Crane HIT-290-2-NC Camshaft
 

Has anyone ever ran this particular Crane camshaft? It was in an extra 455 engine of mine and I am considering reusing it as it looks to be in excellent shape and appears to be from the 80's.

The numbers stamped on the back of the camshaft are:

Crane HIT-290-2-NC

I was just curious how this camshaft performs if you have ran it. I am also curious as to what the duration/lift specs are on it. Just a rough measurement with some dial calipers, it seems to be around .500 lift.

Cam card in post 11 here:
https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...t=HIT-290-2-NC

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/crn-284281#overview



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HIT 290-2-NC, .050 Duration is 234 int and 244 ex. Lift is 485 int and 505 ex. on a 112 LSA. Nice cam, one of the old Fireball grinds. Very rowdy in a 400 but perfect for a 455.

Note the discussion here: https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...t=HIT-290-2-NC


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Run that all day long in a street 455.

Here's a short, shaky vid of that cam in my 455. I made this quite a while back and don't recommend one-handing the car while recording like I did.

https://youtu.be/0UmApZeYKvM

I have a Crane HIT 290-2-NC new on the shelf :)

Is this about what they used to call a "3/4" cam in the old days?

Thanks for the replies everyone. Your car sounds great NeighborsComplaint. I’m considering using this in a 455 short block with 197 heads. Hoping the lower compression doesn’t hurt it.

With the exh to intake ratio of those 197 heads in stock form, if your going to also run headers a would not run a cam like that with its full extra 10 degrees of exh duration .
I would go no more then 4 or 5 larger.

For its age, it holds up pretty well. Crane was pretty far ahead of the curve with asymmetric lobes and high intensity ramps on this 80's-90's grind. At that time, the choices were pretty limited considering cams like the straight pattern Comp Magnums and Lunati Bracket Masters were popular choices. Most guys I knew stuck with the 041 and this Crane was a step up from there. Mine certainly doesn't run like an antique. Watch my tach needle in the video.

Thats why I scooped mine up because its a big improvement over any stock offering but is prior to the ultra quick ramps associated with ruined cams during break in

The cam Whitmore spec-ed for my ported 197s was a .270-.275 @.050 cam.

RA4 231/240 = 9 deg
Crane HIT 284281 234/242 = 8 deg

If your 197 heads have a stock chamber size I think that cam has a little too much duration. I run a RAIV cam in a 8.9:1 static CR 455 with 7K3 heads and the combo runs well. I wouldn't want to lower the CR and increase the cam size in my motor. Probably something like 224/234 at 0.050" duration might work better.

Compare the seat to seat timing of the cam. NOT the .050" timing data.

( However note the cam card says something different than Summit. Is it 290/300 or 296/304. See post #4 in the link I posted above )




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Dynamic Compression Ratio

Will my engine run on pump gas?

http://members.uia.net/pkelley2/DynamicCR.html

It's not a website based program, you download it and install it. See bottom of the page.


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yeah wasn't implying anything negative about the cam, just more curious about the terminology back in the day. i drove my GTO in the 90's as a teenager and had a crane fireball, ran great. but was never sure what the older guys meant by a "3/4" cam and yours sounds like a step up from what I ran (216 @ .050).

Steve,
It is possible that those numbers are from the very same cam. It could just be a matter of where they are looking at seat duration. As you know some use 0.004", 0.045", 0.005", or 0.006" lifter raise.

Stan

Yeah, that was early to late 60's terminology. Rather than confuse everyone with advertised duration vs duration at .050" lift, many cam makers ranked their "sticks" as Stock, Street, 3/4 Race (enough overlap for a rough idle) and Full Race.