3/4 race cam...what the heck?
01-23-2007, 09:59 AM
#1
3/4 race cam...what the heck? I hear it all the time, WHAT! is a 1/2 or 3/4 or whatnot race-cam? The people who say they have these never know lift, duration, or centerline. Whats up with this?
01-23-2007, 10:05 AM
#2
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I think it's an old school thing or something...my dad and my grandfather both said that and I never can get em to explain to me what exactly it freakin means...i'm going to google it right now.
01-23-2007, 10:12 AM
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Originally Posted by VetteFella from chevelle.com:
Wish I could give a technical distinction between 3/4 and full race, but I can't even though I began my love affair with wheeled conveyances in the early 50s...That was just a few days before I discovered the REAL difference between boys and girls. Frankly, I'm not sure there are many people that knew the technical difference in the cams. I don't remember seeing references to actual cam specs until sometime in the 60s.
I know that the terms originated with the flat head Fords...I had 3-4 of those...but for me, the distinction between the cams came with the advent of the small block. A mild cam with a small lope using hydralic lifters was the 3/4. The heavy lope full race cams were those with solid lifters.
Yep, 3/4 and full race cams are outdated terms, but ya gotta remember that technology and the knowledge thereof didn't happen overnight. For example: Most of you think of a fax as sticking a sheet of paper into a machine and a few seconds later it's gone. My introduction to facsimile was back when it took 4-5 minutes to transmit a single page. If it was a picture, it took much longer. The PC you use to make these posts has a memory capacity measured in gigabytes. I was teaching computer related stuff in the 60s when the memory capacity was measured in single bits...several years before the term "byte" came into common usage.
Outmoded terms they may be, but those were the terms used for performance cams in the beginning of the common folk's need for speed. We had to start somewhere.
I keep telling myself I'm not getting old. You guys keep bringing up subjects that prove me wrong.
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That's what I got from google and Chevelle.com-Ed
Wish I could give a technical distinction between 3/4 and full race, but I can't even though I began my love affair with wheeled conveyances in the early 50s...That was just a few days before I discovered the REAL difference between boys and girls. Frankly, I'm not sure there are many people that knew the technical difference in the cams. I don't remember seeing references to actual cam specs until sometime in the 60s.
I know that the terms originated with the flat head Fords...I had 3-4 of those...but for me, the distinction between the cams came with the advent of the small block. A mild cam with a small lope using hydralic lifters was the 3/4. The heavy lope full race cams were those with solid lifters.
Yep, 3/4 and full race cams are outdated terms, but ya gotta remember that technology and the knowledge thereof didn't happen overnight. For example: Most of you think of a fax as sticking a sheet of paper into a machine and a few seconds later it's gone. My introduction to facsimile was back when it took 4-5 minutes to transmit a single page. If it was a picture, it took much longer. The PC you use to make these posts has a memory capacity measured in gigabytes. I was teaching computer related stuff in the 60s when the memory capacity was measured in single bits...several years before the term "byte" came into common usage.
Outmoded terms they may be, but those were the terms used for performance cams in the beginning of the common folk's need for speed. We had to start somewhere.
I keep telling myself I'm not getting old. You guys keep bringing up subjects that prove me wrong.
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-
That's what I got from google and Chevelle.com-Ed
01-23-2007, 10:54 AM
#5
They use it because they have no idea what cam specs are. They didn't look near as far into it back then. Go ask some old schooler what the .300" to .500" lift flow on his heads at 28" of water is and then ask him about his camshaft duration at .006", .200", .050", LSA, and ICL. He'll think your some kinda weirdo.
01-23-2007, 11:06 AM
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I dont now the exact specifications of it but.....When it is paired with "humper heads" aka "camel back heads" or "double hump heads" and a BIG holley carb it will always lift the frontend off the ground upon launch....on the street....In a 1975 monte carlo.True story, the car changes often though depending how drunk the person is.
01-23-2007, 11:10 AM
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Originally Posted by Jake the SSnake
I dont now the exact specifications of it but.....When it is paired with "humper heads" aka "camel back heads" or "double hump heads" and a BIG holley carb it will always lift the frontend off the ground upon launch....on the street....In a 1975 monte carlo.True story, the car changes often though depending how drunk the person is.
Mean som bitch that Schwinn was...
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01-23-2007, 11:40 AM
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Originally Posted by BLKWS.6
I hear it all the time, WHAT! is a 1/2 or 3/4 or whatnot race-cam? The people who say they have these never know lift, duration, or centerline. Whats up with this?
01-23-2007, 12:18 PM
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Originally Posted by bad2000z
If I have one more redneck tell me he has a 3/4 cam in his 79 Cutlass I'm gonna ****** punch him in the face and then shoot myself.
Rednecks, lol.
01-23-2007, 12:19 PM
#11
Originally Posted by BLKWS.6
I hear it all the time, WHAT! is a 1/2 or 3/4 or whatnot race-cam? The people who say they have these never know lift, duration, or centerline. Whats up with this?
