Got my new Bullit cam by Martin Smallwood of tick performance. Thank you Martin for the hours of time we spent on the phone over the time period of months. Can't say enough about Martins tech help!!!!

 

Martin wanted to try something a little different with the Milder Bullit lobes. The cam is a 241/250 112+3 for my 416 with AI LS3 heads. I'll share results when I swap it out.

 

Martin never lets people down!

 

Looking forward to this one for sure! I know you'll be happy with it Frank!

 

Thought I'd share Frank's idle clip of his new cam, from what he has told me so far the new cam blows the old cams he has run out of the water everywhere throughout the power curve. Frank has ran a few different cams already with this combination, so his input on the new cam is invaluable to a cam grinder like myself.

 

Is that the same Bullet Racing that grinds cams? If so, Im glad to see Martin trying them out. I had a cam ground by them and am very satisfied with the results. My lobes are pretty aggressive with a .629 lift and only 220* at .050, but with my comp 26926 double spring my 376 will hit 7K without any seat of pants drop off, although Im sure the dyno would tell a different story.
If its not the same Bullet, I apologize for the post.

 

It is the same Bullet Racing(ala UltraDyne) that grinds cams. The lobes this cam uses are very mild and work well with the mass of the large intake valve these heads have.

I've been using them for some time now.

 

Cool. mine will probably need springs checked every 5-10K miles, but in 1 year I have about 200 miles on it, so will probably be a while before I need to worry about it, LOL.

 

Interesting that this thread popped up today. Martin, I emailed you late morning today with a cam I spec'd that is almost identical to the cam in this thread. Glad to hear the cam is strong. Any driving vids yet? Car sounds good

 

Car drives great, just a slight buck at 1800 about 55MPH

 

Straight nasty!

 

Martin, do you use Bullet to grind cams at customer's request, or has Tick swtiched over to using Bullet for all your guys cams?

 

Customer request or if I need a special lobe ground for a custom one off application. Comp charges nearly 700 dollars to grind a set of one off lobes where as Bullet will do it for basically nothing.

Until I actually see the "issues" that some spoke of a month or two ago, and that witch hunt comes to my front door, I will not switch from using Comp as my primary source of camshafts. I have to see something with my own two eyes before I can make a call like that. I have not seen it yet, and neither have the company that I work for who has been using Comp camshafts for over 10 years.

 

How much does the gto make at the wheels? If u dont mind me asking.
And can u tell me more about your 416 setup

 

Since I am insane, I've started to piece together something here.

I'm of the opinion now that the Comp Cams aren't really that shitty. As long as the cams are ground in bulk, they are dead nuts and fine. Though, I do like the use of the Bullet Racing cams. They are outstanding.

The problem with the Comp Cams failure, LS7 lifter failures, Morel failures, rocker failure, and any number of other failures in the valvetrain comes back to five things:

1) Exhaust lobe design. An aggressive lobe that slams the valve shut hard puts a lot of stress on the lifter/cam and can cause issues that over time beat down the components until they fail. The same can be said of the internal working components of the lifter. It's subjected to a lot of insane forces and can fail and take out other components. Especially if the heat treating, assembly, etc are slightly off.
2) Inadequate spring pressure allowing the lifter to loft on the valve and come crashing back down. This damages everything. Rockers, pushrods, lifters, and cams. Loss of spring pressure over time contributes to this as everything is fine at assembly but after 10-15k miles the springs weaken.
3) Inadequate stiffness in the pushrod allowing the lifter to loft - see #2.
4) Crap oils that don't provide adequate levels of cushion for the parts being pressed together by hundreds of pounds of spring pressure.
5) Bleed down on the top end that restricted oil pushrods can help stop to keep the lifters pumped at high RPM (acting as a pseudo solid roller and thus eliminating loft or bleed). Or short-travel lifters.

 

Have not had it on the Dyno yet with this set up. The set up is as follows: AI LS3 heads, Race tech pistons, eagle rods and crank 3/8 push rods LS7 lifters 11.8 CR as per Martin..Ls3 intake and TB 1 7/8 kooks headers A4 trans has a 2800 stall going to a 3600 FTI.

Martin would like to try advancing the cam more and see how it reacts. I will do that when I can get some dyno time. The car runs great..really hate to mess with it.....THANKS MARTIN!!!

 

You should get a video of it in action for us.

 

I agree with Jake's post and I'm glad Jake is seeing that it's not an issue with Comp Cams, but more so an issue with parts selection and component design.

I have always been a big fan of slightly less aggressive lobes than what had been the norm on this website for years. I'm glad to see that most are starting to stray away from the more aggressive lobes and finding other ways to make big power than just jumping straight to the most aggressive lobe(s) in the catalog.

Frank(GNfan) I have found with my LS3 cams, that the earlier I close the intake valve with these heads that they make more torque every single time AND do not lose top end power. I believe that by advancing the cam with these heads because of how large the intake port is I am more efficiently filling the cylinder within the first 75-85 degrees of the intake stroke and not allowing excessive amounts of compression to be lost back out of intake port as the intake valve closes excessively late. I also believe that by advancing the cam, and opening the exhaust valve sooner that it helps to keep the cylinder free of spent exhaust gasses at higher RPM's where the exhaust port needs more time in crank degrees to evacuate the cylinder. Thus keeping the top end power while still closing the intake valve earlier.

If we're trying to burn spent exhaust gas during the combustion event, power is not going to continue to climb and will drop off sharply. The space that is being occupied by spent gas, could of been occupied by fresh intake charge making more power. Opening the exhaust valve at the perfect time can be tricky. You want the longest power stroke you can get, while still evacuating the cylinder fully on the exhaust stroke.

I'd like to see if this holds true in Frank's(GNfan) set-up as well as I believe it will do the same.

 

Martin, did you get a price on that new front cover from comp?

 

It would be a great tool to experiment with the cam timing!