How to make my big block scream?
Thread Starter
On The Tree
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From: arlington heights, Illinois
How to make my big block scream? i just bought a 68 camaro with a 396 in it. its a redone motor with only a cam, intake manifold and exhaust. stock heads. the cam it has now is a solid 580 580 lift 242 242 duration. its pretty doggy right now. i put a new carb on but i still need to adjust the valves becasue the last owner never di that with the solid cam. what can i do to wake this motor up though? what kind of heads? it has a 9 inch rear with 4:10 gears and a turbo 400 with a 4000 stall but i will prolly put a muncie rock drusher in it soon becaue this trans is slipping.
Thanks
Jesse
Thanks
Jesse
Teching In
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From: Simonds (God's Vacation Home), New Brunswick
Get rid of the cam for something a little smaller and drop in an OD tranny with about a 2500 rpm stall. That will really wake up your old 396 for the street. You didn't say what you wanted to do with the car but, "street is reet". It sounds like someone was trying to build a hi rpm strip motor. Are the heads oval port of rectangualr port?
SStewart
SStewart
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From: Gainesville, Florida # of drag strips runs: ?!?!?
stock heads doesn't tell us much, but if they are stock 69 castings, I'd ditch them for something with better flow like an Edlebrock Performer RPM oval port. The cam will be fine if you can feed it the air it needs to work. That cam and heads will work fine with the stall in the Turbo 400 or even the manual trans as well. I'd use at least a performer rpm intake and 750 double pumper holley as well.
Derek
Derek
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From: Bethalto, IL
Depending on what the heads are, you can rework them and make plenty of power out of them for a lot less than a set of aluminum heads. I have a set of closed chamber oval ports that have 2.19/1.88 valves and have been ported and polished on my big block and it dynoed out at 500 hp and 500ft/lb and that is with a hydraulic roller cam and a stock lower end.
Staging Lane
Joined: Jun 2006
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396 motors are dogs if u get it to go the block will crack if the car is a matching # car pull it as it is and put it away put a 454 502 what ever and beat that dont wreck the 396 block they are going away and replacements are getting pricy -- jz
Teching In
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What do you plan on doing with the car. A 396 with that size cam should run. Do you know duration #s .
When you say stock exhaust , do you mean cast exhaust manifolds? If it doesent have headers yet get them and it will run much better no more than 2 1/8 tube with a long collecter.
You should have 2.5 in and out of muffler.
The funny thing about heads is the stock large ovals, with little work flow as much as a 396 can handle and as much as edelbrock performer rpm heads.
The best intake manifolds are performer rpm and some cases dart oval single with n20.
Ive run as much 850+ carb on 396s and loved it. Dbl pumper no vacume. Cam is to big for that.
When you say stock exhaust , do you mean cast exhaust manifolds? If it doesent have headers yet get them and it will run much better no more than 2 1/8 tube with a long collecter.
You should have 2.5 in and out of muffler.
The funny thing about heads is the stock large ovals, with little work flow as much as a 396 can handle and as much as edelbrock performer rpm heads.
The best intake manifolds are performer rpm and some cases dart oval single with n20.
Ive run as much 850+ carb on 396s and loved it. Dbl pumper no vacume. Cam is to big for that.
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You can road race that motor all you want, they are solid. The only down fall is front end weight and braking with an auto trans.
You should check and see if the heads on youre car were setup for a cam that big. Stock valve guides wont take over .520 lift before they hit.
The camaro is a good start for road racing as there is lots of chassis upgrades and tricks .
You should check and see if the heads on youre car were setup for a cam that big. Stock valve guides wont take over .520 lift before they hit.
The camaro is a good start for road racing as there is lots of chassis upgrades and tricks .
Thread Starter
On The Tree
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From: arlington heights, Illinois
well all i know about the heads are that they are ported 67-69 castings with 107 CC, rectangle ports and closed chambers. i need to know what a good road race cam would be that makes good power. also im puting a T56 six speed in the car.
thanks
Jesse
thanks
Jesse
You can use a LT1 T56....it will bolt right up mechanically. You will have to mount all you hydraulics, but not that big a deal. D&D also makes a tranny that you can use mechanical linkage on I believe. For a RR cam you need something with a strong mid range that makes a lot of torque early. For a BBC/SBC which ever you can check out engine masters and look at some of the cams they use in their shootouts.