01-23-2007, 12:25 PM
#13
the worst guy ive came across, was back when ls1's were fairly new and i had a 383 lt1,
i used to work at a dealership as a tech, and this dude that was just hired,
started commenting on my car to other ppl, how he would wipe out my
junk with his mustang, i never said anything, and the one day he just called me out and asked if i wanted to race, i agreed and asked what he had lined up,
thats when started letting off on what he had,
his block was bored to the max, he had a 3/4 race cam, and he had modified
a roots blower on his mustang to operate with a switch like the car from the movie mad max,
i kid u not. i was like....... oookay then
the last nail in the coffin was when he made the comment that his bro had just bought a WS6 with the superchager option, that was only available for that yr and and not available on the new cameros. i had heard enuff BS
and to top it off he was dead serious.
i used to work at a dealership as a tech, and this dude that was just hired,
started commenting on my car to other ppl, how he would wipe out my
junk with his mustang, i never said anything, and the one day he just called me out and asked if i wanted to race, i agreed and asked what he had lined up,
thats when started letting off on what he had,
his block was bored to the max, he had a 3/4 race cam, and he had modified
a roots blower on his mustang to operate with a switch like the car from the movie mad max,
i kid u not. i was like....... oookay thenthe last nail in the coffin was when he made the comment that his bro had just bought a WS6 with the superchager option, that was only available for that yr and and not available on the new cameros. i had heard enuff BS
and to top it off he was dead serious.
01-23-2007, 12:33 PM
#14
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Originally Posted by NemeSS
the worst guy ive came across, was back when ls1's were fairly new and i had a 383 lt1,
i used to work at a dealership as a tech, and this dude that was just hired,
started commenting on my car to other ppl, how he would wipe out my
junk with his mustang, i never said anything, and the one day he just called me out and asked if i wanted to race, i agreed and asked what he had lined up,
thats when started letting off on what he had,
his block was bored to the max, he had a 3/4 race cam, and he had modified
a roots blower on his mustang to operate with a switch like the car from the movie mad max, i kid u not. i was like....... oookay then
the last nail in the coffin was when he made the comment that his bro had just bought a WS6 with the superchager option, that was only available for that yr and and not available on the new cameros. i had heard enuff BS
and to top it off he was dead serious.
i used to work at a dealership as a tech, and this dude that was just hired,
started commenting on my car to other ppl, how he would wipe out my
junk with his mustang, i never said anything, and the one day he just called me out and asked if i wanted to race, i agreed and asked what he had lined up,
thats when started letting off on what he had,
his block was bored to the max, he had a 3/4 race cam, and he had modified
a roots blower on his mustang to operate with a switch like the car from the movie mad max,
i kid u not. i was like....... oookay thenthe last nail in the coffin was when he made the comment that his bro had just bought a WS6 with the superchager option, that was only available for that yr and and not available on the new cameros. i had heard enuff BS
and to top it off he was dead serious.
I can't believe that guy didn't know there was a supercharger option on the Camaro's too!.
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I'm kidding
01-23-2007, 12:36 PM
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Originally Posted by NemeSS
the worst guy ive came across, was back when ls1's were fairly new and i had a 383 lt1,
i used to work at a dealership as a tech, and this dude that was just hired,
started commenting on my car to other ppl, how he would wipe out my
junk with his mustang, i never said anything, and the one day he just called me out and asked if i wanted to race, i agreed and asked what he had lined up,
thats when started letting off on what he had,
his block was bored to the max, he had a 3/4 race cam, and he had modified
a roots blower on his mustang to operate with a switch like the car from the movie mad max, i kid u not. i was like....... oookay then
the last nail in the coffin was when he made the comment that his bro had just bought a WS6 with the superchager option, that was only available for that yr and and not available on the new cameros. i had heard enuff BS
and to top it off he was dead serious.
i used to work at a dealership as a tech, and this dude that was just hired,
started commenting on my car to other ppl, how he would wipe out my
junk with his mustang, i never said anything, and the one day he just called me out and asked if i wanted to race, i agreed and asked what he had lined up,
thats when started letting off on what he had,
his block was bored to the max, he had a 3/4 race cam, and he had modified
a roots blower on his mustang to operate with a switch like the car from the movie mad max,
i kid u not. i was like....... oookay thenthe last nail in the coffin was when he made the comment that his bro had just bought a WS6 with the superchager option, that was only available for that yr and and not available on the new cameros. i had heard enuff BS
and to top it off he was dead serious.
He said a on/off blower like in mad max and a supercharged optioned WS6, what a toolshed. Why do people talk **** and then make up stories and back out when some finally steps up to wax em? 
01-23-2007, 12:58 PM
#17
Originally Posted by thunderstruck
dont forget the ever popular RV cam...
I should tell people I have an RV cam in my truck, then say I have a full race cam in our Z28. I remember friends from high school muttering the same things, I never understood what they were talking about. Although most had Novas, Chevelles, Malibus with "396", manual TH350 and a spool ... they were the fastest on the street. 
01-23-2007, 01:10 PM
#18
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I hate it when people are talking about cars "back then". People always make Chevelles or something with a Hemi or even a Boss Mustang sound like they could **** through silk. Ooooh and "that thang had a big block" that's another favorite and there are more big block cars that won't fall out of a tree than small blocks. 