Genesis 427 S/O- Should I be Pleased?

[1Trkpony]

Sort of a timely thread for me, both on cam and carb. I originally had a shelby built and dyno'd 427 (their aluminum block, heads, intake) that dyno'd at 500 HP at 6000 rpm with mufflers, h20 pump, etc. That was stock 427 stroke, 4.25 bore. The heads and intake are ported. The cam was a way radical comp hydraulic with 260/260 deg @ 0.050"and .611" lift. The Carb was a "carb shop" tweaked 3310 with secondary meetering plate. The car was scary fast above 3500 rpm but not very streetable. Also the carb was not the right carb for that cam and I could not get it running right (turned out part of the problem was a failed intake gasket though).

So I decided to go with a new cam. After quite a bit of research I went with Comp cams new Xtream energy series with 230/236 duration @ 0.050". Was told that it had fast ramps for better throttle response, yada yada. Cam when in and made a huge difference in drivablity of the car. Pulls from 1200rpm on up and the mid range is fantastic. Still scary fast on the top end too, so I am not sure how much I gave up. Only small complaint is that it is a little noisy (valve noise), has to do with the faster ramps. Still not a bad sound.

On the tuning side I tried to make the 3310 work, but gave up and went to see Don Gould (FBO systems) which is local to me. Don is a FANTASTIC GUY. Most of my tuning issues turned out to be timing related which I did not believe but Don proved me wrong! My engine combo loves a ton of initial timing (25 degs). I also make a switch to a mighty demon on Don's advivce. Wow is about all I can say. The throttle response is nothing short of amazing now, good thing the ERA has such a loooong travel throttle pedal or I would be fish tailing all the time :-)

Bottom line to me is not how much total HP you make unless you are going to spend a lot of time on the track. I love the way my car drives now, it is streetable but will still scare the piss out of you when opened up. Never will 450+ HP in 2400lbs be boring.

Good luck with you new ERA, they are great cars.