How much cam?

I have a stock 289. I want to run the biggest cam I can. i called comp cams and they sugested the Extreme Energy 274 that has 520 lift on intake and 523 lift on exhaust. that seems like alot of lift considering its stock, except for some home porting I did to the heads. I would like your opinions.

The lift is NOT WHAT IS IMPORTANT, The duration at 050 is what is important. If you run a cam with more than 220 at 050, it will sound cool , but run like it did stock ( or worse )There are MANY things involved with a cam change--- Most people do not know that a bigger cam ONLY GIVES MORE horsepower at VERY high RPM, You ALWAYS loose low speed power. ALWAYS

JOE SHERMAN RACING ENGINES

Originally Posted by Stang66X

I have a stock 289. I want to run the biggest cam I can. i called comp cams and they sugested the Extreme Energy 274 that has 520 lift on intake and 523 lift on exhaust. that seems like alot of lift considering its stock, except for some home porting I did to the heads. I would like your opinions.

If you told them you want to run the biggest cam you can it sounds like they gave you what you asked for. Its too big for me but that is not what I ask for in a cam.

Originally Posted by BIGJOE

The lift is NOT WHAT IS IMPORTANT, The duration at 050 is what is important. If you run a cam with more than 220 at 050, it will sound cool , but run like it did stock ( or worse )There are MANY things involved with a cam change--- Most people do not know that a bigger cam ONLY GIVES MORE horsepower at VERY high RPM, You ALWAYS loose low speed power. ALWAYS

JOE SHERMAN RACING ENGINES

So in your opinion what would be a good cam to run to gain power but not completely loose low end?

If you have stock ( low compression )about 10 degrees more that stoc is about the limit- If you can raise the compression ( very hard to do ) then you MIGHT be able to go up 20 degrees more than stock- Most cams require a lower rear end gear ratio, and if it is an automatic trans, a looser torque converter is also required-- It is pretty complicated


JOE SHERMAN RACING ENGINE

Do you have headers and have you changed the intake and carb? If you haven't stepped up the exhaust and intake sides of the engine then a bigger cam is not likely to provide much real gain.

You may first want to revisit why you want the biggest cam possible. You'll only end up with the doggiest motor possible. Trust me.

Originally Posted by rustee

You may first want to revisit why you want the biggest cam possible. You'll only end up with the doggiest motor possible. Trust me.

Yep, "biggest" is rarely ever the "bestest". Even MORE rarely on a small motor.

Lee

I had that cam in a pontiac 455 with headers, Edelbrock rpm intake, home port job on the heads with 9.5-1 compression and 2800 stall converter. It had a rough idle, barely enough vacuum to run power brakes. It ran really good but thats in a motor with 166 more cu. in. You wont like that cam in that small of a motor that is not totally set up for it. It wont idle at less than 1000 rpm and wont have any real power till you get around 4000 rpm. and wont have enough vacuum to run anything.