Cam shaft numbers
 

Just curious what's everybody running for a cam in 540 and larger ci 700plus hp N/A

id give you some information but some oso members feel only 1 person on this site is qualified to do that and that person is not me so i no longer talk about camshaft profiles on this site.im just tired of being told by people who have no clue ,sorry.

Well give me some I really don't care about the naysayers on here I've got a pair of 557s 10-5-1 comp, tall deck, was supposed to make 700 plus but they only produced 620hp 650tq , I see everyone list there motors making 700plus but I want to compare engines, these engine have the Brodix heads that we talked about, just wanting to compare before I buy those pro chargers listed

if you are talking about the m4s,they are in my shop and if you buy them we have the cams that would work great with your setup but your compression is to high for my liking for the prochargers.

That's a shame mike . The last thread I started is when you stopped. I'd say from what I've seen you are more than qualified. I went with the one you recommended. It was 1 number off what was suggested by the other guy so I'd say you know pretty damn good!!, who cares what the other one or two have said they probably don't even have a boat if u know what I mean. If we don't learn something everyday then we waste our time . There are tons on here that know it all and have never built a thing. I'm building my first engine and have drag raced for 20 years and it's people on here that help me through it and I'm scared ****less cuz I want it right

thanks for the kind words,if i can help you in any way with your build feel free to pm me.

bob madera is not the only guy on the planet who knows which end of the cam goes into the block first.

Don't stop helping people you always good advice on here. You and a few others that I always look for when I need advice on something.

I have about .660 lift and 250*dur. at .050 lift on 112 lobe ctr. That's in a 540 cu.in.

I think it's funny that people get worked up over all the cam threads. Bob get's recommended on almost every one because that's what he does for a living, and has a great reputation. Mike, I think your Crane 651 recommendation on Shane's thread was a good call, it is a tried and true cam that performs well in that size engine with a power adder. However, there could be better options, or there might be a parameter or component of his build that would benefit from a different/specific profile. I'm pretty sure if you did call Bob, and the 651 profile was the best option for your application, he would say so. Just because two cams have very similar numbers, does not mean they are the same. Overall lobe profiles can be vastly different between the two.

So let's turn this thread around.. If you want to get any meaningful responses on a cam thread, and I'm sure Bob would chime in if it's constructive, you need to post as much detail as possible. Asking what cam for a 540, is like saying how long is a rope. Johnnyboat, seeing as though this is your thread - You've got 557's, 10.5 comp. What heads, any porting, what intake, what size carb, efi, what exhaust, straight out, 90's, mufflers, what octane fuel, what is the application, what springs, rockers, pushrod size, what cam is in there now, where'd it make peak torque and peak hp, was it dyno'd with your marine exhaust, or dyno headers? Answer as much as you can and that should be a good start. There will likely be people who aren't cam experts, but may have a similar combo and can give you their real world results with what they're running, that way everybody should be able to learn a little something.. Or if that's too much work, just call Bob :lolhit: :D

620HP from a 557 with 10.5:1 sucks. What cam did you have in it? What model brodix heads do you have?

What is the max rpm you are comfortable turning with the components you have? No point in putting a cam that will make peak power at 6700rpm when you only want to turn 6000.

when eliminatershane started a thread asking what cams guys are useing in a similar build as his i told him what cam i put in a set of engines for 1 of my boats.i got beat up by people who know as much about cams as i know about flying the space shuttle.i even got pm,s from a guy telling me im no bob madera,[and im not]but all i did was respond to his thread so from now on i will not post much advice or experiance on oso.im tired of all the head cases around here lately.if one tenth of the people who recomend bob actually use him id be suprised but they all jump on the band wagon.bob is the man no doubt but to beat up on someone because he told someone else what cam he used on a build is crazyness that i dont need.just for the record the 651 cam met the needs of the builds they went in and i was happy with 950 from 8.71s on 540 with 9 lbs boost.but what do i know,i used COOKIE CUTTER CAMS.

mild thunder, I wanted 700hp ive got the heads from mike the ones he took off some motors of his brodix, the builder told me at the time 700 was going to be pretty easy to achieve with the parts I have, now theyre just down on power to me , I see everyone here post theyre engines made 700plus, and these dynode at 620 just seeing what the diff, I know the heads may be to big, they were ported and off of a blower set up so who knows I was clearly asking what people were running as far as cams to get 700hp or more on a carb 540plus engine im not holding anyone liable just curious.

