Roller CAM -FE

[RICK LAKE]

PANAVIA Steve not sure witch one you are talking about. Only a couple of guys are running camshaft roolerbearing motors. These are not really street motors. Big power and High cost.
Roller camshafts, alot of guys are running in there motors. I am running a small crane shaft with a .587"-.607" lift on a very streetable 482 motor. Real power numbers are little over 600 ft of torque at the crank and 560's HP. The motor is all done by 6,200 rpms. Idle is smooth. KCR has about 20-30 custom grinds for camshafts on jusy FE motors. They would be one of the guys to MATCHUP a camshaft to your motor, trans and rearend ratio. You have to know that depending on weather you run a hydro lifter or solid lifter, the price is high. Cam shaft about $300.00 lifters in the $400.00's. Custom length pushrods, $200.00. With camsshafts bigger is not always better. If you are racing, that's one thing, but for street, no. Too many guys have gone to smaller camshafts and are very happy with the car overall and giving up 50-70 HP in the top end.
RPM range,a hydro lifter motor even with great valve springs is all done at about 6,300 rpms. The lifters pump up. Solid roller lifters, the sky is the limit or valve spring float which every somes first. I limit my stroker motors to 6,200 rpms, way too much heavy metal spinning around in the bottom of that block. IMO a roller camshaft will make more power, have a wider power band, and require about the same maintainance as a hydro motor with valve lash need ing to be done or checked about twice a year. This depends on how much you beat your motor and car.
Side notes, if you go with a roller cam shaft, Don't let the motor idle for long amount of time. IMO there is not alot of oil spraying around to lube the camshaft and roller wheels in the lifters unless they are pressure fed. Windage tray is also a question mark with this kind of camshaft, unless some custom oil modifcations are done to the lifter bores to help direct oil to the camshaft, roller wheel contact point, I might not run a windage tray. This applies for scrapers of the crankshafts too.
I am putting a custom KCR camshaft in my 498 motor that will be in the .640" lift range with hydro lifters. This motor will have beehive springs and a high rpm range to many be 6,500 rpm. IMO hydro roller camshafts are the way to go for anything but looking for max power and 7,000 rpm range. Rick L.