How's your cam ??

Lawrie, that's the best cam ever designed for a Flathead, 9.40 and 140. I think that's just great, I bet allot more went into the engine than just the cam.
Take care Ol' Ron
 
Hi Bill, thanks for the welcome.

I have nice 46' Ford 59a sitting around which I plan to use on my next project, a 38 Ford coupe. The engine is not running, all stock and we'll be getting a full rebuild.

My only experience with flatheads was my 50 Merc' 0CM which was absolutely stock. I didn't have enough time to play with it.

I will overbore (still don't know how much a flathead can or should take), no Merc crank. Regarding parts I have a 3x2 Edelbrock intake, spare carbs, headers and hopefully a new cam when I decide which one to use. I would really like to stick with stock heads.

Isky 1007B and the L100 seem to be a good choice. Couldn't find specs but the Clay Smith 5-T grind might be on the same league.
I have lots of doubts though, some say they are not streetable, some say yes they are, low end power drops, some say they pull well at all RPMs.

I was thinking about using 3 carbs but I really don't want any tuning headaches, specially considering this will be exclusively a street car.

To make it short, I want to keep it simple, want low and mid range power for the street, good idle at reasonable RPMs, and last but not least I want it so sound great.


Thanks again Bill.


OLD...BILL said:
mercjoe; .. Welcome, from all of us, I am very proud of this post " HOW'S YOUR CAM?" and glad someone brought it up again, lots of good information and input here, do go back and read all. Now some questions for you,JOE, what is your engine, bore, stroke, your car/piceeeeup and gearing ??? (tooth count) and tire size,(rear) .... And to your questions, both cams are GOOD TO GO with, " carbs " no more than two. heads, any of the after market are good for your street car/pickup.. or mill your stock heads .050, to start with ..headers, yes, go with a smooth tube (not Fetons)..We all know, to make our flathead run good and sound good too...It must breath, thus a good cam with good lift. and exhaust system, all the way out the back. some will say go stright pipe, others muff, personally I MUFF. and keep piece in the hood... Ignition/distributors... don't get carried away with after market dist. the stock divenbell is ...a..a..a...s.. ok... the crab is better.. and good to work with. it will keep-up with any cam on the steet...and can be run 6v or 12V.,? thanks all of you, for all your input, and I must make a correction,,, ( daily driver) no.no its a frequently/occasally drivere...and a stock cam ..no. Ol'Ron... all this time, money, grinding,balincing,line boring, port.polish and some chrome too. a stock CAM come on Ol'Ron ..... THANKS ALL ....OLD....BILL
Click to expand...
 
OLD...BILL said:
mercjoe; .. Welcome, from all of us, I am very proud of this post " HOW'S YOUR CAM?" and glad someone brought it up again, lots of good information and input here, do go back and read all. Now some questions for you,JOE, what is your engine, bore, stroke, your car/piceeeeup and gearing ??? (tooth count) and tire size,(rear) .... And to your questions, both cams are GOOD TO GO with, " carbs " no more than two. heads, any of the after market are good for your street car/pickup.. or mill your stock heads .050, to start with ..headers, yes, go with a smooth tube (not Fetons)..We all know, to make our flathead run good and sound good too...It must breath, thus a good cam with good lift. and exhaust system, all the way out the back. some will say go stright pipe, others muff, personally I MUFF. and keep piece in the hood... Ignition/distributors... don't get carried away with after market dist. the stock divenbell is ...a..a..a...s.. ok... the crab is better.. and good to work with. it will keep-up with any cam on the steet...and can be run 6v or 12V.,? thanks all of you, for all your input, and I must make a correction,,, ( daily driver) no.no its a frequently/occasally drivere...and a stock cam ..no.

Ol'Ron... all this time, money, grinding,balincing,line boring, port.polish and some chrome too. a stock CAM come on Ol'Ron ..... THANKS ALL ....OLD....BILL
Click to expand...

