Need Cam Selection Help

Hi folks, long time, no talk. I posted here years ago about my proposed project and while life got in the way along the way (lost two parents, two parents-in-law, and remodeled most of the entire house), I am now finally ready to move forward and screw my motor together. Let me briefly update you on the scope…

I own a 1969 Javelin with the original 232. That motor has been warmed over with a cam, headers, intake, carb, and ignition, but is now getting a little tired and never made a huge amount of steam anyway with it’s 8 point-something:1 compression.

The “new” motor will be a 258 out of a ‘73 Comanche. This has been bored .040 over and fitted with Sealed Power hypereutectic pistons for a Chevy 305 (this process was started before they made dedicated pistons for the AMC motors). The machinist figured this would provide between 9:1 and 9.25:1 compression. The head is a new complete 4 liter HO unit from Clearwater Cylinder Heads, drilled for the ½” bolts and with the outboard water passages welded. It has springs installed to support .500” of lift. I have intake, headers, and ignition all covered. The transmission will be a GM 200-R4 used with a Novak adapter. Rear end is Corporate 20 unit from a ‘68 AMX with 352:1 gears. Torque converter will be something around 2000 – 2200 RPM stall.

My question here is mainly about the cam. At the time I was vigorously acquiring parts, I secured a Comp Cams 262H-11 “Extreme Energy” cam. The specs at .050”are: Intake - .493 lift and 218 duration, and exhaust: .512 lift and 226 duration, and an LSA of 111 degrees. Along the way, my ADD set in and I started chasing the “Holy Grail” of camshafts looking to see if there was one that would be significantly better. I THOUGHT I had decided on a Lunati Voodoo cam of somewhat similar specs because I had always heard good things about them and that they produced more torque under the curve. When I called Lunati, I talked to a guy who must have been having a bad day and kinda treated me like I had just run over his dog. He wasn’t REAL forthcoming with information on comparing his cams to others, but when I mentioned the cam I have he told me that if I used it, he could guarantee excessive valve train noise with the Comp grind. Now I’m confused and hesitant about the camshaft selection. Is the Comp cam I’ve already got plenty good enough, or is there a better choice? Fire away!

Yes. In the interest of brevity, I didn't go into my choices or why I chose them. The whole concept behind the "High Energy" series was aggressive ramp profiles: fast opening and fast closing which effectively keeps the valves open longer. This is supposed to provide for more low end torque - or at least that's what Comp claimed at the time I bought it. Reading between the lines of what precious little Lunati-guy told me, I got the impression that their ramp profile opens quickly also, but shuts down more slowly to reduce valve noise. What noise? Would there be a valve clatter like a dieseling effect or something different? 

Edited by Javelin Dan - May/08/2021 at 7:55am

Thanks Sonic Silver! Very enlightening indeed...

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