Important Cam question

[TransAmcoupe98]

My mechanic is ordered a 208/212 cam with 520 lift and said that is the biggest cam I could get limited by my heads. My heads are stock but ported. I told him to take it back and get the cam I wanted which was 222/224 with 550 lift and 112 lobe seperation. I understand the smaller cam has a more consistent powerband but the bigger cam is clearly going to make more HP but he said that cam peaks at 6800. I didnt know that medium of a cam would peak at such a high RPM. he said that i am going to rum better 1/4 times with a smaller cam than the one I picked. I would rather have a choppy idle that one that sounds stock as hell. Can anyone gimme advice. -thanx

[secondgearscratch]

My mechanic is ordered a 208/212 cam with 520 lift and said that is the biggest cam I could get limited by my heads. My heads are stock but ported. I told him to take it back and get the cam I wanted which was 222/224 with 550 lift and 112 lobe seperation. I understand the smaller cam has a more consistent powerband but the bigger cam is clearly going to make more HP but he said that cam peaks at 6800. I didnt know that medium of a cam would peak at such a high RPM. he said that i am going to rum better 1/4 times with a smaller cam than the one I picked. I would rather have a choppy idle that one that sounds stock as hell. Can anyone gimme advice. -thanx

welp, first of all, fire your mechanic because he is a moron.

239/242, .649"/.609" this is the spec for a magic stick 4. people go cam only with these all day long on stock heads. not my cup of tea, but they do it. that is a peak power cam and you will spin the motor higher and have less under the curve with it.

the cam he ordered is small. the cam you want is a good decision for so many reasons i dont have time to go into. if you have ported heads you have even more options.

[2000T/A Guru]

Hes right your mechanic sucks, the cam you want is far under the limit for stock heads. Also you cam wil lgive you more power and in turn better quarter mile time. Ask him why people have such big cams that produce more hp if it makes them slower? A mild cam like yours will give you power anywhere over 2,000rpms, and when your racing when are you under 2k never lol.

[TransAmcoupe98]

but the point he is trying to make is I will have to spin my motor up to 6800 rpm before it will take down that smaller cam through the 1/4 because it builds power so much later than the smaller one

[thecorrectformula]

He's a moron. the power band low will be good with his but in a racing situation You'r almost always in the higher RPM's I have 224/228 .591/.591 112LSA and it has power out the ass at 3000RPM.

[2000T/A Guru]

No the 224/224 cams i see make good power 1800-6400, 6800 rpms on a mild cam like that is alittle high to still be making power

[TransAmcoupe98]

yea, he had his program on a computer showing me that it ran .2 and 2 more mph faster thru the 1/4 but shifting at 6k. He even called comp and they said the same thing. But i still didn't believe either of them because all you guys on here have big ass cams and I have never heard of paying 400$ for a cam almost with stock specs

[TransAmcoupe98]

the operating range on the 222/224 is 1800-6800 and the small cam is 800-5200 rpm. He even said that the bigger cammed peaked with 31 more HP but still was beat through the quarter becasue the small cam had more TQ built up and running 50HP consistenly through the power band where the big cam took longer through the quarter to build power. But BOTTOM LINE, do you guys know for a fact that this cam is a better decision?

[2000T/A Guru]

I have seen dyno sheets where mid sized cams, make power and hold there power.

[t-rock]

i have been reading this sight for over two years and i have noticed the 224/224 and 224/228 cam are what you see in 80 to 90% of peoples sigs/mods. trial and error had to come from somewhere.

[Street Lethal]

He even said that the bigger cammed peaked with 31 more HP but still was beat through the quarter becasue the small cam had more TQ built up and running 50HP consistenly through the power band where the big cam took longer through the quarter to build power.

Too many variables, although I do agree with him when he tries to imply that average horsepower has the advantage over peak. He's definitely living in the past though, as today's cam technology boasts plenty of larger grinds making tremendous power throughout the entire RPM range. Valve events are very critical in determining such power, not just the cam's size itself....

[slims00ls1z28]

The powerband on that cam he posted is just where it makes power not where it peaks. I have a Magic stick 3 238/242 .605/.612 lift on 114 lsa and my motor made peak at 6500 rpm. My rev limiter was reset to 6800 but set to shift right at the peak. Your mechanic is full of himself the only way a cam that small would beat a cam such as mine ( in the same car weight and conditions) is if I had a stock stall and 2.73 gears and you upped your stall and gears to match yours then "MAYBE" you would beat me in the 1/4 but I still doubt it. You match a stall and gears to the cam and theres no way that baby cam is comming close to a "big" cam.

[mrr23]

the mechanic is just under shooting the project, so you won't come back with a man it has no low end power issue. he's just undershooting by alot. the typical 224 range is a happy medium for daily usage.

here's some actual dyno and track tested data to ponder over. vinci did a comparison of a comp cam and their cam. Project C5 AFR

comp cam 224/224 .581.581 (1.7 rockers) 115 LSA vs vinci 055 cam 216/224 .583/.583 (1.8 rockers) 113 LSA

http://vincihighperformance.com/beck...20tricker.html

even these cams didn't peak much over 6000 rpms. the smaller cam with higher ratio rockers made more overall power. now, which would you rather have? and these cams were tested with the stock torque converter.