Sounds amazing!! I had an '85 Grand Prix with a built 327 in it with this same cam. I miss that car.

My own dyno time and flow testing showed a few things consistent when using stock unported vortecs on a hotrod street engine. Decent spring upgrade of course, but no porting. We found they love the valves backup. Some are that way stock but not all. Cam wise exhaust loves 8-10 degrees more duration and about .020 more lift than intake side. A 106 lsa makes wicked midrange torque. Keep building. Thank you for videos. My go to hotrod cam is a spec of 500 int, 520 exhaust. 238 intake, 246 exhaust. Ground on a 106 lsa usually. We nitride a flat tappet cam and use Rhoads lifters. Our hydraulic rollers are a touch different

I haven't built an engine in a few years I don't know the cam market like that anymore, but I would say have the heads shaved and tapped for screw in studs. I've had press ins fail on me, and my little 4.8 has aftermarket heads on it the bump from 9.1:1 to 10.1:1 made a huge difference.

I have a 355 with a Howards cam and lifter kit part......... # MC 110961-08 Advertised intake/ ehaust 285-285....... Duration at 050 intake/ ehaust 231-231 lobe separation 108. I picked up 30 lb-ft at the wheels of my 74 Nova. I would stick with a lobe separation of 108. You should pick up 25 to 30 lb-ft over what you are running right now. Take care my friend and have fun.👍

Have you tried rocker arm ratios and the best rocker for your geometry with best average ratio? Do you have tight quench clearance and flat top pistons? You have room to raise that compression ratio. A 292H loves 9.5:1 through 11:1 static compression ratio that is where magic happens, however pump gas may have issues with your stock iron casting heads. To raise power and or cylinder pressure with a cam, you could get a solid flat tappet or solid roller cam. Changing a cam could upset your balance with those heads as the lift is not too much and the duration revs fair while keeping just enough cylinder pressure with your 9.2:1 static compression ratio for the 3000 lbs. moving. Try an XR282HR and XR288HR, really those like compression also. i am like them with 10.5:1 or more. See what is great, the weight is 3000 lbs. if the bottom end was a flat top 383 that would raise your compression and detonation resistance in your 3000 pounder. However if more cam is added and it loses some cylinder pressure you have give and take and upsetting of the averages and your car setup gearing etc. and then could run the same time or worse. So compression is insurance that you shall not lose anything. You need flat tops or a very small massaged rounded edge dome as to not interfere with flame front at these specific rpms and type engine build. So if you make gains you couldn't complain if it is slower. However if you lose And it is slower then it is to blame. Really it comes down to all the hard work you have done with this and a 12 flat is quite impressive for stock vortec heads and 9.2:1 actual static compression. Right now at 9.23:1 you are getting 6.89:1 dynamic. You Need 10:1 static for 7.5:1 dynamic. The minimal performance build's dynamic compression ratio. However your car is 3Klbs. so, it is just so mind boggling that everyone's cars are too heavy and that your's runs great. It is just those splitting hairs from 12's to 11's that make this so fun. That is how i am know that all street cars should run 12 flat consistently. lol cheers matey!

Going with a solid lifter cam will make more power. Like the Comp Cam 294S would be a step up.

Good job sounds great 👍

Ya know, as good as it sounds and as responsive as it is on throttle.. What more could you ask for. It is a nice engine as-is that will last you a good while. I'd be happy to have that engine.

Someone may have already said this but, that cam loves nitrous, you can safely run a 150 shot on that long block with proper fuel and timing and you won't need to rev the engine up any higher to get where you want to be. I ran that cam on a sbe 350, 2bolt main, cast crank, cast pistons in a 79 Z28 daily driver and it drank bottle after bottle with no issues. When I pulled the ported 882`s put the AFR 190`s on there it really, really woke up. Really fun to spray your way to your goals and not take away driveability.

