Camshaft ID - guesses, lol

Ok, I turned into the guy I used to make fun of...I have 3 big-block camshafts, and have no idea what they are. Yes, too many parts, too long ago, and bad memory.

I have a spare block that I’m currently going through, and am not at the point where I’m ready to install cam bearings yet, otherwise I’d grab my degree wheel and answer my own question.

So maybe for fun, I can post some pics and we can guess, and you can laugh at me.

My guesses- one is a stock cam, and one is the old Window Rattler (can’t remember KB or TA or Poston flavor) though I thought I had sold it. Maybe totally wrong.

You may begin making fun of me in 3, 2, 1...

 

Are we making fun of tbe fact you forgot which cam is which, or the fact that you forgot to post the pics?
JIM

 

How ‘bout “yes”, lol

 

Cam 1 - Says GMC on the shaft. Thinking this came out of a ‘76 Riv. If so, I had used the stock short-block as a junkyard build with some good heads and a big cam and spun a rod bearing at US41 Dragway in Morocco, IN on the 3rd pass.

 

Cam 2 - No clue. I know there is no way to ID from the core, but it has some stamping on the end. This one mighta been dropped off in my garage at 2am by a spaceship.

 

Cam 3 - If I remember right, this came from an engine that was rebuilt by a machine shop in Chicago, never run by the owner. I bought it and pulled his cam out and installed a TA 118 cam and that’s the engine in my 455 Regal in my avatar. Obviously an Erson breed.

 

Casting #1246740 is a 75-76. I measured a used one when I had some time way back and it measured 193*I/205*E at .050". Almost not even worth the cast iron it is made out of.

The TQ20 should be Erson #E630121 214*I/214*E at .050", 111* LSA, .478" lift I/E. The only thing I can say about that cam is it is way better than the cam above.

Cam 2 looks pretty mild by the way the lobes look. I don't have any info using that casting number which is not the part number. Only way to figure that one is to measure it. Is it new?

 

Thanks!

Yeah, Cam 1 will get “recycled”.

Cam 2 is not new, I’ll have to degree it.

Cam 3 is new, but with those specs, meh.

 

3 might be good for somebody doing a mild rebuild with no lope to the idle.

 

Cam 2 has 216 stamped into it, do we assume 216 degrees.

 

Possibly.

 

I always get giggly like a little kid when I pull this ridiculously huge degree wheel out.



That stock cam:
IN 194 @ 0.050” & 0.240 lobe lift
EX 207 @ 0.050” & 0.246 lobe lift

Here is something I hadn’t noticed before on the cam gears:



The top cam is the Erson. It’s got a thru hole that goes through the back of the timing gear flange.

The bottom cam is the mystery cam. Look how the gear narrows towards the front. Worn? Cam looks fresh. Design?

 

Got around to degreeing another one.

Bottom Cam:
IN 194 with 0.244 lobe lift
EX 226 with 0.288 lobe lift
118 split

Pretty interesting to see stock intake and much bigger exhaust.

Looks like it’s never been run, new.

 

I had a TQ20 in my 71 GS when I bought it. Didnt impress me, but I didnt try to degree it in either. I replaced it with what amounts to a C-115 (that I did degree for optimal DCR) and picked up a full second

 

Typical stock 70-71 cam specs. I measured some used stock cams and all were in the 194/224, .233/.275 range as yours. The hole going through was in all of them I thought to help send oil to the dist. gears. Something weird about the front of those gear teeth. Something was going on when it was machined. Looks like another candidate for the iron recycler.

 

I have a Lunati Stage2 Profile 1969 -70 Legal SS / JA for 1969 camshaft that I would like to sell. I have never installed this camshaft in an engine. I purchased this camshaft from the CSCA in Valdosta, GA many years ago. Check out the photos.

 

Interesting cam but somebody had that cam in something.

 

Yeah, looks like it’s been run, no?

 

If I don’t know what it is,it does not get installed. There. All better now.