full race cam

[uhcrandy]

Hey All, back in high school in the late 70's all the cool cars had a "full race" cam, As I remember they were real lumpy, but sounded cool. So I want to know, whats a "full race" cam? Are there any particular specs for "full race"?

[std]

Re: full race cam

I read a really good article about that a while ago. I think it might have been in the Hemmings mag. It was about a guy that was at the begining of hot rodding....I can't remember his name....he started messing with cams when noone else was. his wildest cam was his full race cam.

I'm sure someone on here either knows who it is or will find the article

[Scott Liggett]

Re: full race cam

That term goes back to the days of flathead V8's. There was even a 3/4 race cam. That's a term that is subjective like an RV cam. We could argue for days what exactly constitutes a full race cam. On the mid/late 60's sbc Chevy's many people labeled the Duntov 30/30 cam a full race. But nowadays, that cam is pretty mild. My street cam I ran for 10 years was bigger in lift and duration.

[yellomalibu]

Re: full race cam

A few years back, Crane added (or re-instituted) a 3/4 race cam to their catalog.

Those who know about cam specs scoff at the term "3/4 race cam", but amateur hot rodders apparently still desired it, so Crane made it happen.

I'm interested in what a "full race cam" is. heh.

[min301]

Re: full race cam

It's terminology that should have died.

I never used it myself, using only the specs of the
cam, or the grind number depending on who I'm talking to.

[Bamfster]

Re: full race cam

I never bought into those terms either. The guys I learned from back in the day always used the [email protected] when describing/comparing camshafts.

[CarPlayLB]

Re: full race cam

I had a guy, who thought he knew about cars, ask me if I had a 3/4 cam in it...goes like this

Dumb A$$ "hey, that thing got a 3/4 cam in it?"

Me..."Nope, got the whole thing!"

[squirrel]

Re: full race cam

Varies with the engine, a full race flathead cam will be shorter duration than a full race small block cam (since the max rpm and breathing of both engines is so different)

[DanStokes]

Re: full race cam

This topic came up in a thread a while back. If you're better at searching than I am you can likely turn it up. Seems like we flogged the topic to death at that time.

From my youth in the early sixties I'd describe a "full race" cam as one that was barely streetable. Probably wouldn't work in front of an automatic trans but that was before loose converters were readily available. People whine about "the good old days" but we really have it SO much better now.

Dan

[squirrel]

Re: full race cam

We have it too good now Dan.

hence the Traditional trend

[dieselgeek]

Re: full race cam

We have it too good now Dan.

hence the Traditional trend

meh, Traditional gets its momentum from "fear of new things"

[yellomalibu]

Re: full race cam

Just looked on Crane's website http://cranecams.com/index.php?show=...=262-400%20C.I.

...and they offer the 3/4 race cam in a variety of lifts and durations... huh, go figure.

There's one with .467 lift and 222 degrees of duration @ .050
There's one with .500 lift and 246 degrees of duration @ .050

I would have thought the one with 246 @ .050 would be lumpy enough to call a "full race" cam... but I guess they don't want to confuse people who are actually looking for race car cams. ;)

[jcharliem]

Re: full race cam

...and they offer the 3/4 race cam in a variety of lifts and durations...

That's ridiculous. What a joke.

[DanStokes]

Re: full race cam

People who THINK they know what they are doing may ask for a 3/4 or full race so I'm guessing Crane is trying to give 'em what they asked for. No sense shooing away a sale!

Jim brings up the "Traditional" trend. The guys I've talked to who are into that will still install a decent modern clutch or converter (depending) and the best modern brakes that will fit in with the scheme of the car. Basically they seem to want it to LOOK traditional but are willing to compromise to make the car safer, faster, or secretly more reliable. So they benefit from the technological developments of the past 40 or so years. I still say we never had it so good - not that we don't have challenges today.

Dan

[std]

Re: full race cam

Her's the article I was thinking of.

http://www.hemmings.com/mus/stories/2008/02/01/hmn_feature17.html