My dad is restoring his 1 owner L-89. All stock with tri-power. He is wanting to swap the solid lift cam to hydraulic roller and roller lifters, and would like to keep it 11:1 and run on 93 octane. The heads are being reworked with hardened valve seats - tired of adding lead. Any advice on a cam profile ? Even if he needs a custom grind that would be ok too. Thanks in advance !

Welcome to the site!

I am not a cam expert by any means. My question, though, is what is the intended purpose for the car? Does he want it stock or modified? Street only, street/strip, racing, etc. It will make a difference.

There are several good cam grinders who have good reps. One of our members Will is pretty knowledgeable in this and should chime in shortly. He has one cam builder he uses exclusively with good results.

Have a little patience and you'll get some good advice.

Matthew

It is street only, but he wants as much power as he can squeeze with an otherwise stock engine. The only other upgrade is a better transistor ignition (I believe that's what he said). He is 73 and has no desire to adjust valve lash any more. Thanks Matthew. Can't wait to hear some news from Will.

Hi Coach,

Wow. An L89 is a pretty rare and desirable engine in the 69. I'm surprised your dad would want to modify one.

Since the L89 came from the factory with Aluminum cyl heads they are already equipped with hardened seat inserts. So honestly you should only need to have the proper valve springs installed and replace any wear items (ie seals or guides) before you install them with the new hyd roller cam. I'd be interested to know what the machine shop you are dealing with told you....

As for converting to a hyd roller cam from the current flat tappet solid lifter. It's a pretty straight forward conversion.

You will need the new roller cam, new roller lifters, new appropriate length pushrods and proper valve springs/retainers/locks.

I have most of my camshafts ground by Mike Jones at Jones Cam Designs. They are in Denver NC. All Jones cams are custom grinds.

http://jonescams.com/

As for specifications given the rest of the engine and your dads expectations.

I would recommend these 2 lobe profiles.

EHR72360/EHR74365

The entire cam specifications as I recommend it be ground would be:

280/288@.006
234/242@.050
.612/.620 lift w/1.7 rockers (stock rocker ratio)
108 ICL with 112 LSA.

This cam would give a very similar sound at idle to the factory L89 cam, better part throttle driveability, more power and no maintenance.

For off the shelf camshaft something like the Howards Cams PN 120405-12 would also be a good choice.

For the Hyd roller lifters I would recommend Morel PN - 5374 or the Howards Cams PN 91161.

For Valve springs, retainers and locks I would recommend Competition Products. PN - VSA14.

For Pushrods I would recommend Manley. Pushrods would have to be measured for the proper lengths once the cam, lifters and cyl heads are installed.

Of course you would need new head gaskets and intake gaskets. Some silicone and possibly carb gaskets.

I'll be glad to answer any other questions you may have about my recomendations or help you with your project in any way I can.
R/S
Will

Sounds like some really solid advice. I'm going to copy this and send it to my dad. Thanks very much.
I'm 99% certain though those heads didn't have hardened seats. That's why he has had to add lead all these years. I do agree about the modifications, esp since this car has roughly 40k miles on it. However, if the new cam is comparable to the original and requires zero maintenance I see his point there. It's getting a total rebuild completely stock except for the cam and ignition.
Thanks again !

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You'll also need a cam button/appropriate timing cover to prevent cam walk.

http://www.powerperformancenews.com/t ... cam-in-a-big-block-chevy/

Also, do you think he can run the same 11:1 pistons and run on 93 octane ?

Thanks Matatk

11.1 compression will be fine on pump gas with either of those cams.

Something else that I think would be a good idea to change would be the timing set (chain & gears).

Cloyes PN 9-3610TX9 would be my preferred.

Will

Excellent. That's one of the main things he was hoping for - too keep that compression and thumpy sound. Yeah the engine is getting a total rework, so he will have a few more cubes to play with also. I'll send him that part # info as well. Much appreciated.
Any chance there are any dyno charts floating around with that combo that you know of ?

I don't have any dyno of that cam in a BBC. Most of the BBC's we build are very serious engines and the customer base isn't very interested in me giving out their info... not that it could be applied to what you are doing anyway. We do build a few street type SBC's that use hyd roller cams....

So I do have similar grinds in a couple 383 cubic inch SBC's that I can link dyno and track results to.

Both of these are C4 Corvettes with 4L60 auto transmissions, 3000 stall converters and D44 IRS rear ends.

The first one was pretty mild build with 11.2 compression and AFR 195 street heads. He engine dyno'd it and then later put it on a chassis dyno when he was having the EFI tuned.

530HP@6100RPM (Stuska Engine Dyno)
411RWHP@6400RPM (Duno Jet chassis dyno)

http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c ... 9-383-afr-195-dyno-s.html

The second had better AFR 210 cyl head and 11.5 compression. It's only been on a chassis dyno when it had the EFI tuned.

463RWHP@6300RPM (Dyno Jet chassis dyno)

http://www.corvetteforum.guru/modules ... id=214682#forumpost214682

The first car has run 11.40 @ 120MPH in the 1/4.

The second car has run 11.19 @ 125MPH in the 1/4 mile.

http://www.corvetteforum.guru/modules ... id=223403#forumpost223403

And let me tell you.... both of these cars hit a nice lick at idle but drive like pussy cats until you open the throttle wide open.... then they get down.

Now the first guy has a buddy with a 69 Nova I also did a cam for. 11.1 383 SBC AFR 195's. Carb'd engine, single AED 750. TH400 3800rpm stall with 4.11 gears.

The cam I did for it is the identical lobe set to what I recommended for your dads 427 but on different lobe centers.

That car has been 11.00's @ 120MPH in the 1/4.

I have a similar grind going in the 496 BBC I am currently building for my 72 Corvette. I'm building it to be a replica of a stock appearing 71 LS-6 BBC. I'm expecting that it will make about 625HP but it will be a really good piece that will have a lot of little tricks in it.

Will

Will,
That's just good stuff ! My dad is going to get the cam you recommended. The engine builder said it sounds like a great profile to him. That guy recently did an L71 with a hydraulic roller cam (off the shelf but lopey) and was able to use the stock timing cover. Any thoughts on that with his? That could be a serious issue for him.
Thanks again

Stock timing cover will be fine.

Factory BBC timing covers have lots of room to clear double roller chains and the cam thrust button.

I've never had any issues with the factorytiming cover.

Will

Excellent. Thanks again.

Sounds like it. The engine is at a speed shop in NC. They said the crank, pistons, rods, bores - all looked new. All within .001. Sounds like just new bearings. Anyway, est 4 weeks. I'll get back in touch here and share the results. Gurus - indeed !

Can't wait! Look forward to seeing the results.

Update - Petersen Publishing is wanting to do a feature article on the car when the dust settles. It's a very very rare car with those options. I will be sure to cite the resources and cam guru guys who chipped in some great information.
Thanks again guys.

I'm told there are probably single digit numbers of true originals left. L-89, tri-power, Riverside gold, no power steering/brakes, dual disk clutch, one owner, etc etc. Really appreciated your expertise on this project.

An article would be a great tribute and honor

I know right !?!? My dad had never been interested in having a 'show car' - just because he didn't want anyone nit-picking his car, he said. It wore a primered L88 hood and ran an L88 intake and 850 dbl pumper since early 70. But he kept the tri power setup and it was always in a garage. One day recently he decided to do a total restore back to original. The interior, including carpet, was in such good shape it was just removed and cleaned. This cam swap was a major ordeal for many reasons. I got advice from a number of people but went with the recommendation from here.
I estimate six months before it hits the road again, but I'll certainly list where input came from.