I stand by my statement I made on shanes thread. Before I would spend the money on a new shelf crane billet cam, I would go to Bob. Reason being, he not only will spec a cam tailored to your setup, he also can set you up with a bunch of other valvetrain insight.

The last couple conversations I've had with Bob I've learned a thing or two. I've personally never been around a spintron, and probably won't anytime soon. Some things Bob, alex, eddie young, etc can share is not only knowledge, but experiance. I think often many details aside from cam specs, are often overlooked.

We as do it yourself kinda guys, will want a cam with xx amount of lift and duration. But, many won't follow thru with the rest of the valvetrain to see that you are truly getting xx amount of lift at the valve, or correct valve actuation. Whether it be from pushrod deflection, incorrect spring setup (yes there's more to it than seat psi and open pressures), and even proper rocker geometry.

I am sure HaxbySpeed can attest there is power and reliability to be found in the valvetrain, not just in the cam lobes per say. Things I've done in the past may have worked just fine, but if there's a better way to do it I wanna know. That's why I enjoy talking with you guys!

To get back on topic, before anyone can suggest a cam, we need more info on the engines, alot more. The cam that might work well in a 6500rpm blower build isn't gonna be the one for a 5500rpm N/A engine :)

Sorry I was typing while you posted. Without the full specs on the engine, I can't speculate on why your engines only made 620hp. It may or may not be the cam choice. I don't think those heads "being too big" are necessarily an issue. What they flow might be.

We really need to start from the beginning with a full spec sheet on the engines, what RPM they made their power , and what camshaft is currently in them.

yep!! i quit giving information..everyone else knows more and i have been going at it for 29 years...

Mike I wouldn't sweat what some guys say. You have put together some pretty bad azz stuff, that I can vouge made some great power and put a smile on my face when you whack the throttles on those whippled mills you have in the Fountain. And the wicked blown 540's you had in your cat were monsters too. Or those blown alky mills you ran back in the day. In my opinion your far from a shade tree! I can see where getting beat up by guys who probably haven't done more than a intake manifold swap on their own without help from 17 other people would be frustrating.

I'm extremely pleased with my little 800hp 468's you helped me with. 2 seasons on them so far and I haven't babied them. My favorite part about Mike Tkach is even though he's been into this stuff since I was in diapers, he still doesn't let his ego blind his vision and isn't afraid to ask for help or insight if he hits a wall. Working with ya on these projects is always fun, and whenever we get thrown a curveball we come thru with good stuff, and have alot of laughs doing it!

What you really need is the flow numbers for the heads. That should help a lot in determining the best cam choice.

Who's dyno were the motors put on? What was the correction factor? Did the guy that dynoed the motors build them? With that cubic inch the right brodix heads and a cam in the 250-260 range I would say little more than 700 is attainable. But your gonna have to spin it around 6500. And this can be done with a cookie cutter cam.

I thought they would had made more with the parts we got,

Well...I might as well stir the pot and let everyone crawl up my zero on it. I have run several of these cams from Bab Teague in 540's with a carb and they have all made good power. You might call 661-295-7000 and talk to Eric and ask him about the CMP-258-266 cam that they make. it has a .647 lift with 258/266 and a 114* LC. No reversion, but the motor wakes up at around 3200 rpm.

I did talk too bob and also bob teague. Mr madera has my info and even called me too make sure I received his email. Super nice guy. I even talked to c.straub gave him my specs and flow numbers to the heads and I know he's busy but never heard back. I was just saying that mike told me about the cam he suggested as a cookie cutter and he was very very very and very again close to one that was suggested as a custom grind. He was trying to help and in my opinion was knowledgable. Enough to say hey this a pretty good cam. He never said you must run this cam and no one can come close to it. If I had my way I would call sonny Leonard and say this is Shane I need blah blah but I want real marine people that have vast knowledge of everyday stuff that works. Now sonny does build marine stuff but more drag than anything as he built our mountain motors on the pro stock car that I was the pit gofer ,clean up ***** for. I don't understand why mike even got a pm message being an ass we are all boaters and live for it everyday and should get along no matter what you know or don't know. I know I don't care if you have a mti,cig,or a john boat if it's what you can afford than more power to you. We all put our pants on one leg at a time. I will say this I'm tired of sitting here in the cold staring at **** I can't use and it's driving me nuts and I live 15 feet from the water. So moral of my story and comment is he tried to help and got persecuted for it. Just like so e people don't care for pro system carbs . I have used Patrick for years and what sold me on him was my engine was on dyno when I drag raced and we took off the carb on it that was spot on and bolted his on and picked up 48 horsepower. Does this happen all the time to everyone NO! But it sure got me hooked.

