Pick A Cam for Me

[Scoobum]

The short block is waiting on the stand...here's the details...fire away guys.

109 Std Bore-Balanced
6262 Turbo
TA Aluminum Street Heads-When Norbs Gets Them Yanked Off His S1
Champion Race Intake
AC NL 3000 Convertor
60 LB Injectors
Alky
2004R
3.42 Gears

[Charlief1]

This can get a little sticky depending on which theory you choose to follow. I've been on speedtalk for a while now reading a lot of tech from both racers and engineers and some of it will seem muddy but you might want to do a little reading up before you make a choice on what you go with. Here's a link to a good thread. There's also a good thread on head design for an NA vs forced induction that explains a lot of the issues the Buick suffers from.

http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=26230

[Steve Wood]

212 roller cam

[Scoobum]

Thanks guys.

[Steve Wood]

and, if you don't want roller, use the 212 flat tappet that FT sells, or maybe the one from TA Performance with a set of their good lifters

[Scoobum]

It's gonna be roller Steve...as this is the block that has smoked 2 camshafts.

[Steve Wood]

Billy Anderson used to have some special grinds that he developed for the Buicks...drop him a note, or give him a shout....

[Just a Six?]

Get ready for a novel here! 
Since this is on topic I'm looking at a few cams.
Good shortblock fully ported iron heads. 67 Q trim (also a P housing here I've never tried)
Currently a 210-215 roller with a 3400 LU 9/11 converter.
No cage so I have to keep in the 11's anyways which the car does now.
20lbs = 11.40 with the chip from Eric as is delivered & car was rich. Boost controller wasn't working when I went to BPG last year. Temp was 100* & humid. Too hot for to be ajusting anything that day. Plus I couldn't have bent over the car even if I wanted to from my back.
The purpose now is a couple T&T days & cruising.
 
Only change on new engine is GN-1 alum 14 bolt heads.
I would like to go from 210-215 up to either the 215-220 (needs 3500ish stall) or the 218-222 (needs 3200+ stall)
Full Throttle claims the 218-222 has better top end power but claims the 215-220 loves the bigger turbos with a Q trim. So either will fit with my existing parts.
Any thoughts from anyone either from personal experience or the guys who understand cams better than I do. That would be most of you I think! 
 
It's not the point of what is faster but more what would be the most fun for street & strip & which has the edge with my 3400 9/11.
I'm very happy with the 210-215 I have but that will be sold with the engine when I sell the package deal. I just want to try something different.
The Erson 214-214 was a great cam & still remember it being lots of fun. Just time to try something else again. 
I'm thinking the 218-222 would probably have quicker response cruising since it needs a slightly lower stall than the 215-220.
I've been staring at these 2 cam specs for a while & it's almost a coin toss right now. 
Thanks! 
 
PS: Why are some cams 218-212 & then some are opposite like the 212-218
 

[Charlief1]

I don't see a 218/222 cam on his site David? I do see a 218/212 cam though. My big question here is what you're expecting with the car? Do you want a car that you can do 10's in or something mild manored? If this is the last one are you planing on making a bonzai run just to see what she'll do and then get kicked off the track?
 
As far as cam tech goes the larger numbers on the exhaust VS intake are for specific reasons. The stock cam even had a longer duration on the exhaust for better loading of the turbo. With the higher HP/RPM of an engine it's not as important to load the exhaust up for spooling purposes. This also has to do with the operating RPM of the engine involved. If you're running one that won't get turned more than 6K then loading the exhaust to spool the turbo makes sense. If you're planning on launching at 4K and running up to 7-8K then you don't need to load the exhaust because the engine will move enough volume of exhaust to do the job.

[Just a Six?]

Charlie guess I was thinking about a Bonzai run at some point. Altho at the rate I see the track it may be a while. Have to get some PL runs before I just let fly & hang on! 
My trans shifts at 5950 when in Drive. My car hits pretty good but I'm always slower on the top end. Altho the last 2 years I had my 3800 LU installed which slips pretty good. Problem is I have no definate goals right now but I would like to try a different cam just for the fun of it.
Thanks for the info you provided.
I didn't notice that it wasn't a Roller until I checked the link!! I guess the 215-220 just went to 1st choice.
Here is the 218-222 http://www.fullthrottlespeed.com/itemdesc.asp+ic+105218%2F222+eq++Tp+ & the 215-220 http://www.fullthrottlespeed.com/itemdesc.asp+ic+105215%2F220%2Froll+eq++Tp+
 
Hopefully everything will be working properly at BPG & I can log some good runs with 26+ lbs boost. That should help me decide as well.

[Charlief1]

Well that explanes it David. I was looking at the roller only cams and that one is basically the same as the 204/214 flat tappet cam. Just has a little more duration so you could use a 204/214 and have basically the same thing. Are you looking for a roller or flat tappet?

[Just a Six?]

Roller. I have some GN-1's with Scorpion 155 rockers. Thinking of using either the Comp 885's but I have 883's now & after cleaning, plunging, oiling & more plunging before installation they are quiet. Crud did come out of them & 2 pairs were hard to compress when I first inspected them. Also with the T&D rockers there is room for proper adjustment of preload. I know many complain about them so either my prep helped or I got lucky.
The Morels are $100 cheaper but some say they get noisy after a while? I don't know if thats due to possible improper prep & installation by the guys that have the complaints or if they just aren't as good as everyone hoped they would be??     

[Steve Wood]

The reason your car falls down on the top end is your tuning.  Last time you ran it, you were flooding it with fuel.  The engine was bogging down and needed a lot of fuel taken out. If you want to run 11.0, you can do that with a factory flat tappet cam with your combo.

Shifting at 59whatever rpm, would simply waste a larger cam that you have been running.  Frankly, trying to run more than 6000 rpm with a hydraulic roller is pretty dicey, anyway, as somewhere around 6300 rpm or so, you are going to start bouncing the valves off the piston when they float.

If I were advising you from scratch, I would suggest not more than a 210-210 roller and a 206-206 might be better.  But, since you already have a cam, no since buying another one, imo.

Your decision has to be determined by whether you want the over all best performing car for the times you want to run, or do you want to be able to say, I think I can run 9.8 on the track, but, I don't have a cage in it-and give up a little of the drivability.

No matter which you opt for, you need to tune it next time.

[Charlief1]

I'm with Steve here. What you've got is really big and a smaller cam would work better. Even if you got some 1.6 or 1.65 rockers you've got the potential for a 9 second run. This is one of those things that you hear all the time. For what you want to do your combo is a little miss matched and needs a little more work. What's the compression ratio on the engine as it sits?

[Just a Six?]

Steve Thanks for the  kick in the azz to wake up & stop the winter dreaming! Being bored & staring at new heads sitting here so I tend to let my mind wander thinking of shiny new parts!
I don't even know what the current combo will do yet since I have no tuning done.
I need to get some track passes to see how little boost I can run to get an 11.00 & take it from there. I hope for at least a couple passes before BPG.
Charlie right now the compression is not much higher than stock. The new motor has been decked some (just enuf to be flat & square) & the heads are shaved about 3 thous. So with RJC gaskets I ASSume it's at least a few points higher than stock.
Thanks for the advice.
 
I had a rough morning so I'm trying get back from Warp Speed!