[Steve C.]

"Interesting article mentions an MSD melonized."

"Yes & i called tech to verify it they also stated not all roller cams are billet"

For that engine build linked here it used a billet roller camshaft. All Comp hydraulic roller cams and solid roller cams made for a Pontiac application use a billet steel core.

"The cam we selected is one of Comp Cams’ mildest hydraulic roller grinds"

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/pont...no-reassembly/


.

[Skip Fix]

I guess a question out there-maybe a poll-for all of the many street cars using rollers, OF, Stump pullers-what gear are you running and how many miles?

[Schurkey]

Originally Posted by 64speed

Lunati and Comp both said they could not press a gear onto a roller cam

The cam in my 454 is a Lunati steel camshaft with an iron gear.

Either they misunderstood what you wanted, or they don't offer it for Pontiac engines.

[64speed]

Originally Posted by Schurkey

The cam in my 454 is a Lunati steel camshaft with an iron gear.

Either they misunderstood what you wanted, or they don't offer it for Pontiac engines.

They said it was not available for Pontiac cores. Of course everything is possible in the Chevrolet world LOL

[64speed]

This leads me to a question for the masses. I am putting a LOT of money in my engine and everyone has sort of convinced me to go roller but I had an off hand conversation with the Lunati tech when I called about the gear and he told me I was wasting my money. His opinion was that with the T56 and the 3.70 gears that my cruising RPM would be about 1800 which is what I calculated as well. He said that I essentially was limited on my cam size because of bucking and surging in 6th gear unless I was running 90 MPH. With a 467 with E heads with power brakes and the sniper having vacuum requirements he said I could not put a cam in it that would rev much past 5800 which I dont want to do anyway. So what are your thoughts on this? It would save me from having to worry about a Poly gear on a daily driver as well but I want the reliability and longevity of a roller but I dont want to change the gear every year and I dont want to spend and extra 800 bucks on something that is gonna give me NO power over a flat tappet.

[Steve C.]

Go find a cam card for either a Pontiac hydraulic roller cam or a Pontiac solid roller cam and look at the part number used.

Here is a example: Part # 51-000-9

The first two numbers indicates the engine prefix, here it's 51 for a Pontiac.

The next three is the part number, here the number 000 indicates a custom grind. This is what you find on Pontiac roller cams.

The last two is the core type, here the 9 indicates a 'steel billet roller'.

I'm not sure how up to date this is but look here in the link at the first page regarding 'selecting a core' and the listing for the core numbers. More often than not a Pontiac roller cam will be either a -9 or a -11 core number.

http://www.compcams.com/catalog/COMP...11_417-493.pdf



.

[73ta]

I run my 462 with eheads and SD's old faithfull with my 5 speed od trans & 3:42 gears. I don't have any bucking problems even cruising it on the freeway at low RPMs even down to 1500 in overdrive.

[tom s]

My SP II in a 455 with a 3.31 and TKO500 has no issue under 1500 in 5th gear with a dual plane intake,not quit as good with a HSD single plane.Tom

[grivera]

Other than more money for a roller, I don’t see the downside. Pick one source- like Butler and get a recommendation based on your combo. Considering the success many on the forum have had with the BOP gear I don’t understand why you think it has to be changed once a year?

[64speed]

Well GTOFREEK is my cam go to guy. Keep the opinions coming

[64speed]

Originally Posted by tom s

My SP II in a 455 with a 3.31 and TKO500 has no issue under 1500 in 5th gear with a dual plane intake,not quit as good with a HSD single plane.Tom

Tom I’m running the Torker II because of the Sniper. Think I would have a problem? I can’t find the SP II listing

[64speed]

Originally Posted by 73ta

I run my 462 with eheads and SD's old faithfull with my 5 speed od trans & 3:42 gears. I don't have any bucking problems even cruising it on the freeway at low RPMs even down to 1500 in overdrive.

Do you have power brakes? What’s your vacuum like

[Steve C.]

Revised Stump Puller ( SP II ) hydraulic roller cam....

Part number 51-000-11
Grind number: P8 3194B / 3196B HR 112 +5
281 / 287
230 / 236
0.3890" / 0.3910"
112 LS / 107 ICL

From a cam card posted here on PY


.

[chrisp]

Originally Posted by Steve C.

"Interesting article mentions an MSD melonized."

"Yes & i called tech to verify it they also stated not all roller cams are billet"

For that engine build linked here it used a billet roller camshaft. All Comp hydraulic roller cams and solid roller cams made for a Pontiac application use a billet steel core.

"The cam we selected is one of Comp Cams’ mildest hydraulic roller grinds"

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/pont...no-reassembly/


.

They were talking about roller cams in general not Pontiac only .