Sounds healthy

I THINK YOU HAVE A GOOD SETUP THERE I WOULDNT CHANGE CAM BECAAUSE OF THE LOWER COMPRESSION, I WOULD TRY TO LIGHTEN THE CAR SOME AND MAYBE TRY 1.6 ROCKER ON THE INTAKE SIDE, GREAT VIDEO MAN THANK YOU

Sounds good!

Man this sweetest can be 😂 love it

Love your channel,, Wish we could get together and do a project, or go racing

Put flat top pistons in it man u have the best cam possible vortec heads glow best at 500 lift bump the compression up

That motor sounds very good, sounds milder than I thought it would but very nice, very respectable numbers in the quarter mile. as well. I dont have a camshaft recommendation was just enjoying the video, I just bought the comp magnum 286h for my little Back Yard Coupe, a scratch built hot rod, it has a 290 hp crate with dart heads, other than trying to pick up a little more with a cam swap, do you like the comp 292h ? thanks for posting the video.

Good to know the stock press in studs are holding up on the vortecs i have a 358 with stock Vortecs going to install a .450 lift 235/239 @50 106 circle track cam . supposably the circle track cams have faster ramp rates .. hopefully it will survive a good while lol. I should of went more lift now that i see you running 500 lift

With that high lift cam I sure would go with long slot rockers and slightly longer pushrods ----that is --for max lift at your estimated 6500 rpm's. Good motor bud !!!!!! Jim Kiesau

LT4 hot cam, .525 lift, and you can also bolt in some 1.6 rockers.

In the past I had great luck with comp cams 286h in a 350 with sportsman II heads, but I found my best et's shifting at 6800. Your 292 will probably get better times shifting at a higher rpm.

You probably already picked your cam by now but my pick is one of the comps thumpr series cams because of your low C.R. They have a 107lsa and I would run a solid lifter and a higher ratio rocker depending on how much lift your vortec heads can take. I use the Thumpr cams and they pull hard but you have to increase the lift, that's their Achilles heel.

The Elign cam is your cam. I would look no further. A 108 lsa is perfect for a 350. Just tightening your lsa will give you more torque and HP by at least 30 on both. Whatever you do don't let anyone talk you into a wider lsa than 108. Only other thing I would do is change to screw in studs. Check into having cam nitride hardened and get a really good set of lifters.

Isky 292 mega or isky 280 mega both on a 108 lsa. Your current cam has 72° of overlap. The isky 292 has 76°. I'd be more interested in seeing the 280 mega cam because of your compression ratio. The 280 has 64° of overlap in case your wondering. Either way it should be installed at 104°. Thanks for the content!

In an engine that you don’t want to rev past 6300-6500 max, stock bottom end, fairly low compression, you’d probably see a hair better numbers on your time slip if you called comp cams, and special order the comp 280h it’s 230@ 0.050” .480 lift, but order it on 108* LSA and have it hardened, and of course get the kit with the lifters. Make sure to degree the cam when you install it. With factory vortec heads, I’d probably install the cam on 104* intake center line, so it would be 4* advanced, to make as much torque through the mid range as possible. An RPM airgap intake with a 1” tapered combo spacer topped with a 750 double pumper, should run pretty darn strong for a stock rotating assembly. I used that combination in a gmc Jimmy mud truck for years until it broke a piston ring. It ran a lot harder than it should have and took a ton of abuse. Including a 7500 rpm stint due to the throttle cable fraying and hanging the throttle WFO.

I'm putting together a little 383 with vortec heads and was planning on going with a Howards 225/233 duration 525/530 lift cam. Might be a little much for those heads, but I hope to swap those out later. Really neat videos. Edit: Roller cam in factory roller block...

