Pontiac 400 cam in a 350

[Thumpin455]

You don't need to degree it unless you plan to move the cam timing around. Put the cam and timing gears in straight up, because you wont see much difference in the power advancing it.Comp usually grinds their cams 4 degrees advanced, so going another 4 degrees on the timing set will result in bent parts.

E85 is 70%-85% ethanol alcohol, the rest is gasoline amd usually the worst stuff they have because ethanol makes it so much better. Yes, seriously. Ethanol can withstand high compression and boost. It doesn't ping like gasoline does, makes more power everywhere in the RPM range, runs cooler and cleaner too. In a low compression engine it usually gets worse mileage, but with high compression you can get better mileage on ethanol and make lots more power. If you read or hear something negative about it that isn't less mileage in a low compression engine, its pretty much false or highly exaggerated. Like water absorption, its a moot point because you will simply burn the water. Straight ethanol will run in an engine with between 5:1 and 22:1 compression easily. E85 gets a little more touchy over 16:1 due to the gasoline mixed with it.

Really old rubber parts can be affected, but if its been rebuilt since 83, it is probably ok. It can and will clean the varnish left over from gasoline in the tank, that can clog filters, pumps, carbs, and injectors. If you have been running 10% in it, you more than likely dont have to worry about the varnish anymore, its probably gone.

All it really takes to switch to E85 is either swapping the carb or modifying it to flow more fuel. I like it because i can make it cheap, it makes lots of power, handles compression easily, and everything is clean when I pull it apart. No black deposits in my engines. They look new inside.

[DanStokes]

I've had excellent luck with Delta Cams but I've heard good stuff about Bullet, too. I'd NEVER bet against Todd in the Pontiac world!

Dan

[Thumpin455]

I'm not all that Dan, just built a bunch of them.

[Mater]

Malibu thanks for the elaborate explanation. I have decided against the used cam swap as I do not want to destroy the 350. It is numbers matching and will stay with the car if I should sell it down the road. I have some headers, hei with upgraded springs and stock weights and I just painted my 4 bbl intake. now I need to get a qjet. I have learned that tuning is huge. from the time I bought the car until now I have noticed an extreme difference in the amount of power this engine has, I put new gaskets in the carb, hei swap and my uncle showed me how to properly time the car and adjust the carb. guy at work showed me how vacuum leaks affect performance and how to find them. I just painted the intake manifold and once I clear coat it I will get a 4bbl and bolt them on. after that I will tackle the headers.

MATER- side note here. guy offered me a deal on an 05 Silverado just like yours. I turned him down because I hear they are horrible on gas. just curious what your getting with yours. 10-12 is the average from what I hear.

Depends. I tend to get abought 15 now with it running right and replaced the weak pump

[pontiacpower]

I do see a lot of gas stations use 10% in all their gas so that is a potential candidate. I see a lot of gas stations selling e85 with its own pump nowadays too. This is a potential option. I have known that mileage is less than gas but if it make more power that is ideal. I have replaced most of the rubber in the fuel system save for the carb. After I do that the rubber In my fuel system will be brand new. Todd have you ever considered writing a book? You could fund a lot of projects if you wrote a pontiac cookbook.

[pontiacpower]

Oh and MATER is that strictly highway? City? Or both?

[Thumpin455]

A book? Probably cost me more to publish it than I could make from it. Already great books out there for Pontiac and Qjets, (McCarthy, Rotella, Ruggles) other than the E85 thing (which has lots more free info online) I would be rehashing what has already been done. Nah the only book I would write is the one about my life, which is a story of getting knocked down over and over and getting back up to work harder to make up the lost time and territory. Resilience or stupidity? Im giggling at that one. Resilient stupidity sounds like a great book title.

