I think you know what I'm trying to say though. You already plan on getting new lifters, why not get a cam while you're at it? You don't know exactly what cam you have, just a rough idea. Were the lifters that came with the engine also put in new with the cam, or is that something else you don't know about it? There's just something about knowing what you have in your engine. The major point I was making is I know you want to build a good quality 400. At this point, to me another $100 is worth it for the peace of mind it would give. Plus you'll be able to get the cam you want, and you'll know what you have.

 

That's beyond the point, ha ha! I'm curious to what the hell was in this to net it a 370 - 380 dyno pull! It's got dished pistons that I have no clue who the manufacturer is, a cam with no discernable manufacturer markings and World S/R heads. The pistons were clean enough to eat off of. There's carbon on them but with a simple wipe with a wet paper towel I was able to get them clean. I know he had the engine built, tested on dyno, put in the boat and then pulled it to beef it up even more because it wasn't putting out what he wanted. So he took it out, tore it down to change pistons, heads, cam, etc. but bought another racing boat just flat out. The project sat until some bad stuff happened to him financially and he just needed to get rid of it before they foreclosed on the shop where he had it. He just didn't want it to get taken in the foreclosure when they seized the property and wanted to give it to someone who would do something with it. When they came and took the original and second boat they left the engine so he just sold it.

With the pistons and the heads I'm thinking the guy who built it for him just replaced the original parts with aftermarket ones that were about the same spec. The heads are 76cc World S/R heads with 171cc runners, the cam looks almost stock from my measurements but I know it's not a stock one. I emailed Comp and Crane and Crane responded that it was an aftermarket cam but they couldn't tell me anymore than that.

I'm already looking at a hydraulic roller anyways if I can afford it. I'm thinking of going with a lower duration cam and making lift with the rockers since I'll be putting this in front of a t-56. With that six speed I don't think there will be a huge need to see 6000+ in the RPM range a lot. I can build low end torque and put some gearing in the rear to give me a good launch and decent gas mileage. Also thinking of changing out the pistons to raise the compression up to around 10 - 10.3 area but I don't know how that will go with a low duration cam and iron heads. I still want to run on street gas but I'm still not sure where the breaking point is with compression, iron heads and low duration cams.

I was looking at these cams from Comp Cams for just standard hydraulic tappet:

12-239-3
12-209-2

They're almost identical except the only difference between the two is that the 239 (adv. dur. 262/270) has lower duration than the 209 (adv. dur. 275/277). The 239 has a lobe separation of 111 vs. the 209's 110 also. Both have 462/480 lift with 1.5 rockers. The 239's rpm range is 1300 - 5600 and the 209 has a range of 2000 - 6000 like the one in my 350.

What are your thoughts on that type of setup?

Edit:

Was just looking at those cams on Comp and both had ABDC's of around 60 so I think getting 10 - 10.3 compression with iron heads and pump gas wouldn't be too much of a problem.

 

Between the two, I would think the 239 might be the better one. Unless you have the internals balanced, that 400 isn't going to be seeing 6k rpm's safely.
And with the double-overdrive gears in a t-56, you could slap 4.56's or 5.13's in the rearend and still have a presentable highway rpm. Wouldn't that be fun on the low end! I wonder how far you could get the front wheels off the ground with that setup?

 

Yeah, I'm hoping to move from external balance to internal balance with a Scat crank. They have one for 5.7 rods that's internally balanced for right around 250 bucks. That and the new pistons and then going and getting them balanced together as a set. I would like to go with new heads with around a 180 or so runner if I want to stay in the low end. I keep going back and forth about putting this thing into some high RPM's. I love hearing my 350 scream up into the 6k range and shifting right before the rev limiter when I get on it.

I'm thinking about 4.56's for the rear also. With the OD I'll have a 2.28 final drive which is fine by me. I've heard of people with large duration cams having a surging effect when their car is trying to pull its weight at 60+ mph and at low RPM's. The 350 pulled fine with the 2.56 rear gear doing 70+ at around 2000 RPM but that's also with an automatic and what I think was a stock stall.