I wish you the best luck but I got a bad feeling you go end up having head problems. Pressed in studs are never a good thing with a cam that size. I've had a couple of buddies try this and swear up and down better run just fine until it doesn't and then it cost them a pile of money to fix it later on down the road. Anytime I build one now I run the big block screw in studs with oversized valve springs. The hey man you do you

Look into comp cam extreme marine cam I ran one in a 350 with flotek heads in a g body and ran 11.80s best flat tappet hyd cam I've found

Motor sounds healthy

Them vortec heads need to have the spring seats milled down if you gonna go higher lift than around .450". You'll also need beehive springs, and id put a 700 or 750cfm carburetor on with mechanical secondary if you running that cam already in there. Just do the springs no machine work, bigger carb and id run about a 2200-2400 rpm stall converter, beef up some of the internals in the transmission, and id strongly recommend screw in studs for the heads no matter what, and if you decide to run a different cam, id go with a retrofit hydraulic roller cam. Id also switch to an aluminum radiator too. Lighter and Way more efficient, switch to electric fan. I've got an 88 vortec that i put fitech on .125pop up hammers, I studded the 2 bolt block gear drive timing, 2.02 intake, bigger exhaust too, milled spring seats and milled down valve guides, comp cams big mutha thumpr hydraulic roller cam cast iron roller tip rockers, youll need to get tools to measure pushrods if you're switch to retrofit roller cam. I run a 2800 rpm stall converter, 3.90 posi in my 86 c10 long bed, 5500 pounds. Stock size tires. I had to put a spacer under the egr valve because i had to switch to tall valve covers. And a 2 inch spacer under the throttle body to clear the egr im using an edelbrock performer dual plane. 3 inch mandrel bent full dual exhaust no crossover for that radical of a cam. And the headers are 1-3/4" with 3" ball collectors which when clamped to the s pipes takes no gasket, and seals up the best. But do keep checking them once in a while, but still cheaper than flat flanges, and wont rust out and rot away, spend the extra money on headers for the ceramic coated ones though as well. Good luck, oh my compression is around 13:1, i stayed with the 72cc stock heads from American Cylinder Heads in Oakland CA, Arvid is the owner, he'll set your heads up however you want them, just give him the specs for the cam and send whatever springs and keepers you want and he'll send em home assembled. Again good luck bro.

I've used a comp oval track cam I think they call it ah286_8 it's just under .5 lift 236@05, and 244 ex. 108lsa, seems to work good with vortecs and flat too pistons. Also being a circle track cam insnt super aggressive on the ramp rate, so press in studs on those have held up on budget beaters for me. They do idle ruff tho

That engine is very responsive! Do you have light springs in the distributor? Those 170cc Vortec heads are a lot snappier than the ported 200cc Dart II heads my friend had on his Nova.

That motor sounds really good. Maybe you can take a look at the bracket master 2 . For the spec's you mentioned that should fit right around that rpm range you want.

Metal shim head gasket's get you another.5 point tight "n up lsa with those iron head's 106-108 that help bring cylinder pressure up

You want more, that can is a great cam but needs more compression,and stock bottom I wouldn't mess with 6500 stick with 55-5800, 3500 stall is what comp says,I had the same cam in my Pontiac also half turn pre load on the lifters I would get some aluminum heads , that's a big intake for that cam if you want higher rpms go roller hydraulic or solid

You need a 106-108 LSA for it to really do what it needs to do.

Can't. Believe it held together with stock studs 52,55 rpm max wow that's that's a big cam , cool

Hey im not too knowledgeable in what parts are good and what parts are not but im building a 350 chev for my holden hq wagon and i wanted to put this cam in it as i love how it sounds and from what ive read its a good cam for a 350 but is it a good combo in a relatively stock engine? and would i be able to comfortably run it with the same setup as you with the new springs? (Im fully taking the engine apart most likely honing it with new pistons same con-rods but mostly stock)

With all the defective cam and lifter sets floating around in the market right now, your probably better off just sticking with what's already in it, or convert it to roller cam unfortunately.

