Hey guys I've been sticking parts back for a 383 I'm throwing together to go in my 81 4 door malibu. The car is basically stock weight (I plan on getting a fiberglass hood, already have plastic race seats, and eventually trimming a little more weight) Car is basically a low budget weekend toy that I wanna bracket race eventually. Right now it has a 60 over 350 with flat tops, vortec heads and a 650 dp. With my current th350 and 4.10 gears it runs alright considering it was basically put together from stuff I had laying around. But all the while I've had images of grandeur involving a 383. So over the course of 2 years I've managed to acquire: A set of rhs aluminum heads 210 runners 64cc chambers with 2.02/1.60 valves, cast stroker crank, a set of 6 inch H beam rods with keith black forged pistons. A powerglide with a pro tree that needs rebuilt, and a 010 4 bolt block thats fresh from the machine shop and already prepped for the stroker assembly. When I picked my stuff up from the machine shop the other day (balanced) the guy said I was looking at around 11:1 compression with my heads. So the million dollar question would be what would the cam of choice be for my car with 4.10 gears a powerglide with about a 3500 stall with a aluminum headed 383 with a static compression of about 11:1. Right now I plan on using a performer rpm intake with maybe a spacer and the 650dp until I can upgrade. As for ignition I got one of those mallory comp 9000 distributors with a 6al box. Exhaust is pretty straight forward, just headers with glasspacks bolted on (I've already notched and welded up my crossmember). Car will basically be a once a month bracket racer with very little street time. Machinist said 6500 but I'd like to keep the rpms down to around 6000. And since its an 010 block it will be flat tappet, thanks in advance for any input.
383 Camshaft Selection
- Thread starter jmchap1982
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Good Evening jmchap & all; I've got two cams one sold flat tappet & possibly the one in my Brown Brick (79 Malibu 9C1 for sale post) a solid roller. The specs for both cams are out in the garage. The solid flat tappet is oiled & in a cam box with lifters in correct order, cheep I can mail it this week. The roller is unavailable until warmer weather other issues are resolved & you would be looking at .75 cents on the dollar for the lifters & cam. If this cam becomes available, much or all of my 406"er will be on the block. Check out my for sale post to get handle of my position. Also my good buddy has one or two cams for sale, one being a hyd flat tappet Edelbrock performer. If your interested post back & after supper I'll put on some More layers and head out to the garage, it's 10 Below Zer0 right now. Where are you? I'm So. Wisc. Bob Jr
I don't have a particular cam to recommend but I would stay in the 230-240 degrees of duration at .050
vanrah said:
Hey thanks for the offer, I'm in KY its a little chilly here too but not like Wisc. I'm sure. I've been to Ft. McCoy, in Feb. and I'd rather not see that place again. I'll keep you in mind but I'm probably gonna get a new cam. If I were doing a roller setup I'd consider a used cam, but so far everything else I've gotten is new might as well maintain the status quo. Its taken me 2 years to stick back all this stuff so I don't mind waiting for the funds to get exactly what I need. (bill money and play money are two different things I need more of both haha) but let me know about your roller setup if you decide to part ways with it coming out of a 406 im sure its a retrofit job isnt it?
As far as expectations, I don't really have a specific goal in mind. Car is in pretty decent shape. My buddy traded around and got it and was gonna scrap it so basically I got it for scrap with a knocking 305 and leaking th350. Thats when I rebuilt the th350 and replaced the junk motor with a less junk motor lol. Only reason I'm fond of the car is because its pretty easy to work on. There is plenty of room to do whatever you want in this thing. I've had fox bodys and I'm a ford man at heart but to be honest after working on one of those and comparing that to my malibu, I'd take the malibu 10 to 1 just because I don't hate myself half as much after I'm done wrenching. I'm not a greedy man, I'd be happy with a good consistent car that runs low 12s and anything faster would be icing on the cake in my opinion. I figure if its that fast I'd give some 5.0s, lt1s, and maybe some stock ls motors a run for their money. Also the shock factor of being beat by a 4 door malibu with fat girl stickers on the back glass would be priceless....lol
The PG is a great trans for consistency but it's gunna put a hurting on you as far as the ET is concerned. For real good et's with that trans you have to have pretty low weight or high torque.
You're gunna need to do everything you can do to promote a broad torque band and I don't think the 210cc heads are going to be in your favor with this mild of an application with a PG.
Go with a solid roller, keep the duration short and the lift high, don't scrimp here or you'll be sorry.
If you can't swing a solid roller go with a solid FLT Tappet.
