L88 cam in L78?

[Born30YrsLate]

Rob - the car will have the 198 L-88 intake and a Holley 950 cfm 3-barrel. Because of the kind of car the motor will be going in to, I feel it needs to be feared/respected on the street as well as the track. The car will be driven no more than a couple times during the year....local shows and local cruises.
I appreciate everyones input so far....... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img]

JoeG - what size cam do you have in your 396 Phase III Chevelle?...... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/[/img]

[JoeG]

Born30YrsLate,
Everybody is right with these different cam combinations, it just depends on how much cam you are willing to live with on the street. I had installed a PHASE III cam from Motion 535/555 lift, and the extra lift with the open plenum and three bbl really came alive mid -range ,kept it in for about a year. I went back to the 143 because with the auto there was less creep and loping in traffic.It sounds like you want to step up a little with your cam selection,go ahead ,with the setup your talking about your engine would welcome the extra air., you can always change, at least you can say you tried it--Just my opinion--JoeG

[Chevy454]

Some things to consider...

The L-88 intake is gonna be a single plane (open plenum), as opposed to the 163 dual plane of the L-78/L-72. The open plenum is geared towards the upper RPM range, and is gonna hurt anything geared towards the low end or lower-mid range. Also, I'm gonna *guess* the 950 is a double pumper? If so, it's not exactly the optimum street carb...I myself favor a vacuum secondary carb. The 4.56 gears will help keep the revs up for the big intake/carb combo, so the rest of the combo is geared towards revs. That means you'd better have a good valvetrain, and you're almost gonna have to have a fairly healthy cam to make best use of the other components. Now, being in a relatively light car and being a 4-speed will help.

Like everyone has stated, the 143 or something equivalent is gonna be better for the street and will have vacuum, but as you start edging towards the L-88 range of cams drivability and vacuum become concerns. And, some people can tolerate more/less than others. But, you may need to turn some RPM's to fully use the intake/carb combo. Wayne's pure stock L-88 Corvette made 571hp with a custom grind. Shoot him an email and see what cam and vacuum he's got: nelson66@REMOVE_ME_ecenet.com

Now, my recommendation. The rule of thumb on carbs and cams is that it's better to go too small as opposed to too big. I think you'd be fine to go with the 143 cam, and it would do what you want. But, a call to Comp and Crane would be your best bet, if nothing more than to get another opinion. I'm gonna guess Comp will steer you towards the Muscle Magnum cam, but be sure and ask about idle and vacuum quality.

[JoeG]

Something also to consider--The L /88 manifold is completely gutted open. The edelbrock C-427x,has only a section cut out of the plenum divider,for the 3bbl sec throttle plate, giving it a little better low end response.I think you got what you wanted from everyone input---O.K. Flip a coin [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]--If you call the cam doctors like to hear what they say.----JoeG.

I,m just going to add to GMH454,---He's right the 3bbl in the beginning was not a street friendly carb, but Edelbrock did make it more streetable thru some modifications and I did have to play with mine a bit to get it to work properly.--To make the car more streetable,after awhile I changed to a Tarantula man .and a 3310 Holley.The car had some manners then.Whatever you decide I would like to see photos if possible [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img]---JoeG

[Chevy454]

Milling the divider down a tad on the 163 intake is supposed to be the hot ticket. Kind of a "best of both worlds" scenario.

[JoeG]

Correct [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img]

[Born30YrsLate]

I'm still struggling between my "young self" where being able to rev the hell out of stuff makes me smile and what years of experience has taught you guys.....I do say that you guys are doing a very good job in getting me away from over doing my motor....I guess I'm the type of person that if I say I have a L-88 motor I want it to have all the parts to be one....I will be talking with a couple cam companies to get their input...I will keep you guys posted ---the motor will also be dyno tuned and have the distributor recurved for my specific set up....I think you guys will like where this is going... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]...
Thanks again......[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img]

[JLerum]

If you go after market try to find someone that really knows the cams from an engineering point of view. John Partrigde from Bullet Cams does a wonderful job. I have yet to hear something bad.

Bullet cams is the old Lunati group that left Lunati when Holley bought out the company. If you've been keeping an ear to the drag racing seen they have done very well. I know the cam card of Wayne's L-88 vette is a Bullet cam. Just a thought! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/scholar.gif[/img]

JIM [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif[/img]

[GMH454]

Am rebuilding the driveline of a local A/Mod car that ran LS7 074 alloy head BBC back in 1974. Car was 3700lbs usually with 4.56 (12 Bolt also ran a Hone OD ) Car track raced with dual 660s but street raced ( he was a BAAAD boy )with Weiand intake and a 780 vac.
Reason was that it produced better torque out of the hole, and with 3700 lbs it was a factor.
850DPs were made for the Vette A Prod wars with the Cobras.
Great carb but originally designed for the race track (read one with corners )
There is a school of thought, that the the bigger the carb, the better the carb, but ain't always so.
[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/[/img]