427 Side-oiler - approx. horsepower?

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by undy

Gunner, you changed the OP's wording from "Ford solid lifter cam" and substituted your own assumption, "original cam". They're not necessarily one and the same. Let's see, if I recall ... Ford had several "hot" solid lifter FE cams that was available across the parts counter of your local Ford dealerships. In fact, I think they were Shelby sourced cams that were sold by Ford with Ford part numbers. One of those cams could qualify as the OP's "Ford solid lifter cam". Depending on the profile it would render more than stock, hence the 500 +/-.

Hopefully it doesn't have anything more potent than the over-the-counter "K" cam (which is what I have). That's about as far as you want to go with a Ford solid lifter cam and still enjoy it on the street. The next step up to that cam was the "B" cam, which kept the same lobes, but brought the separation angle in closer together. He won't like that. The last step up from that was the "D" cam. He doesn't have it; nor would he want it. I really, really like my old school "K" cam, but cams have come a long way in 40 years. A word of caution though when you're surfing the 'net on FE cams. There is more wrong information on the specs than there is right. There are typos that get replicated down the line. Durations are confused from seat-to-seat to other lifts, etc. Some specs include the lash, others forget it. Some cam specs are based on 1.73, others on 1.76, and so on. But the real truth of the matter is that it doesn't matter if he has 485 horsepower or 425 horsepower -- he won't be able to tell the difference excpept on a dyno.