Would this cam work in a 400 with the rest of the stock valve train?

COMP Cams: Xtreme Energy™, XE284H <BR> Street/Strip, Rough Idle

 

Well I know it would fit, but would it work with the rest of the valvetrain being stock? This motor is also gonna be bored .010 over and have a 4bbl holley, performer intake, and headers...

 

probably the benchmark cam for any small block is the early sixties 300hp/327 cam

basic specs were close to 280 duration .480 lift depending on who was writing and measuring.

This cam is basically a 280-290 duration and the lift is about .560 or so. I would tell you imho that about .500 is top lift on a stock setup.

The 2300 to 6500rpm alone should mean a lot of work on the top end. Ford small blocks are legendary low rpm torque motors. They just dont come from the factory ready to run that high rpm IMHO and i have built more than few sbfs in my time.

To run that high rpm a cam you will likley need a good set of dart or dartII heads or something close to it. They should come already adapted for the high rpm

 

I agree with DKW 86. That is too much cam for a 400. I run a similar cam in a 65 Fastback Mustang.....with aluminum heads, big headers and two four's. I would not even consider this cam on a stock 400. Just my opinion though.

 

Then what about this one?

COMP Cams: Magnum, 280H <br> Good in Street Machine, Rough Idle

 

What are you wanting out of this engine?Is your truck a daily driver or a racer?What other modifications are being done on the engine?

 

I looked on comp cams website and all of these cams require heavier valve springs. but if that was in your plans i would go with this:
COMP Cams: Dual Energy™, 255DEH <BR> Good Torque & Mileage, Good RV & Towing Cam

Bigger isnt always better especially for a stock moter. For a stock 400 in a heavy truck this is ideal.

 

This is a much better choice. All to often people pick cams that are way too big for their particualr application. Sure it's sounds sweet to have the rough idle but the truck will become such a pig to drive and actually end up having less power than you do now. This one would work for you High Energy 268H Everyday performance driving, noticeable idle. You could still get away with your stock valvetrain (depending on how hard you beat it) and it will give you a decent power upgrade and driveability.

The other two cams you couldn't even use your stock valvetrain. You would be into coil bind right off and wouldn't even get to floating the valves.

Gus has a good cam picked out but I'm sensing you want to hear a bit of an idle, right?

I'm not sure where DKW was going with that but small blocks can live on rev limiters and that's where they do the best work. If you are building a torque motor start with a low reving big block and leave the small blocks for those of us that love the sweet sound of rpm's!

 

Years ago, when I was young and did not know better, I had a 400 small block Chevy that used the 268H cam. That cam is about as big as I would go in a stock 400 Ford engine. It had a noticeable idle when cold and slightly less noticeable idle when warm. IMHO.

 

I had this conversation with Tim from TMI not too long ago, he says about the max you wanna look at for essentially a stock engine, will have no more than .500" of lift. Which brings you to the DEH255 from comp or the lower 2 mechanical FT cams from Lunati. He said he's starting to see a slight favoring to the lunati cams.