Companies out there that have a good selection of performance cams??
Specifically a factory grind 1968-69 428 CJ cam kit??

 

I was impressed with crower’s grind selection, as well as their customer service grinding my custom grind.

 

thank you - I might end up having to have someone grind and old CJ cam for me.

 

The CJ cam isn't really anything special, and being for a lighter car it's even less impressive in a pickup. the CJ in my high boy had a stock cam in when I bought it and I wasn't impressed.

in my opinion generic grinds are a thing of the past. all you need to know is the name Brent Lykins. talk to him and get a cam spec'd for your exact application. preferably a roller.

 

thank you for the heads up
I'll check them out

 

Definitely Brent Lykens

 

This got me thinking. Thank you 440 sixpack.
Many many moons ago my oldest sister had a boyfriend with a purple 440 6pak Cuda with the infamous Pistol Grip Shifter..

Back in 2005 I re-camed a 1972 390 2V in a pickup. At the time I was working for a company named Hi-Tech Racing and one of the owners had a cam custom ground for low compression engines he called a Reactor. He claimed the overlap allowed for more of a cylinder charge due to its unique over lap.
The '72 390 2V had 8.7:1 compression so I thought it was the perfect cam. I had a intake and carburetor off a 1966 390 GT and a set of heders so I figured it was the perfect cam. One of the old guy there told me the only cam you put in an FE was a 428CJ cam, again this was 20 years ago.

A good friend of my has a 1969 Mach I with a 428 SCJ 4-speed with no PS. It has always been a garage queen and to this day it only has about 27k miles on it.
I don't think its been out of his garage for more than 50 years.
We used to take it down on State Street one in a while to pick on the other muscle cars, Rod was the master at launching his Mach I.
He spanked everything across the intersection with barely spinning the tires.
I used to LOVE the low end torque.
In the late 80s I was living just outside Denver CO and had become friends with a guy named Joe Novak, a big time Ford drag racer.
At one time he had a partner and they actually owned a Thunderbolt. He owned a few different cars that he raced like a factory 1969 Mustang convertible with a 428 SCJ which was one of his most successful cars.
When I met him he had a 1968 Fairlane Cobra with a 428CJ with a C6. He ran a stock class.
He had a picture on his tool box, he worked at a large Ford dealer in Denver and coming off the line his right front tire was about 3" off the ground a "stock" class.
He has two ford 2 tone farm truck that both had 428CJ in them.
I asked him what he shifted his 428 at and he told me 3600 RPM. His best time at Bandimere Speedway in the mile high city was am 11.76 and that was before he replaced the Detroit Locker with a spool and replaced the driveline with an aluminum one.

This is why I was leaning soo hard on a factory 428CJ cam, until you mentioned weight.
I've had some pretty bad luck with health issues over the last two years and my funds unfortunately are limited.
No custom grind or roller cam for me.


My truck weighs 6700 bs with my ATV in the bed and I plan on towing my small travel trailer that I'm guessing weighs around 6500 lbs loaded.
410, 1966 390 2V with a 428 crank and 10>5:1 compression.
Edelbrock Performer intake, Holley 650 cfm and a set of Hedman Heders.
This is what I need the right cam for.

 

I have been happiest with crower stuff in my f250s. Comp had a narrow power curve I felt like, as well as the comps tend to run noisy. Not ideal at lengthy drives. As far as a custom cam, I never went that route on account that upon discussing the fundamentals with too numerous of folks to account for I was always told an "ideal" cam grind for my application would be WAY too much duration for my tastes, and when questioning the reasoning for this The grinders always responded that with my high compression ratio and heavy vehicle the detonation problem would be severe. so we needed to combat that by installing a grind that "dumps" some compression. Apparently my reminding them I am at 6000' above sea level and air is thin to begin with, in addition to every direction from me is up to leave the valley, 10:1+ will run on 85 octane up here, WE NEED TO KEEP COMPRESSION. I always went with a grind many many steps less duration and lift than the "custom calculation" I still have days where vacuum is not great. I have had my friends buy custom grinds and had very low yielding results due to our thin atmosphere. If you find a cam grinder that understands volumetric efficiency well enough to fine tune a grind for a higher elevation application, maybe a custom grind would be great. I have built enough engines to know what the characteristics of 280+ duration grind will do in a heavy vehicle; we can only do so much with timing. custom grinds seem to do much better, however it has to make sense and sea level operation is much different than a mile above sea level. I have been happiest with some of the crower grinds lately.

 

Call him. Wish I would have. There’s no reason for off the shelf stuff anymore. I still can’t believe I was dumb enough to let the machine shop pick a cam for me. Just give him a call, spend the extra few dollars, and end up happy.

 

Whether the roller cam is more expensive or not depends, it's going to cost a lot more if your flat tappet lifters grind away and you have to rebuild the engine. and you still don't have a roller cam. the failure rate on the new manufacture lifters is shocking, unless something changes the flat tappet will go the way of the do do bird.

even if you go with a flat tappet Brent can do those too, it's just going to be more limited with the ramp profiles that are possible.

 

Thank you. I live at 6200 ft and everything is up from here for me.
I lowest my truck will probably ever see is 4200 ft.

 

More good advice, thank you again.
It would be nice not running oil that's $12+ qt.

My 410 was rebuilt back in 1972 and was never stated until I bought it a few years ago, the rings never seated.
Worrying about the cam going flat was never an issue.
My how things have changed.

 

The 428CJ came with two cams. You want the C8AX-6250-C camshaft, it had an overlap of 58 degrees, a duration of 282 degrees, a valve lift of 0.500 inches, and a lobe lift of 0.289 inches. It was the choppiest cam Ford ever made.

 

C6OZ-6250-B

 

Cobra jet and Super Cobra Jet. the Super used solid lifters. neither one is anything special, it's an RPM profile intended to have acceptable low end torque, but in a heavy pickup it's barely acceptable.