How's this Crane cam compare to the LT-1

[70 Forest Green Zee]

I have this exact Crane cam in my 1970 Z28 and the car runs smooth and very strong! The factory LT1 cam was starting to show some wear so I chose this cam due to Crane's good reputation....which ever cam brand you chose, I'd recomend staying away from anything from Comp Cams...I know several of those that have failed and never made it past the break in period! Hope this helps.

[70-SS/RS-L78]

COPO I had that cam in my Z and I was real happy with it,
She gets Real happy @ 3 grand and pulls real hard to 65-7000.
Dont even think about using pump gas though.

[COPO427]

I put the cam/lifters/chain/both sprockets in the 1st week in June. I broke the cam in using JoeGibbs BR oil for 40 min per Cranes instructions. Dumped the oil/filter and refilled with BR oil for 100 mi still with my old 43,000 mi springs. I'm now in the process of changing my valve springs and valve seals then I'm going to put 400 mi on the car before dumping the BR oil and going to JoeGibbs Hot Rod oil. So far the cam wasn't working as good as I thought but I still need to set my total timing to 36*, change my coil to a MSD Blaster 2 and install the Crane XR-i Points To Electronic Ignition instead of points and 1.52 roller tip rocker arms and of course the valve springs. A few years ago my Pertronix died that's why I went to points (to use them up) then I saw the Crane with a rev limiter.

Car is a 4 speed w 4.10 rear gears. But during my 1985 rebuild, I went to 9.0:1 Vanolia 40 os pistons due to the low actane gas on the street. Before the LT-1 cam wore out 3 lobes (probably from dry starts using Mobil-1) it worked good but I wanted a cam that would start to work sooner than the LT-1 cam. That's why I went with the lower duration. To try it out.

My next rebuild will be full roller.

[69 Post Sedan]

[ QUOTE ]
I put the cam/lifters/chain/both sprockets in the 1st week in June. I broke the cam in using JoeGibbs BR oil for 40 min per Cranes instructions. Dumped the oil/filter and refilled with BR oil for 100 mi still with my old 43,000 mi springs. I'm now in the process of changing my valve springs and valve seals then I'm going to put 400 mi on the car before dumping the BR oil and going to JoeGibbs Hot Rod oil. So far the cam wasn't working as good as I thought but I still need to set my total timing to 36*, change my coil to a MSD Blaster 2 and install the Crane XR-i Points To Electronic Ignition instead of points and 1.52 roller tip rocker arms and of course the valve springs. A few years ago my Pertronix died that's why I went to points (to use them up) then I saw the Crane with a rev limiter.

Car is a 4 speed w 4.10 rear gears. But during my 1985 rebuild, I went to 9.0:1 Vanolia 40 os pistons due to the low actane gas on the street. Before the LT-1 cam wore out 3 lobes (probably from dry starts using Mobil-1) it worked good but I wanted a cam that would start to work sooner than the LT-1 cam. That's why I went with the lower duration. To try it out.

My next rebuild will be full roller.

[/ QUOTE ]

I had the Crane cams XR-i electronic ignition in my Nova and loved it. The cam specs on the 427 I had in it said the cam was good to 6000 rpm. I set the rev limiter to 6250. I am an rpm junkie so that helped me keep them down.

[VintageMusclecar]

Mark;

Did you degree the cam in, or just install it "dot-to-dot"? Having the cam degreed in can make a very noticeable difference in when/where the powerband starts.

Since you've dropped your compression down to 9-1, you can probably get away with upping your intial and total timing as well, which should also help driveability. You might try something along the lines of 16° initial and 38°-40° total, all in by 3000 rpm since you have a stick and 4.10 gears.

Just thought.

Eric

[COPO427]

I went dot to dot since I'm not racing it on the track. The old LT-1 rebuilt in '85 which got 43,000 mi was set by my builder dot to dot and it was still dot to dot when I took it all apart. Amazing.

I'll set my total timing to 36* @ 3000 rpm with dist vac disconnected. Haven't done that yet, got to swap the springs first while the heads are on the car. I only did #1 cyl so far. I really appreciate your replies too guys.

[70 Forest Green Zee]

For the rercord...I still have the orginal 11:1 stock pistons in my 70 Z with the Crane cam and it runs just fine on 93 octane pump gas. I do however add Max Lead to the gas which puts the lead back in the gas, and also raises the octane level to around 100 or 101. I found a place to buy Max Lead for 45 bucks a gallon and 1 gallon usually lasts me the entire cruisin season. Anyone interested in usuing Max Lead can read about it and buy it here: http://www.maxlead2000.com/

[1968 nova ss]

ah,the max lead 2000;just what i was looking for;building a 11;0 compression or more 396 and wasn;t sure how i would drive the car much ;with racing gas prices.I will try it out.thanks,chris