Performance and street manners
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Freshman User
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Performance and street manners
Hey guys, sorry to throw more silly questions at yall, Im still a junior mechanic in training lol I try to look around before posting, but I can't find a thread on this, so here goes, I dont fully understand performance cams and street driving, some range from 1000-4500 or 3000-6500 etc. Etc. But then common engine knowledge, dont run to big a cam on the street due to "bad" street manners. A guy a work with he drives a truck to work everyday all hopped up 3500 stall 3000+ cam, well... THAT'S A HUGE CAM to be coming on around 3000 on the street, but he says it has all the power in the world so I figured if you have everything lined up like so why does everyone say having a big cam causes street driving issues.??? High compression, right converter to match big cam, low gears, where would the street manner issues come in? Thanks for yalls time
Laughing Gas
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 884
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From: Shreveport, LA
I'll take a stab at it. Because the right cam is ALL about having the right timing events for the parameters that the engine needs. And to my surprise, that included a lot more things than I thought it would when I was building my engine. Particularly head flow at various lifts, plenum volume of the intake manifold/intake tract, exhaust primary and pipe sizing and transmission ratios. There are the usual things like compression, displacement, rear end gear, stall etc. But appropriate timing events determine the driveability.
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Joined: Apr 2004
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"Street manners" are different for different drivers. For simplicity's sake, let's divide drivers into two catagories: "Normal" and "Nuts".
Normal drivers want an easy start up, fairly quick warm up, a smooth, quiet idle, a smooth engagement into gear, effortless part throttle acceleration, smooth shifts and drive-all-day reliability.
Nuts drivers want a snarling difficult to start beast with a body-shaking idle that has to be tended to until the motor gets warm, but not too warm. They like a neck snapping drop into drive. A 3000 stall is a kiss away from fogging the tires at intersections. Shifts are like freight cars coupling. Driving all day means a change of plugs or two. You don't sign up with AAA for towing, you buy a trailer and tow rig.
So how is the driving experience in your buddy's rig? Closer to normal or nuts? Carefully matched with all the other components you list, a rig with a big cam can be fairly drivable. But it's always going to have an element of noise, harshness, vibration and unreliability that is absent from most stock vehicles.
Normal drivers want an easy start up, fairly quick warm up, a smooth, quiet idle, a smooth engagement into gear, effortless part throttle acceleration, smooth shifts and drive-all-day reliability.
Nuts drivers want a snarling difficult to start beast with a body-shaking idle that has to be tended to until the motor gets warm, but not too warm. They like a neck snapping drop into drive. A 3000 stall is a kiss away from fogging the tires at intersections. Shifts are like freight cars coupling. Driving all day means a change of plugs or two. You don't sign up with AAA for towing, you buy a trailer and tow rig.
So how is the driving experience in your buddy's rig? Closer to normal or nuts? Carefully matched with all the other components you list, a rig with a big cam can be fairly drivable. But it's always going to have an element of noise, harshness, vibration and unreliability that is absent from most stock vehicles.
Thread Starter
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Freshman User
Joined: Oct 2016
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"Street manners" are different for different drivers. For simplicity's sake, let's divide drivers into two catagories: "Normal" and "Nuts".
Normal drivers want an easy start up, fairly quick warm up, a smooth, quiet idle, a smooth engagement into gear, effortless part throttle acceleration, smooth shifts and drive-all-day reliability.
Nuts drivers want a snarling difficult to start beast with a body-shaking idle that has to be tended to until the motor gets warm, but not too warm. They like a neck snapping drop into drive. A 3000 stall is a kiss away from fogging the tires at intersections. Shifts are like freight cars coupling. Driving all day means a change of plugs or two. You don't sign up with AAA for towing, you buy a trailer and tow rig.
So how is the driving experience in your buddy's rig? Closer to normal or nuts? Carefully matched with all the other components you list, a rig with a big cam can be fairly drivable. But it's always going to have an element of noise, harshness, vibration and unreliability that is absent from most stock vehicles.
Normal drivers want an easy start up, fairly quick warm up, a smooth, quiet idle, a smooth engagement into gear, effortless part throttle acceleration, smooth shifts and drive-all-day reliability.
Nuts drivers want a snarling difficult to start beast with a body-shaking idle that has to be tended to until the motor gets warm, but not too warm. They like a neck snapping drop into drive. A 3000 stall is a kiss away from fogging the tires at intersections. Shifts are like freight cars coupling. Driving all day means a change of plugs or two. You don't sign up with AAA for towing, you buy a trailer and tow rig.
So how is the driving experience in your buddy's rig? Closer to normal or nuts? Carefully matched with all the other components you list, a rig with a big cam can be fairly drivable. But it's always going to have an element of noise, harshness, vibration and unreliability that is absent from most stock vehicles.
Super Moderator
Joined: Apr 2004
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You and anyone who regularly rides in the vehicle. The little woman may not like those front wheel lifting upshifts.....
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Freshman User
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[QUOTE=85e150six4mtod;17136530]You and anyone who regularly rides in the vehicle. The little woman may not like those front wheel lifting upshifts.....[/QUOTE
Yep so far the only question I've got from the fiancé is does it have AC and radio haha
[/QUOTEYep so far the only question I've got from the fiancé is does it have AC and radio haha
Junior User
Joined: Apr 2016
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Remember that as your performance level increases, so will the maintenance on the vehicle. And of course the amount of money you spend goes up considerably. Guys have some crazy street set ups out there but they are willing to go down that route.
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