woundering what cam to put in my chevy 355

[Southernboss84]

my 355 heads are the biggest heads you can get without going to 202's i have a performer intake on this motor also have headers the pistons are flat top pistons the motor is just a plane motor i wanted to find a good nice healthy cam to go with and i want it to hit good but i dont want to over cam my motor and i was also woundering if a 700R4 Tranny is any good to run behinde that motor whatever cam i go with iam going to change the springs out and the lifters i was wanting to get 400 hp out of the motor i am not sure what a 355 stock produces i was also woundering if 373 gears would be good gears to run i dont want to spin out i want to grip and go also dont wanna haft to use a big conveter on it and would the heads be ok to use or would i be better off geting some bigger ones well just want some help on this build i never had to choose a cam for one just always went stock

[pat mccarthy]

most RV cams or a Elgin e1065pk @.050.. 216/216. lift .454/454 LC 110 or Howards 110931-11 @.050..213/213 lift .450/.450.. 111Lc..or CompCam 12-238-2 @.050...218/224 lift .462/.469 or Isky 201264 @.050..214/214 lift .450/.450lc 108.. all cams will work with stock converter so should work ok... not the biggest cam you can go with a stock stall but all make power about were i think you will use it . forget HP work on TQ that s what pins your ass to the seat

[Southernboss84]

thanks i got another ? where do you get that choppy idle from the lift or the duration i do like TQ alot of it but i want to make my truck move to cause it is a heavy truck i wanna be able to give other sports cars a good run for there money on the road

[pat mccarthy]

with no TQ you have to starts at hi Rpm.s and stay in the hp band to work.you have a ROCK that you need to get rolling fast less your racing down hill your better with TQ cams for this build. choppy idle comes from big dur cams and over lap that may not help you any other then sound cool at idle. when some guy hands you your ass in a race with less of a cam in a engine built for Tq and geared to work the best it can

[Southernboss84]

well thanks for the info i have a question me and my buddy was cleaning out his shop and ran across a 280 duration cam with a 480 lift i was wondering if this would be a good cam to put in my 355 i noticed where you was naming the cams and durations along with the lifts you didn't have that one in there or would one of the cams you named off be a better cam for the 355 and would it perform better such as Tq and power i just thought i would ask before i went and bought a cam cause he had this one already and he gave it to me but if i need to buy a different one i will i was also wondering if these heads are good heads to run on my 355 Summit Racing SUM-152123 - Summit Racing® Cast Iron Cylinder Heads for Small Chevy

Summit Racing SUM-152123 - Summit Racing® Cast Iron Cylinder Heads for Small Chevy
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Cylinder Head, Cast Iron, Assembled, 72cc Chamber, 165cc Intake Runner, Chevy, 302, 327, 350, 400, Each

Part Number: SUM-152123

or what heads would you suggest ? i do thank you for replying to my questions

[Dave Severson]

with the large chambers, doubt your compression ratio is going to be where you want it, and as a result horsepower and torque would suffer severely.... Too pick the best head, need to know a lot more about your short block, how far down the hole are your pistons, etc.....

[Southernboss84]

ok here's what i have a 355 with that is stock i am wanting to put a 280 cam with a 480 lift but i am still deciding on the cam and i am wanting to put a good airgap intake i wasnt going to get any different heads for it but my buddy said to get 400-450 horses i need to get a good set of heads i do not want to over cam the motor and i want it to have some good tq as well as hp i want the truck to be able to move so i am trying to get a min-400hp i am also going to put a set of headers on it and 2 1/2 pipe or 3 inch pipe and going to use some flowmasters aslo iam eather going to use a 700r transmission or a 350 turbo i have not decided one of my buddys says he suggest the 350 turbo over the 700 R but i would like to have overdrive but if i am going to be pulling the tranny everytime i turn around i would rather use the 350 turbo i dont wanna use the 400 turbo cause i was told it takes 60 more horse power from your motor in the rearend if i use the 350 turbo iam going to use 373 gears if i run the 700R iam going to run 410 gears in the rearend iam also wanting to level the truck out to where it dont just spen when i hit it iam going to have some 50 inch wide tires in the back by 15 inch tall on some 10 inch wide rims this is my first build as far as motor goes i am being very picky about it because my father in law always said everything has to work together or you can be loosing a bunch of horsepower that you could be useing

[Dave Severson]

Probably best to deal with one issue at a time...

First, need to know if the engine is apart, or are you leaving the stock bottom end together??? Either way, need to know how far down the cylinder the top of the piston is from the top of the block. If the block is apart, then it should be zero decked to have the piston at the top of the cylinder--this along with other factors determine the "squish" height, which in turn is used in the formula for the true compression ratio.

Second, a stock 700R4 IMO is not going to stand up behind 400 ft. lbs. of torque---as Pat mentioned, this is a pickup, concentrate on building the engine for torque, not horsepower. It takes torque to get that mass moving, and torque is also what fries automatic trannies....

Third, takes a lot more then just wide tires to make a pickup hook. A tired that wide is just creating a lot of rolling resistance that the truck doesn't need... A 275 or 295 radial tire on a 10" wheel gives a plenty big enough tire patch to make the truck hook, but no tire is going to hook with stock, worn out rear suspension.....

Everything has to work together, as your father in law said, but it takes more then a good engine to make your truck (or any vehicle) fast....

[pat mccarthy]

i build every engine for the use it will see like blower. turbo .Nos. class of racing . and were the budget is along with that machine work or added work to parts as well for them to live longer added to this there is RPM range were it works the best at . i can not help on summit heads i do not buy parts from them or heads you need to work up your build. to work out the port runner and chamber size like dave said.but the RHS heads that is a vortec replacement head is a good head to start with

[Southernboss84]

well thanks dave and pat for the information the motor is together i got the motor from a buddy that had it in a three quater ton i was going to freshing it up and but a cam in it and then i was thinking after talking to my buddy he said i would need a good set of heads and springs for the cam to work at its best iam just trying to get the motor and transmission ready to go in my truck so all i haft to do is slide it in and go with it the reason i said something about the truck hookin up is cause my first truck was a 49 ford with a 455 big block in it and when you hit it it would just spen unless you was going about 65 mph but yes dave i agree with you i do just wanna deal with one issue at a time thanks for the input thanks