Edelbrock 7102..didnt hear if you did anything to your heads,your limited on your lift with the vortecs

Stay with the 292 get some head work done and run 1.6 rocker arms trust me

well tuned

What ET are you running with the setup? ..i done s 327 with the exact same setup that you have except for the cam ...i ran a lunati bracket master 2 cam ..515 lift on int and exh...108 lobe sep.... and 240degrees of duration at 50 and it ran 7.60 in the 1/8th mile...i also built 350 that was 40 over with flat 2valve relief piston and the exact same cam that you are running but I had 186 casting heads ported with 1.94 and 1.5 valve and a victor intake in a 72 nova 4000 converter and 350 trans and 410 gear and I ran 7.01 in 1/8th at 94 MPH.... you have a good setup on your engine...you have got to have a good converter to get the car to leave to get the good ETS... IV seen a lot of people run bad numbers with engines that should go really fast and it be because of the converter not letting the car get a good 60 foot time

If you go to the street racing channel Bill gave his cam degree card what specs were on his camshaft and his 421 small block that's a nice camshaft Bill Hoskins

I hope I'm not too late on the cam suggestion. Isky 201536 would be my choice. 274/278 adv. 246/250 @.050 106 lsa .535/.545. Will improve dynamic compression 0.7 over the Comp 292 and carry power further past peak with the longer exhaust duration. Like some others have said, vortecs like dual-pattern cams. especially the 906s. If your are going to keep running the stock rockers, your real world lift likely won't be much over .500.

Just a thought but your header primaries look a bit small maybe bigger tubes would help too and if it's just a car for fun, next build run 11.5-12.5 compression and some E-85, you'll have to make the necessary changes to the carb and fuel system but it will be more consistent and run cooler too!

Honestly, that cam should take you down in the mid 11s with that setup. I went 11.40s with that cam in a 3050lb 68 camaro 20+ years ago, 355 pocket ported 186 fuelie heads which are about same flow as stock vortec heads. My engine did have lil more compression tho but not much more. Was like 10.5:1. I swapped the old fuelies out with trick flow 195cc runner heads and it went 11.teens, out the box. Same cam. I dont think you have a cam issue.

Pull the stock rocker studs and put 7/16 rockers studs and big block rockers and stick with that cam should give .60 ths more lift and go faster

292H cam best cam ever for gen1 sbc!

Hiya nyle. I ran many vortecs with comps extreme 284. Cam timing varied from +2 up to +6. Just depended on what cranking pressure i was after. I always liked about 185psi with iron heads on CA 91 octane.

280 out pulled the 292... stock vortec long block even springs with performer rpm intake everything else the same not sure why... I'd leave it as is but definitely wouldn't go bigger

You should look at the videos from piss cutter performance. Vortex heads can only flow so much and you can easily over cam the engine. He has a video on what the max lift you can run. I cant remeber the exact lift he says.

Hey nyle, when running this cam did you have to machine the guides down and install screw in studs?

I wouldn't change the cam. I'll send you info for a guy who can build you a carb to get you more out of that motor. Some tuning can get you there.

Are you willing to run a solid lifter camshaft ? However I still feel theres more to be had with a good lightweight 8” torque converter than a camshaft swap at this moment.

Seems a little down on compression to expect too much out of it unless you want to put a power adder on. If you dont want to throw out a bunch of money you can go in and clean up the ports in the heads (I went in and gasket matched and ported and polished an old set of 64cc double hump heads and it made a big difference back in the day), maybe play with cam timing or add a 2” spacer under the carb seemed to help my situation some. Theres plenty more you could play with including suspension. All these little things helped me just thought Id throw it your way

Maybe an isky 292 mega or similar due to the tighter lsa, but given your constraints, I feel like you're about as big as you'd want to go already. I have a 280 mega under vortecs with the same spring and retainer setup, and I'm pretty pleased. Its in a 4000 pound truck with a stick though, so not a great comparison. It runs strong from 3000-6000 or so, feels like it has a strong mid range.

They all sound choppy and rev quick with just a flex plate. Add a converter or flywheel and all that changes.