[pontiacpower]

Either way I would read that book lol. I already have cliffs qjet and rotellas pontiac v8 book. I give them both an A for what they wrote the book for but they didn't really have any information about production heads other than ram airs. Hell I found this forum because I was googling stuff about pontiac and I found a post from years ago where you went into great detail about the design and how to make a 400 run and how to do it with stock parts

[pontiacpower]

Todd you know a lot about the a body platform, I had no idea how to make that lemans a driver when I first got it. I picked your brain mainly for ideas and now my car handles better, Stops in a reasonable manner and I have a 400 in the making. Oh and for the resilient stupidity thing, kind of true with this hobby. For example.....
Everyone on this forum- "guys where should I spend my money ?"
Intelligent answer- house payment car payment etc
The answer they got- camshaft 2802 that's the best route for your 350.
Do your wives hate you for all the money you spend because I get get crap from my girlfriend every day

[pontiacpower]

Timing chain question- how can I tell if my timing chain is bad? My car makes a sound I can only describe as glug glug glug when I'm in first gear almost at the point of shift. Friend says the timing chain is stretched but I haven't gotten any experience with timing chains outside of pulling one off that 400. Is this an item I should be changing with a cam swap? Any tech advice here?

[Mater]

Oh and MATER is that strictly highway? City? Or both?

i only really drive it in town and on country roads. on the highway it goes up to 18mpg if i keep it around 70mph. at 75-80mph it tanks to about 9mpg. i also have the optional 4.56 gears so the engine is screaming at that speed over 3,000 rpm

this is all unloaded the heaviest thing i have ever towed with it was my uncles lincoln town car

[pontiacpower]

that is quite a dive in mileage. i thought the 410 rear end was pretty steep. cant even imagine what 4.56 gears would be like. im usually on the highway though and i only drive 250 miles a week and 13.5 mpg avg at 2.19 a gallon currently equates to 40.50$ a week which isnt too bad

[DanStokes]

Do your wives hate you for all the money you spend because I get get crap from my girlfriend every day

When ME and I got together (we were in our 40s) I was VERY clear that this was me and if she wanted me that's what she was getting. As time has gone along we've set up an account for my car stuff along with a credit card and debit card. It's automatically funded monthly (most of my SS check goes in there) and from there on my car expenses are my problem. So it takes nothing away from family money (paying taxes, etc.) and we've never missed a meal over it. This works out well.

If your girlfriend can't accept that this is a part of who you ARE not just what you DO, then sadly she's not the one for you. Unless she can make this realization you'll spend the rest of your time together in conflict which is not fair for either of you. Know that you can't change each other but you CAN ask for what you need.

Dan

[Thumpin455]

It's good that someone finds my obsession useful. The timing chain, yeah its a good idea to replace it when you do the cam swap. Get a quality chain, not one that has china stamped anywhere on it. I'm a D port kind of guy, garden variety easy to find stuff that hauls ass for minimal cash. That in a nutshell is why I am not into chevy and sure as hell not into mopar. 11s in a heavy car with a highway gear and a $2700 engine, without a power adder. So easy with Pontiac.

My first wife still complains about my cars, and she has been gone since 2001. If we didn't have kids there would be no reason at all to talk to her. Second wife was "ok with the car thing" but she still complained when I was building the GTO and not dumping all my money into the house I no longer live in. Now I have a girl who loves old cars (or at least says she does) and bugs me about getting her 72 Cutlass done. She lives in Chicago, which is nice because nobody is in my hair or soaking up my days all the time. If at any time I get resistance about what I do with my time, money, or the myriad vehicles I own from a girl, that girl is no longer part of my life. Its my life, my money, my time, my cars and if they don't like it, the door is over there.

Girls are easy to find. Old GTOs are expensive to replace if you sell them. Yard art rusting in your driveway because she wants to watch TV with you and talk during the shows rather than you building a cool ride, is not exactly memorable.They usually like the finished product, but have no patience for the build, they want it now. If they can't dig it and be supportive, I have no use for them. Doesn't even matter if its not the car thing, I lead, they follow or they go away.

[pontiacpower]

i love the attitudes gentleman. i will certainly carry that away from the bs forums with me. im still a noob so i am skeptical myself of spending money because i dont know who to buy from or how much to spend. my girl isnt too bad about it. she is usually pretty playful with her jabs about the car thing. for the timing chain i will gladly spend the extra few dollars but i compression tested the cylinders on the 350 last night and none of my cylinders got over 95 psi. my number 2 and 6 cylinders would not get over 60 psi. compression tests that i googled were in the 120-140 range so im guessing this isnt good at all. 400 might come off the backburner sooner than expected.