I dont doubt at all that what Mike told you was good info. I just find it funny to me that "HE" is on the receiving end this time as there are so many here that cant wait to be first to crawl up someones butt with the attitude that whoever they are whining at doesnt have enough sense to know how to turn off a light switch or that they are a complete idiot because they didnt pay $50.00 for a single spark plug. There are so many here that think that if you dont pay out the ying-yang for something, then what you have is junk and the truth be known...they dont have a clue. I have always tried to help others too and I have caught Hell over it. I just find it amusing to me that Mike is on the receiving end this time...and he knows what I mean about that. I think he gave you good info and now the monkey is on your back to sift thru everything and make a choice. I think and have alot of respect for both Bob's and my opinion is, for whatever it is worth...either Bob will get you going in the best direction as well as several other people here like Mike. Just sift thru the BS that the whiners are saying.

You may want to call Sonny he does alot of R&D stuff for Mercury Racing so I've been told.

If i would had known what i knew now, i would had bought all new parts instead of used heads, that needed corrosion repair which by the time i had them repaired,& rebuilt,i could had bought new ones, thats my fault i had no ideal what i needed just figured bigger is better, 1150 dominators that were supposed to work for this application ( which i should had known better ) 600.00 for carbs, and alot of money to redo those, i could had bought a new pair of 1050s and saved 1000.00 on that.i guess we live and learn. I should had listened to our builder( when he said i can make that work that meant i can spend your money to make it work. Like i said it was a learning experience.. Would i use my builder again yes i ran a pair of blown 557s which went 1050hp and detuned them to 850hp for 6 years and never pulled the valve covers, ive had alittle prob and disappointment with my current 557s but we will get the bugs worked out and it will be fine no blowers or scoops on the hatches

Pslonker thats the power i was thinking this was going to make.but somewhere it went wrong

I know exactly what you mean I've tried many times to save a buck and end up spending more in the long run. A friend of mine just told me the other day that it only costs him a little extra if he does it himself...

It could be the heads if they are flowing too much...bigger is not always better. The power and the torque crossed at 5300 rpm making 700+ in both HP and torque. The cam in this motor is from Teague and Ron is very happy with it. Dock side manners are also good with no loading up or stalling at an idle going into or out of gear even with the raunchy attitude at an idle.

WOW! 776HP at 6100 from a 540 N/A. Amazing numbers. Especially considering the Flattop pistons in there, with 119cc chambers. A 9:1 Aluminum headed 540 that can crank out almost 800HP at 6000RPM, and run on 87 octane. Dude, you truly are a magician. Let me guess a 750CFM holley up top too? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAHT1alBj80

Good guessing on your part...but wrong on a few things. No matter. Dont you recognize a Holley 500. Maybe you should schedule another eye exam.

I prob could use an eye exam. My eyes are seeing a pretty sweet fuel line setup to that carb. Is that a 1/4'' or 5/16'' rubber fuel line clamped to the fuel log? Guess that's suffice for a 775HP monster.

I love your youtube videos that have you talking $hit about me, mike tkach, Haxby, Brian41, and others. You are the man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMOKvhPis_U