Lunati Voodoo 268/272 HR, wicked and stomps COMP.

If you got those springs in it Go hydro roller. Theres a cam from lunati. Street master family of cams they sell 234/242 duration .530/530 110/104 Thats a 2500-6500 cam and would need a 3000 stall and at least 3.73s in the rear Lunati 20120316 is the part number and use morel lifters

Small roller, 108 LSA

How are u running a 292 cam with stock heads??? Always been told stock vortecs could only hold .450 lift before having to have machine work for springs. Great sound little mouse

292 a little too big for how the heads flow I would say something about 224 at 50 108 lsa keep the same Lift. Maybe throw about 6° duration more in the exhaust side. Straight up.

Just going from a 110 to a 108 lsa will probably pick up 20 ft lb in the mid range...

306S cam would definitely pick your engine up from that cam

long slot rockers needed

I would change the heads instead. I have always run Comp Cams. That’s a good cam. What was your break in procedure? I hear all the issues with cams nowadays. Motor sounds great. Good ETs.

I’m running the 305h in the same motor with ported Vortec heads it likes rpm in the 6200-6900 rpm still stock Chevy bottom

What size exhaust and tailpipe?

Ya just whipped out a new comp cam and lifters at a 15 min breake in time

I'd spend about 20 hours on each head with some porting. And tune the carb the best you can. Maybe give the cam a couple more degrees, see what works.

What kind of mufflers? They sound magnificent!!!!

12 flat with what you have me thinks someones trollin commenters...and doing a good job at that lol Good running car.

I would at least have a 10.1 compression!

Whats your best e.t. out that motor and what gear and stall

I’m trying an xs274s cam in mine.

I run a crane cam 282h06 in my 355 my compression is 9.9-1 i have the summit Hypertectic pistons 4 valve relief and a set of Gm performance GMPP Fast Burn heads there 62cc thats why my compression is 9.9-1 but i think with your combo you can try comp cam extreme 268

Spilt duration vortec heads love split duration

I think the compression is not right on your build stock vortec 350's come 9.5-1 from the factory summit sells a set of Hyputectic 4valve reliefe performance pistons. with the 64cc chamber vortex heads compression will be at 9.6-1

248/252 108lsa 105ica (three degrees advanced) .500+ lift. Find a cam as close to these specs as you can and she’ll run like a scalded ape

Vortec heads really need a cam with more exhaust duration than intake, to make up for the poor flowing exhaust port. Ideally 10 degree range. I would run a comp cams 12-330-4 286AH-8. Use it with prw or comp cams 1.6 roller tip guided rockers for .523”/.517” lift. Use comp cams 4604-16 polylocks with them. Drill out the pushrod holes to 1/2”. Your ls6 springs will work with the extra lift, as long as your install height is no shorter than 1.76”. If you are at 1.75”, you can use +.030” locks for 1.78” competition products PVT4326. Still check clearances. Even with the taller locks the guided rockers will clear with the stock valves. Ideally you would put 2.02 and 1.6 valves in for a good flow increase. You can put them in with minor work. Use straight stemmed valves. no chamber mods, no need to unshroud valves, cut throat behind the larger valve. Open throat to the seat, remove the edge left by the cutter in the port. Blend seats into the chamber. If you want to port only bowl blend and shorten the valve guide, taper and blend the guide boss. Steel shim head gasket is good. I would also add a 1” merge or tapered spacer on the intake. The cam change alone will gain quite a bit of power all the way through the rpm range, and have a lot more power as you reach your 6500 rpm redline. If you did the valve changes, it would pick up a lot also. Between the cam and head changes I would expect 40hp.

What temp does it run on a 15-20 mins drive?

