2ponchos

i am building a 406 for my 88 formula.. its kindof a long story how i am getting this motor but to make it a short one a guy i know of he had the motor had it rebuilt and then decided he didnt want it took it to a local machine shop and sold it.. i know the owner pretty good at the shop so he made me a deal on it.. it went back through to make sure everything was fine in it.. it has forged flat top pistons.. and he said that when he was tanking the block and honing it he measured the cam the specs are 451 on the exhaust side and 464 on the intake.. does this sound like a pretty good cam?? he said it should have some lump but not overly crazy does that sound bout right?? and i am putting vortec heads on it with edelbrock air gap intake and still pondering on what carb.. how does this motor sound to u guys?? he said it should pump out around 375 hp.. does it sound like a 12 sec car?? hope so cant wait!!!!

8Mike9

Seems like he gave you the gross valve lift numbers...not really enough info to go on.

You're probably better off knowing the type of heads, CR of the engine and finding a new cam to match things up so the engine will perform to how you want it to, as well as to make sure it's camm'ed properly.

RB83L69

I agree, for the $100 or so that a known appropriate cam costs, there's no point in second-guessing what's there. It also sounds like the cam's specs are split backwards compared to what a SBC typically needs, which is a bigger exhaust lobe.

Vortec heads (64cc) will give you about 11.5:1 CR on top of a flat-top 400. Just something to watch out for. In that case, a small cam like the one you are talking about probably is, will produce so much cyl pressure that you won't be able to run it on pump gas no matter how far you retard the timing.

To use the full capabilities of those heads and that intake, your best bet is a Comp XE268 if you run the heads as they come out of the box; or a XE274 if you get the guides milled down a bit; or maybe a XE284 if you want to pay to put in 1.45" outer diameter springs. In any case, get rid of the replacement truck crap that comes on them and put some hi-perf valve springs on there such as Comp 981.

2ponchos

the machinist said tha tthe heads are 194cc and he did a valve job in them but there wasnt much there to grind off.. so he siad he really couldnt do a 3 angle job on them.. he said he thought they came off a camaro or something because usually they are 184 the ones he seen from trucks and stuff.. i am really confused on this cam situation.. he tells me with tthat cam and the heads i should be at the most 9:5.1 comp.. i want to put adifferent cam in but i dont have the money to spend on the converter right now.. and with either of the cams u recommonded they seemed pretty high in lift..