Is the TA Performance 308S the Best Solid Flat Tappet cam to use Street/Strip

Rossco,

What are you going to do with this vehicle? Is Idle quality and vacuum an issue?

 

Thats real nice 367cfm
I was told the best you can get out of the Stage 2 SE heads was about 345cfm

Thanks Larry for the inside there, i think Tri-Shield using the Malnar Rods and Diamond pistons should work well, i just hope Neil my engine builder can get the CFM's up heads, i will have to give him the challenge for 367cfm haha

 

Hi Jim,

Vacuum and Idle well yes because it will be driven on the street/Strip, if i have to use a Vac pump setup for the brakes not a problem either, i dont want to over cam it either.
By looking at the power that 470ci made running a Hydraulic Roller cam thats very impressive.

 

It's hard to overcam a 11 to 1+ Aluminum headed big block. My last setup ran a solid 259/267 615/615 on a 110 drove it everywhere....and ran 10's

 

For limited use, and if you have manual brakes, or provide another source for power assist, then you can get away with a lot.

Question is, do you want to? Is a wild sounding beast at cruise night your goal, or would you rather have an engine that pulls strong away from the stoplight under moderate throttle, and does not require a 4000 stall converter to do it.

Driving to cruise night is one thing, driving 400 miles round trip to the drag strip, is quite another.

A camshaft in a street driven vehicle will always be a compromise. What is the star on the dyno, is not necessarily the best cam for the application, all things considered. We don't drive at peak torque and peak HP all the time. The engine has to perform reasonably at idle and off idle situations, and pull smoothly thru 1500-2500 rpm for normal driving. So you can't have some hairy wild loose converter either.

I guess I should not say "can't"... because the fact of the matter is people do.. But hanging lisc plates on a race car does not make it a street car, just like putting on a top hat does not make you a magician.

For the last 16 years now, I have been building 455 Buick engines for folks all over the country, and overseas.. I have adhered to this one simple rule. For anything street driven more than raced, unless the customer specifically asks you for something else, stick with a camshaft that has no more than 20* of overlap if it's required to run the power brakes, and 25* of overlap if they have manual brakes. That's overlap at .050 obviously.

That's an engine that will perform well with one of my 9.5" converters, or a manual trans and is a reasonable piece to actually drive for longer distances. No one has ever called me and said "I wish you would have put more cam in it".

Plenty of folks call me looking for an alternative to the "too big" cam that someone talked them into for their street car.

So while Hugger is right, it's hard to put a cam in the engine will not like at peak torque and HP, that's not really the whole equation.

 

I've had great results with the 608B TA cam that is specifically designed for stage 2 heads.

 

I am hearing you there Jim,
Well it will be driven on the street more than the strip thats why i am running a gear vendor, Larry sent me a link from BUICKSSTAGE1 who dynod a 470ci making 654hp 602ftibs running a Hydrualic Roller 243/260@ .050 .611/594 lift with Lsa 112 is that cam suitable for what I'm looking at on the street and i dont have a problem running a 3800 to 4000 converter on the street.

I live in a town in Queensland Australia has around 50,000 people and we have a very good drag strip so there are good friends who are right into fast cars, i have 1 mate has a 65 Mustang running a 357ci Windsor with a Procharger 5000 Convertor makes about 700hp, which on the street is a pig, i would like to be able to have a little fun with him if you no what i mean.

 

I'm in process of building a temporary street/Strip Stage 2 right now for my Skylark and have a 608b going in it, but I'm used to the challenges of race engines in street cars.
OP-I would listen seriously to Mike at T/A Performance or JW, ... they won't steer you wrong!

Larry

 

Cheers Larry much appreciated mate

Ross

 

27.5* of overlap, a bit outside my "rules" but you will probably get away with it... won't run the brakes without a pump... just make sure you install that thing at 106.. it will help idle quality immensely.

If it were me, I would take 10* out of the exhaust, a stage 2 needs 4-6 degrees of split, max.

JW

 

Would you be able to design a similar Hydrualic roller that would work better with my combination.

I will Require the Molnar rods and diamond pistons as well.

Ross

 

What's the combination to build a 482ci Larry ?
I have looked into the 494ci but thats a lot of crank mods.

Rossco

 

Sure, that should not be an issue, as long as your heads are good enough.

A 482 requires that you offset grind the crank .150, for a finished journal size of 2.100.

The 470 is only a .050 offset grind, so I would imagine that costs will be higher for crank machine work for the 482.

 

The heads i have are Stg 2 SE with a SP1 manifold and Neil my engine builder is doing the head work, he's pretty good at what he does, the manifold isn't going to be match ported just 50mm into the ports like most do, he is taking the ports out evenly and he burrs the inside of the manifold for better flow. I will see him today and see if he can get 367Cfm out of them like the other guy did.

So you have a longer Molnar Rod and machine the crank Journals down .150 for the 482ci, so what length rod are we talking is the 470ci 6.700 using the Molnar Rod and machining the journals just .050. So is the rod length 6.800 on .150 482ci ?
Would the zero deck height still only be .020 on the 482ci setup.
Can the crank handle 600+hp ok with .150 on the journals with a Girdle.

 

Hi Rosco,
Sounds like a stout street/strip motor. The cam in my engine is based on the 308s cam although I run with the 4.5" piston and I drive it on the street (1.5hrs south of Sydney) with no issues other than getting a bit hot.
Haven't run at Willowbank before, but have run a couple of times at Warwick Dragway.
Good luck with the build mate

 

Did you have to machine the Width of the journal to fit the eagle rods?
Isn't that why we use the Molnar rods because there the same width as the Buick rods.

 

How are you mate, what have you got steel heads

 

No I have the all alloy Tomahawk block with stg2 TE heads flowing 387cfm. Engine makes 910hp

 

That's real nice mate,
Tough as love my Rods, Big bucks there she would pull like a steam train hahaha