The math says you're only making about 325 horsepower. Have you leaked the engine to see how the rings are sealing? What viscosity oil are you using? Are you using a stock oil pump? For a drag car with an automatic transmission, I suspect that you would do better with an LSA closer to 106 degrees and roughly 10 degrees more duration, but the cam manufacturers would be able to better advise you. The heads, however, are REALLY holding you back. You may have as much as 100 horsepower to gain with good heads. What size exhaust header primary diameter? Typical cheap 1-5/8" headers aren't enough.

Try lt1 hot cam

Hydraulic roller cam all I can say

I’d drop that thing in something and have fun!!!!

A xe 274 cam would be good for that motor

What kind of exhaust are those?

Needs more compression!

You may want to raise compression... That cam may be a little too much for "stock" vortec's...

The Lil motor sounds real responsive I don't know how much power your trying to make but myself I'd step up to a solid lift cam and try to get some more compression out of it maybe mill the heads 9.2 to 1 is really low so after market heads would help but you still got a 9.2to 1 motor you could probably get another short block from someone that might just need to be freshen up pretty cheap . If you don't want to go that route get your valve guide bosses milled down and run a solid lift with more duration and a Lil more lift that would probably be your cheapest way.

I run lanati in most of my vehicles

I would keep the camshaft that you already have. Just buy a set of Brodix IK (Iron Killer) heads Part #1021005 These are 64cc combustion chambers so that would bring up your compression ratio, and with aluminum heads you have more wiggle room for ignition timing because ⚗ dissipates heat faster the intake volume is 180cc. Head gasket should be the Felpro 1003. You wiould basically bolting on 50 to 60 horsepower with these cylinder heads.

isky 302 h 535 lift 112 center line

The 292 maga😂

What camshaft is that

What mufflers are those?

The 292h is a little too much cam for a 9.2: compression engine. its over cammed and you are losing power down low and in the mid-range, but not spinning it fast enough on the high end to take advantage of that big of a duration. it really needs about 1 - 1.5 more points of compression for that much cam. also, once you get beyond about 9.7 with iron heads you can run in to detonation. so this engine combo does not make sense to me. there just is not enough compression to take advantage of that big of a cam. I would look at something a little smaller in cam size. like one of the David Vizard grinds that Lunati offers, like the DV278-06HRH or DV282-08HRH Hydraulic Roller. A roller cam will give you more area under the curve and will fill the cylinders better with Vortech heads. also, that cam is on a 108 LSA to take better advantage of exhaust scavenging and 350s like a 108 LSA. however, a 108 LSA will make the rpm range between peak torque and peak horsepower narrower. where spreading the LSA to 110 or 112 will widen the range between the torque and horsepower peaks. so, it really depends on why you're a looking to accomplish. if all you plan to do is drag race it, then the DV282-08HRH is what i would run. its 231/231 duration at .050. and .535 lift with 1.5:1 rocker. however, i would have the heads worked over to make sure you have .600 valve retainer clearance on the vortex heads and run a 1.6 ratio rocker. which puts the lift at around .571 and have them upgraded for screw in studs. you are living on borrowed time with push in studs in a vortec head. running higher ratio rockers makes the everything happen faster as far a valve events go. they are worth about 5-10hp over 1.5 ratio rockers. 3000 lbs. is fairly light for a car, i think the stall on the converter is a little bit too high as well. i would be running in the 2500stall with a car that light and 4.56 gears. also 50 shot of vitamin N will give you what you're looking for with our changing the cam, just re-gap the top rings. recommended ring gap is .004 - .0045 x Bore Diameter, so most stock bore 350's have ring gaps around .016 - .018. i would gap them to .020-.022 if i was running NO2. but be careful of NO2, that stuff is addicting. you will keep wanting more and more and suddenly you are at a 250 shot and things start breaking or melting. most factory bottom ends are strong enough for a 100-125 shot with stock cast pistons. anything more than that and i would want forged pistons.

Do the LS swap mod.

Put a stage 2 cam in it

I would go with around the same lobe lift and duration with maybe a tighter lsa. But that's just me. I'm far from an expert.