I have an 11.0 compression 455 with TA stage 1 SE heads. I got carried away when building the engine and now I'm rethinking the cars purpose. Are the aluminum heads forgiving enough that I can run a smaller cam with smooth idle characteristics? Engine has not been started yet. Do dynamic compression rules still apply with alloy heads?
With a true SCR of 11.0:1, you are at the DCR limit for pump gas with that cam. If you go smaller, it will only increase. Aluminum heads help with octane tolerance. I am not sure whether or not you would need some race gas mix. That's a nice cam. Idle shouldn't be so bad.
That is the cam I had planned for my build. I would just leave it alone. It should run fine and be streetable. Greg
17 deg of overlap. Not smooth but also not radical. Will "hit a lick" as they say but should be ok for street cruising. If you want smooth idle and be ok with pump gas, a cam with wider LSA and more advertised duration should work, can also juggle the installed ICL to help
Just fire it up!! Is that cam advanced 4*? Any thoughts on installing it straight up to reduce the DCR a little? Better yet... I watched the new Top Gun Movie last night.....this quote came to mind. Stop second guessing and go for it!
On a side-note, that engine looks extremely nice! Where did you find a shape molded hose to the PCV system?
I have used this cam in my pure stock engine with iron heads that were not ported and a stock convertor. In my opinion it is streetable with a reasonable idle.
Are you sure of the 11.0:1 SCR? This cam puts you right at 8.4 DCR, which is the theoretical limit for pump gas. That's at 108* ICL. Advancing the cam another 2* increases the DCR to ~8.53. Running 11:1 SCR with aluminum heads is OK with a larger cam. Going smaller is asking for trouble.
I installed the cam at 108 as designated on the cam card. I trust Scott's recommendations. The cams that he designs for me always work well. I once installed a cam 5 degrees retarded as he suggested. It's a pretty small cam 210-230 @ .050. The car ran 12 teens with slicks and an ancient KB 2500 switch pitch convertor.
Run that cam the way it is installed... you won't have any issues, and idle quality/vacuum will be just fine. JW
