I picked up a old chris craft 390x for a decent price but one of the engines needed gone through. Im putting back together now and found out they no longer make the cam i need to match to the other engine. Im wondering if I should just try to find one close to what i had, or have one specialty ground?

Im really not wanting to put a lot of money in these engines, because they are getting on the limits for specs , internally. Plus I have another 2 engines i have been slowly putting money into to replace them engines.

It's probably going to be cheaper to run something "close enough" than to pay for a custom grind. A few hp difference per side shouldn't be all that noticeable.

What's the old cam/grind? Someone here probably has one sitting on their kitchen table.

Here are some Merc and Crane Part numbers for cross reference. The cam is essentially a BB Chevy Truck Cam @ 500 lift if your on the super cheap. Like mentioned, at RPM matched drive a few HP is not going to matter much. Your torque and performance curve is very similar with an average GM truck cam. The useful powerband is over by 5K RPM. Used is also fine as long as the lobes are not flattening. You can easily inspect lobes and journals for symmetry.

These specs are essentially 84/85 model year.

http://www.miamiviceonline.com/image...r390x/mv25.jpg

Good Luck, I'm in the process of considering a 390 also after looking for a while. One is relatively close by.