Small Block & Big Block Chevy Specific - Cam suggestions for stroked 350(391)

Okay this is going to be primarily on the street 95% of the time. The engine is in my 1974 Chevy Stepside (light ass rear end). With the current cam i have so much low end torque that the the 14 inch wide MT dont have a chance to hook. Plus before i changed auto transmissions from th350 to th700r4 I put 4.10 richmonds in the rear. So needless to say with low 1st gear (3.06, i think) and those racing gears and light ass, i doesnt have a chance to hook at all. I need a cam that have alot less low end torque so i can hook with a higher rpm range (above 6000). I am looking for a cam that may put me into the 450 to 500 hp range. I will be installing Trick Flow 23 degree 195 CNC heads with this cam and i am running a Quick Fuel Technologies 750cfm carb. I am also at 5200 feet in elevation (not sure if this makes a difference in a cam selection or not?). Thanks for any advise!

BTW i have a 2500 stall

Well to start, you are gonna have a HUGE mismatch. Those heads are gonna KILL your top end on that big of a motor. They will SHUTDOWN around 6000. you need a 215+cc head for that and HIGHER rpm. look into the Dart pro1 230cc heads or trickflows 215cc head. I think TFS has 230cc CNC ported head for the SBC now. I know they do for the LT1

BTW i have a 2500 stall

and you're gonna want a 3500 converter or more.

Right now i have the Dart Torqer heads on there now. I know the aluminum trick flows have to be better than those. I actually dont have the money right now for new heads. I would actually be happy with a cam that has only a 6000 rpm shift point and still allows me to get traction in 1 st gear.

I think your looking at this the wrong way. Don't change your cam to increase traction. Work on your suspension instead. Do you have anything done to the front or rear suspension or is it totally stock? If it is stock, here is what I would suggest (any or all of the below):

Remove front sway bar (at the track)
Lightweight skinny front tires (I bought cheap summit rims and used moroso tires)
traction bars - Cal tracks or cheap slapper bars
Set the rear pinion angle (somewhere around -2 degrees)
Adjustable front shocks
If you don't haul or tow - lighter rear springs

I've seen plenty of S10-type trucks hook well. You can get your truck there too. If you stick in a cam to kill the low end with those small heads, you will also kill the horsepower. Try to hook what you already have. Also, these mods will help with any future motor changes.

I have lakewood traction bars but i swear they dont seem to help:eyes:

I had a set on my 1975 Nova. They needed some fine tuning to actually do anything. I machined some angled plates to put under the pring perches. This dropped my pinion angle to -3 degrees. You can buy the plates right from summit or jegs. I trimmed the rubber snubber to give about 1/2 inch of clearance with the spring. I also put 70/30 shocks on the front. Everything else was stock. It was a consistent 1.60 60' car on 275/50/15 BFG drag radials.

Yes, work on suspension and do not do a cam swap to try and make traction better.

I guess with these new heads i am just compelled (since i will have the engine apart anyway) to change the cam anyhow. also who makes a good kit so i change from hyd flat tappet to hyd roller? I really like the idea of going to a roller cam instead of keeping the cam i have now. The cam i have now is the lunati bracket cam is 292 adv duration .480 int/.480 ex 109 lobe sep.

sounds like you should just leave it alone 'til you get about $2500 for parts. You some BIG heads and a nice hyd. roller to make some serious power on that Big Inch small block. Some AFR 210 would work nicely since this is a street truck. I wouldnt use anything less though.

cool i will wait till my end of year bonus:chug: anyone have any cam suggestions with the use of some 215 heads. Anyone ever use this kit? http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=CMB-09-0002&autoview=sku

You're going to want something with similar duration to what you have now with a lot more lift. I would go with a solid roller. You will also want to tighten up that LSA with a 391 motor. I would think around a 106 LSA.

Do the simple (and cheap) things now to get your suspension working. You will need those mods later anyway. Fiddle with the pinion angle. Adjust the slapper bars. Remove the front sway bar. Also, try launching from an idle (instead of loading up the converter at the line). This might get you some better 60' times.

XE288hr or the like....236/242 or something very similar. The GM847 cam would work very well in this combo.

cool i really appreciate all and any more input guys

if you are still looking for a cam to put you around 470 crank hp then cc503 aka xr276hr comp cams might be for you. I ran that with a 2500 stall and my 60 foot times sucked with that though... 1.9X upped it to a 3500 stall and they dropped down to 1.74ish with 323 gears....now switching to 373s, custom cam and hpoefully 1.6x 60 foot times are in my future