camshaft question
 

i am trying to pick a cam for my motors but all the guys i talk to want to know what my boat weighs which i understand but i dont know what it weighs. does anybody have a idea what it weighs.it is a79 chris craft excalibur 32 foot with trs drives and 454s.i am also open to suggestions the motors have gil exhaust edelbrock torker 2 intakes holley 800 cfm carbs and the compression is 9.1thanks any help would be appreciated.

excaliber
You could drag the beast down to the local truck scales, weigh it and subtract 12-1500lbs for the trailer. That would give you a good idea. I would guess it would be around 9000lbs or so. But it is purely a guess..
Good luck..
Dick

www.cranecams.com

huge site with lots of info..

I have a 32'Active Thunder. It weighs roughly 7500-7800lbs. I wouldn't think yours would weigh any more than mine. A good hydraulic flat tappet cam for your 454's would be something like a 224* Intk and 232* on the exhaust @ .050" lift. on 112* lobe seps.

Perhaps Dave F, Wette Vette, Dennis Moore or some others that have lots of engine experience can chime in here as far as a cam recommendation for your 454's. Were you thinking of using a flat tappet hydraulic, flat tappet solid or a hydraulic roller??? If you can afford it I would suggest a hydraulic roller cam/lifters. What ever your choice is---DO NOT OVER CAM the engines! Here's a word of wisdom----if you are going to "err" it is best to "err" on the smaller side of a cam selection.

BTW, I once knew of a boat in the mid 1980's down in Michigan City years ago that was a 32' Excaliber. It was red and was called "The Dealer"

kaama i would like to use a hydraulic roller. i have been told by a couple of guys that they think that is the boat i have now . it is white now but you can tell it use to be red. thanks for the help

Choose wisely, my son.

KAAMA said it!
 

The specs given by KAAMA are what I would go with although I like 110 lobe separation angles for a cam of this size (not much difference though). The specs will work with flat based or roller based lifters. Just the reduction in friction from roller lifters are worth 10 horsepower over flat lifters (says a GM engineer at the SEMA show this year).
I would lose the Torker II intake manifolds first thing, they are costing you power!
Use the Edelbrock RPM series manifolds and Edelbrock marine square bore carbs @ 750 cfm.
Stay with the stock induction (non CD) ignition system for best spark quality.
Sincerely
Dennis Moore
FAMILY AND PERFORMANCE BOATING MAGAZINE

I ran an Erson hydraulic flat tappet cam in a low compression 454 with 049 oval port heads that were fitted with 2.19 intake and 1.88 exhaust valves. I had good exhaust and a match ported oval port Holley Strip Dominator intake with a 750 DP on top. The motor had great low end power and pulled to about 5500 RPM. The specs on that cam were 228/234 @.050" on a 112+4 installation with .540" lift. I have no experience with hydraulic rollers.

I run pretty much the same set-up as wette vette with 9-1 compression and I use the torker 2 intakes and the torker 2 cam +4 with a 780 3310 Holley. I didnt see any difference in power at 5000 rpm verses the dual plane intake. I needed the torker 2 for deck clearance otherwise I would have used a Weiand Stealth.

Ex,

I agree with Kaama and Dennis.

With 9:1 in a 454, I wouldn't go with anything higher than a 226/236 112 .534/.553 Thats a Crane flat hydro. 134241.

The roller version: 139731 226/234 112 .587/.610 You'll need aftermarket springs for this one.

Both of these cams have 6 degrees of overlap. With stock exhaust that's actually risky in my opinion but can be done.

Another good one would be the old carb 500 cam. 169611 222/230 110 .576/.598 Also with 6 degrees.

The lowest I would go would be in the 222/230 range. Oh, when ordering make sure you tell them which block you have. That old 500 cam was made for a Gen 6

DAVE

I have this cam in my 24 Outlaw 454mag. I did other mods at the same time and gained about 350-400 rpms with same prop. I also added Imco exhaust, a holley 800 carb with 1" spacer, and K &N arrestor. I had a valve job done, milled the heads .020, used the springs recommended by Crane for the cam and added roller rockers.
I gave the same specs to "nobudget" and he dynoed his engine right at 425 hp.
The cam is also budget priced at Summit for under $150 with lifters and lube( kit part #134242).

I would think it weighs approx 8000lbs(3500kg),like mine!
But I don´t think it´s a Chris Craft,I would just call it a Excalibur!