Educate me on camshafts

[346ci]

I understand how a cam functions but I do not know what all the specs mean when people ask if a cam will work. For instance what do these number mean
233/239, .595"/.603"? Can someone break it down for me? Also LSA stands for lobe sepration, right? Lastly lobe seperation is like shotguns, the higher the number the less lobe sepration and the lower the number the higher the lobe seperation? Thaks for any info, I just would like to know what the numbers mean when I look at cam specs.

[UTVols98]

Here, read this. It's long, but will give you everything you want to know about cam shafts and the other stuff that goes with it. To be quick about it we'll use the specs on my cam.

TR Trak 232/236 .644/.597 112 LSA

The 232 is the duration of the intake valve staying open @.050 lift as the 236 is the exhaust duration at the same lift too. The 644 is how much lift on the intake valve and 597 is the lift on the exhaust valve. And finally, yes the 112 LSA is the lobe separation angle. The closer the lobe separation is, the choppier the idle.

http://ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=327734

[01ws6er]

TR Trak 232/236 .644/.597 112 LSA

The 232 is the duration of the intake valve staying open @.050 lift as the 236 is the exhaust duration at the same lift too. The 644 is how much lift on the intake valve and 597 is the lift on the exhaust valve. And finally, yes the 112 LSA is the lobe separation angle. The closer the lobe separation is, the choppier the idle.

http://ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=327734

+1 that is a great write up! Not a bad way to sum up a few hours worth of reading into a few sentances lol.

[346ci]

Thanks, that link is awesome, it answered all my questions and more