I made this video to try to help others who are not quite sure of themselves, be able to do their own motor work and have the confidence to know that they did it right...but of course there are some Morons like these that use the screen name of "Brian41", "HaxbySpeed", "mike tkach", "Mild Thunder" & "4bus" on a web site called OffShoreOnly (http://www.offshoreonly.com/) who are nothing more than cry-baby losers that know nothing about me or my motors. These clowns are the type that if you dont agree with them or worship anything they say, then they go out of their way to bad-mouth you or try to discredit you. What they fail to see from the emails that I get is that they discredit themselves with many people on OSO. It is like if you are not in their little butt-buddy group, we are going to get you. Yea well...YAWN...I have posted my address on OSO before for one other wann-B badass to come make his stand, but strange...no one has ever shown up. What does this tell you?. OSO is a great boating site, but it is a shame that they let people like this on it that do nothing more than to try to stir up ****. None of these clowns would know me if I was standing next to them and none of them knows a damn thing about my engine facilities, but they think that they speak with all the knowledge in the world, when in reality, they know nothing except what they fabricate...a nice way to say that they lie. The one thing I will give them credit for is all the free advertising they pass out for me and believe me, it does pay off. They think they are doing me harm but this is not the case. I am sure tho that you will agree that little cowards are brave as Hell on the keyboard. One claims that I am "pounding" in a piston with a brass hammer...hmmm...maybe I should pound harder. One also claims that I have a Harbour Freight ring compressor when in reality, this ring compressor came from Summit. It doesnt matter as I do have a few things from Harbour Freight...like a chain hoist, generator, a few tools and other stuff that they had that I decided that I wanted because the price was good. Harbour Freight has some good stuff and some junk stuff...no different from anyother tool shop. All in all...these clowns are nothing more than run-your-mouth cock suckers who loves to try to start a rukus. Like I said, OSO is a great site, but it is ashame to have a good site and then have trailer trash people like these clowns on it to make the whole site look bad.

Building a 509 for Larry Cobb. This motor has a Gen vl block with a stock crank, Manley rods, JE pistons, and Dart iron Eagle Heads. Larry didnt want alot of power...just a motor that he doesnt have to mess with or work on so that he can enjoy his 27 Fountain. This is also my small shop...nothing fancy...just functional. This is where I put them together. It is not where the machine work is done. So for those that want to laugh...have at it. I do the work...not an employee, so the buck stops right here with me.

Aut-o...you found it..


BTW...fuel line is 1/4

Here is a pic of a 565ci 787HP. It has EFI dual 1000cfm throttle bodies, fully ported Dart Pro1 heads (flow 400+cfm) cam most would consider an RV cam shelf Comp 230/236 and makes its power @ 6250rpm. Like Haxby stated earlier, it's a combination of all components.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]517303[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517304[/ATTACH]

im asking for help or what everybody else was using, I didn't start this to bring out old battles, that's why everyone is afraid to ask questions, everyone knows that nobodys engines are going to be like another im simply looking at numbers. as Rodney king stated( cant we all get along).

rookie those look nice.

Thanks, in your search of your ideal cam I really have no input. I had a friend that ran a 540 with minor ported Edelbrock heads and a 741 cam. It dynoed at 630HP in full marine prep. Stainless Marine manifold, sea water pump and accessories. Pushed an '87 240 Baja 80mph. Which I thought was impressive.

Johnny I think we asked multiple times on this thread as to what the current specs on your engines are. Just telling us its a 557CI with brodix heads doesn't give anyone a lot to work with as far as a cam recommendation.

We need things like the cylinder head model and what and if any work has been done, compression ratio, intake manifold, exhaust system, etc.

I had a N/A 540ci. It had a 741 crane cam. Made 600HP with merlin iron heads and 9:1 compression and a dart single plane. To make 700+ reliable hp from a N/A 540, its gonna take more than just 'a good cam'. Without a doubt it can be done, but theres a lot more to it. I am sure those heads on Valako's engines Rookie posted aren't just bolted on as cast out of the box heads. Shooting from the hip here, but my guess is your head/cam combo is limiting you.

I apologize for getting off topic, but I am sorry when someone chimes in suggesting a camshaft with almost 270* of ex duration, not even knowing anything about your engines, no reversion concerns, I can't keep quiet. Just trying to look out for you on that one. Then again, what do I know, that just might be the hot ticket for your engines. Good luck, Im out on this one.

The funny thing is everyone he mentioned, MT, mike, brain41, haxby and 4bus are all great members of the site. A wealth of knowledge and help any member who asks. Lol. Good luck Johnny. Hope you get it figured out.

Reread the first question I asked. I was wondering what everyone else is running for cams in 540 to 565ci n/a 700plus engines no blowers., as far as mentioning names I haven't, I bought the heads from mike tkach. icu looking your right that's why I ask questions I bought **** cause it sounded like I needed but I should had listened to more experienced people.Mild thunder i appreciate you and the others input.