Old...Bill,
You are a dipshit....You give some parameters, ask for advice, Ol' Ron gives you advice based on the given information.
Later you change the parameters, which is fine but get on Ron because his advice doesn't match the new parameters. That's ********.
You only started this thread to stir things up and waste bandwidth anyway.
 
My eyesight is getting worse, the VA is gona do some Lazar sugary on em next month. Maybe I'll be able to see better then. Cuz this went over my head. I try my best to to be honest.
 
I paid attention to all Ron's comments were proper and he really seems to know what he's talking about. I don't get why Bill got on Ron.

Pete said:
Old...Bill,
You are a dipshit....You give some parameters, ask for advice, Ol' Ron gives you advice based on the given information.
Later you change the parameters, which is fine but get on Ron because his advice doesn't match the new parameters. That's ********.
You only started this thread to stir things up and waste bandwidth anyway.
Click to expand...
 
Ron, so you definetely recommend the L100 for street rod. You said some friends of yours used it on stock engines. Which mods would you recommend with the L100, I mean carbs, heads work, etc. ?

I'm really sorry for my cam related ignorance...:confused: , hopefully I'll learn some from the ones who know.

Thanks !!
Diego


Ol' Ron said:
My eyesight is getting worse, the VA is gona do some Lazar sugary on em next month. Maybe I'll be able to see better then. Cuz this went over my head. I try my best to to be honest.
Click to expand...
 
A few years back I built an engine for Paul Howard (AV8 Paul). It was a 37 21 stud block with all 8BA innards and an L-100 cam. The 37 heads were milled and cut for valve clearance, but we only got about 7.5CR out if our troubles. Paul used a PM-7 with 2 97's. Got 22K miles out of it before he spun a rod bearing. He coined the phrase "Smiley cam" and every time he fired it up he got a big smile on his face. Got stopped in AZ for going 105 mph, not bad for a 239ci 21 studder.

Most cams kill low end torque and one as long as the L-100 kills even more, so increases in CR and displacement make up for this. There are enough L-100 out there in every kind of application that we have to look at WHY? it runs as well as it does. At present it's undergoing economy tests and getting great fuel mileage as well. There are a number of people responsible for this, I'm not the only one involved.
 
Pete said:
Old...Bill,
You are a dipshit....You give some parameters, ask for advice, Ol' Ron gives you advice based on the given information.
Later you change the parameters, which is fine but get on Ron because his advice doesn't match the new parameters. That's ********.
You only started this thread to stir things up and waste bandwidth anyway.
Click to expand...

EVERYONE;:) Please go back to page one and read my opening tread, and where I mis-spock about a daily driver, and read #6 Ol' Ron about putting a stock cam in my engine, we-er talking about two different engines, and I was not very clear where I jumped from "mencjoe's" engine to my engine, hold on Ol'Ron I'll go with you and get my eye balls fixed too. and I do look forward to reading your treads, and learing from your knowhow for a longtime to come, and make our flatheads run better.... AND ... PETE ....I started this tread, asking about cams of today, and you ground the Isky 1007-B thats going in my engine.,,, and daily driver.... NO ..its will be now and then driver. with 2-2s... 276 inches, in a 39 fordor w/columbia 3/78s... I am a big,old.geaser,broad shoulders, I can take it when Iam wrong. and I did mis-speek, but I do not call names:p....and Ol' Ron, sorry I got you in this, ..but would you realy put a stock cam in my engine, with 4inch merc crank and all the good ( Sharp ) bolt ons??.... AND ..OLD...BILL... OPENS ANOTHER CAN OF WORMS :cool:
NOTE; I stand by what I told Joe to put in his engine, anyone else want to jump in here and talk about 3-2s on his engine and dose not want a tuning problum ?? :D
 
Ron, you sure are right,a lot more went into the eng,with help from you,JWL and walt.
I had a mate who had the lazer surgery on his eyes,He was super impressed with the result.
Best of luck.
Lawrie
 
For you guy who love carbs, I'm running 4 97's on 276 with around 9.5 compression and reground track cam about like an L-100. It's in my 40 coupe with T-5 and 9in. 3:50 gears. Carbs were set up by Mad Max. Runs great, 17-18 mpg around town and secondary roads. Haven't been on a long trip on pike. Spark plug run white. The trick is setting them up right. Walt
 
Ron;You mentioned in another post that there was a blower version of the L-100,do you have any personal experience with this cam? As always thanks for your feedback.
 
