Originally posted by shevy not heme
Those of you that have installed a hot cam and THEN found that your car has turned into an unmanagable mongrel raise your hands... Fact is that the cams and other performance goodies are big money makers and so they don't tell unsuspecting kids that the parts are only worth a nickel if you are doing 3000rpm and higher. And that simply isn't practical unless it is a race car. Cam selection involves dozens of varibles of which about 70% or more of street rods don't come close to being a good matching combination. Sometimes, operating range (RPM) should be what we make our selection of parts around. Just ask the auto-makers about that. And I've made alot of these mistakes of building em bakards.
Yep, so have I. That's why in a recent post I stated that the cam is the final item that should be purchased for a motor. Younguns don't understand that the cam should be used to compliment the build. They think that the wilder the grind, the faster their car will be.

I recall back to the days when my youngest son was in high school auto shop. I used to go up when I had the time and help Mr. Painter (shop teacher). I'd take a dozen or so of the youngsters into an adjacent room and field their questions about motors. They used to call me "Mr. No-cam". I remember one youngster in particular who had a '69 Chevelle 350/350 with a 2.73 open rear and stock converter. He had chosen a cam with over 300 degrees duration (advertised) and couldn't understand why the car wouldn't pull the hat off his head.