[grivera]

Originally Posted by 64speed

This leads me to a question for the masses. I am putting a LOT of money in my engine and everyone has sort of convinced me to go roller but I had an off hand conversation with the Lunati tech when I called about the gear and he told me I was wasting my money. His opinion was that with the T56 and the 3.70 gears that my cruising RPM would be about 1800 which is what I calculated as well. He said that I essentially was limited on my cam size because of bucking and surging in 6th gear unless I was running 90 MPH. With a 467 with E heads with power brakes and the sniper having vacuum requirements he said I could not put a cam in it that would rev much past 5800 which I dont want to do anyway. So what are your thoughts on this? It would save me from having to worry about a Poly gear on a daily driver as well but I want the reliability and longevity of a roller but I dont want to change the gear every year and I dont want to spend and extra 800 bucks on something that is gonna give me NO power over a flat tappet.

Originally Posted by 64speed

Well GTOFREEK is my cam go to guy. Keep the opinions coming

If he Paul Carter is your cam guy why are you concerned about what a Lunati tech says?

[Cliff R]

"I am putting a LOT of money in my engine and everyone has sort of convinced me to go roller but I had an off hand conversation with the Lunati tech when I called about the gear and he told me I was wasting my money. His opinion was that with the T56 and the 3.70 gears that my cruising RPM would be about 1800 which is what I calculated as well. He said that I essentially was limited on my cam size because of bucking and surging in 6th gear unless I was running 90 MPH"

Whatever you do in this hobby NEVER let a "tech" at any Cam company pick your camshaft for you. The "tech" that you spoke with is probably a pretty smart guy, but would have limited direct experience with a Pontiac engine build and probably less experience with one set-up for your particular application.

Of course if he was going to grind you a HR cam on a "tight" LSA it could be a bit below it's "efficient" range at cruise, and enough "reversion" going on you might experience a little unhappiness from the engine at 1900rpms, but for sure any 455 I've had in my car will "lug" along just fine at that RPM, even the current engine with the SD Performance Old Faithful cam set at 109.5ICL.

I'd also add that there would be no need to put a cam in your 467 to make peak HP past 5800rpms right to start with. These are "mid-range" engines, not short stroked BBC builds with tennis ball size intake ports which thrive on higher RPM's. Your 467 would be fine pushing the T-56 with 3.70 gears even with a HR cam as big as the Old Faithful grind. I just happened to have a customer we did a 455 for about a decade ago with a nearly identical set-up and his engine uses the OF cam and about 10.4 to 1 compression. He's driven it all over the place, and long runs, and on the few occasions we've spoken he's never once complained that it lacked any power lugging along at lower RPM's in 6th gear.

I'll add here that nearly 2 decades ago we tried a decent size flat tappet cam in a 455 build that was ground on a 108LSA. It sounded like a "Pro Stock" engine, and super "explosive" mid-range power. Judging it "by the seat of your pants" it felt really strong on the street, but seriously lacking it efficiency around 1500-2000rpms and actually still "four stroking" a bit and not smoothing out in that range. It would have faired poorly with a T-56/3.90 gears lugging along at 1900rpms, IMHO. It was a serious disappointment at the track with good traction, so we yanked that cam out and replaced it with the Road Paver from Dave at SD and added a set of CNC ported heads from Dave at the same time, no other changes. Now the engine is a bit "boring", much smoother idle, strong/flat/broad power (torque) curve, and fine below 2000rpms. Doesn't really "feel" as strong as the tighter LSA cam, but it does run over a full second quicker a the track and quite a bit more MPH........FWIW......Cliff

[pastry_chef]

Originally Posted by 64speed

and the sniper having vacuum requirements

Where did you see a note about "vacuum requirements" for the Sniper?
Ran fine with a 710 horsepower engine (470 inches).

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoS...23XK834NLVTC9w

With a quick scan I don't see anything in the Holley manual.
http://documents.holley.com/199r11193.pdf

[ta man]

Originally Posted by 64speed

Well GTOFREEK is my cam go to guy. Keep the opinions coming

Some are opinions many are facts based on experience.
The lunati cam tech guy sounds like thinking from 20 years ago. I'd say 50 to 100 hp with a well chosen roller is the difference vs a flat tappet with the same street manners. I've had the same poly gear since 2009 on 2 different cams .I pull about 12 to 13 inches of vacuum at 850 rpm.

[pastry_chef]

Originally Posted by grivera

If he Paul Carter is your cam guy why are you concerned about what a Lunati tech says?

x2

Reminds me of a kid at the track once, he asked EVERYONE who passed by about every component on his car.
"Do you think that's ok?" LMAO.

[TedRamAirII]

The more questions you ask, the more answers you will get. I would go with proven combinations and not unproven armchair performance speculators.