No the engine hasen't run yet, we just got the blower assy and the plan it to put it together this winter. I Hope. I have the specs someplace and will post them.
 
Good thread here. Great info and ideas.
Since I'm building a daily driver with a mild flathead, sounds like the L-100 is the cam for me.

Ron - good luck with those eyes!
 
Bill, I don't think he told you to use a stock cam, it makes sense to keep it as simple as possible on a DAILY driver. I think that's what he meant.

And that's why I'm so doubtful. Even I won't be using that engine on a daily basis it will be a street car, so I would like to avoid any hassles but at the same time having the flathead built as powerful and fun as possible.



OLD...BILL said:
EVERYONE;:) Please go back to page one and read my opening tread, and where I mis-spock about a daily driver, and read #6 Ol' Ron about putting a stock cam in my engine, we-er talking about two different engines, and I was not very clear where I jumped from "mencjoe's" engine to my engine, hold on Ol'Ron I'll go with you and get my eye balls fixed too. and I do look forward to reading your treads, and learing from your knowhow for a longtime to come, and make our flatheads run better.... AND ... PETE ....I started this tread, asking about cams of today, and you ground the Isky 1007-B thats going in my engine.,,, and daily driver.... NO ..its will be now and then driver. with 2-2s... 276 inches, in a 39 fordor w/columbia 3/78s... I am a big,old.geaser,broad shoulders, I can take it when Iam wrong. and I did mis-speek, but I do not call names:p....and Ol' Ron, sorry I got you in this, ..but would you realy put a stock cam in my engine, with 4inch merc crank and all the good ( Sharp ) bolt ons??.... AND ..OLD...BILL... OPENS ANOTHER CAN OF WORMS :cool:
NOTE; I stand by what I told Joe to put in his engine, anyone else want to jump in here and talk about 3-2s on his engine and dose not want a tuning problum ?? :D
Click to expand...
 
I'm running the Potvin 425 Eliminator. I couldn't be happier with it, but I'm sure some wouldn't like it. It idles high-900 rpm now and still sounds REAL healthy. I may be able to reduce the idle further. But, the throttle response is nothing short of amazing. It pulls from about 1500 rpm HARD. Not a good cam for an automatic, I'm sure. The engine does not sound at all like a flathead anymore. Probably because of the center exhaust port dividers. If you start it up with the hood closed for someone, the last thing he would think of is a flathead Ford. The engine literally explodes to life. It's loud thru the 24" Cherry Bombs and really loud with the open headers
Pete did a great job.
 
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Kahuna said:
I'm running the Potvin 425 Eliminator. I couldn't be happier with it, but I'm sure some wouldn't like it. It idles high-900 rpm now and still sounds REAL healthy. I may be able to reduce the idle further. But, the throttle response is nothing short of amazing. It pulls from about 1500 rpm HARD. Not a good cam for an automatic, I'm sure. The engine does not sound at all like a flathead anymore. Probably because of the center exhaust port dividers. If you start it up with the hood closed for someone, the last thing he would think of is a flathead Ford. The engine literally explodes to life. It's loud thru the 24" Cherry Bombs and really loud with the open headers
Pete did a great job.
Click to expand...

Cool. Ground it on a cast iron stock core? I think I recall Pete said it was OK doing it on these.

May need to send one out to get done up.

Love those cams!
 
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