I'd be thinking along the lines of 236-238 duration at .050 max, 1 5/8-1 3/4 primary tube headers, Dual plane intake, 650DP-750DP-750VS carb, thin head gaskets, and race gas.
Basically everything you can do to promote as wide of a torque band as possible. It's what you want to do with 3spd automatics, but it's even more important with a PG.
You're gunna need to do everything you can do to promote a broad torque band and I don't think the 210cc heads are going to be in your favor with this mild of an application with a PG.
Go with a solid roller, keep the duration short and the lift high, don't scrimp here or you'll be sorry.
If you can't swing a solid roller go with a solid FLT Tappet.
I'd be thinking along the lines of 236-238 duration at .050 max, 1 5/8-1 3/4 primary tube headers, Dual plane intake, 650DP-750DP-750VS carb, thin head gaskets, and race gas.
Basically everything you can do to promote as wide of a torque band as possible. It's what you want to do with 3spd automatics, but it's even more important with a PG.
thrasher said:
Thanks for the advice I've never fooled with anything but hydraulic lifters and thats just because for poor folk like me 3 bucks for a lifter they are easier to come by to go in the junk I'm use to fooling with lol. Speaking before I do a little more reading on the subject I guess with the solid lifter more emphasis will be on using feeler gauges for valve lash. With the hydraulic I'd just spin the pushrod a little bit till I feel a tiny bit of drag (obviously on the downside of the cam lobe) and then take it a quarter turn past that and then tighten the poly lock down and give it and the nut both a little snug at the same time to sorta jam it. Run it and adjust as needed.
I'm perfectly comfortable with doing a solid. There is a first time for everything, I haven't given it a whole lot of thought just cause I never fooled with one before. It will more than likely be flt tappet unless I come across a deal on a roller setup. I also have a 2 piece timing cover set to make a cam swap a little easier so I will have some flexibility as long as I don't blow the thing up. Actually I got a buddy with a solid flt tappet comp cam and lifter set still new in the box. He was a little afraid to use it so he never opened it up. I need to find out what exactly it is cause that may just be my future cam lol..
I was planning on throwing the short block together first and seeing where the pistons sit in the block as to relation to what head gaskets I buy and the quench, but yeah I'm all for higher compression and high test gas
And basically I just lucked into the powerglide its the 1.76 ratio for what I got in it I couldnt pass it up. My th350 has a el cheapo advance rebuild kit I got for 60 bucks (with online coupon) so I know the 383 will smoke it. And if I was gonna rebuild one I might as well rebuild the trans thats worth something. But yeah I figure the gearing is gonna hurt me some.
I'm going to have to agree w/ Thrasher on the pg & heads, they will both hurt the bottom and your not going to spin it hard enough to let
the heads work on the top end. Not saying the heads are bad just not optimal. How tall are your slicks?
the heads work on the top end. Not saying the heads are bad just not optimal. How tall are your slicks?
As most have said the head selection will hurt the most for the RPMs your spinning. I have done several 383 with the vortec heads and all were very impressive. Some home porting to clean up the intake and more work opening up the exhaust and a spring upgrade and you have a very nice set of heads for not a lot of money. I use only block that are set up for a hyd roller cam so the choice is easy. The comp. EX282HR are my first choices (direct copy off of ebay for around $150, look under SBC roller) converter choice something in the 28-3200 range and a th350 with some upgrades and a 4.10 gear and slicks. Last one went 11.80s at 112mph. Just had one last weekend that is set up for the street with a 9.5compression 383 with vortec heads comp. EX270HR 3.42 gears 18-2200 stall converter with a th350 run 12.93 at 106 shifting at 5600 rpms on a DR tire. Real tire roster on street tires though.
You Have Deep Gears And A 2 speed. You balanced the rotating assy. So go solid roller and spin the snot out of her. Should be able to pull 7-7500 all day with the right cam and take advantage of those heads. Retrofit rollers are more money bit you can run a more aggressive cam with faster ramp speeds. I run a retro Hyd roller in my 383 from howards cams. It was pretty affordable in the scheme of things but I font take it past 6500. If I were to do it over I would use a solid roller. Gets some feeler gauges lash the cam and roll. Valve lash just becomes routine maintenance.
As for specific recomendations on cams. All some manufacturers with specs and what you want to do. Listen and compare what there telling you. Good chance you'll see a pattern
As for specific recomendations on cams. All some manufacturers with specs and what you want to do. Listen and compare what there telling you. Good chance you'll see a pattern
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