru the motor If i had to rebuild motor
they would Warranty parts in the Engine Because there cam wiped out Part i
the Engine.

How many miles do people have on this Cams?
I will not take a chance on Cams any more I want a Warranty if I do.
 
I would guess that you'll get the same warranty on the roller cams as you would with a flat tappet. Haven't heard of too many people getting whole new engines under warranty when their flat tappet cams wipe a lobe - which seems a lot more prevalent than problems with the rollers.

John
 
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