hughes whiplash cam and other cam opinions
engine masters just made a cam that specs out at 224/230 at .050 502/510 lift on a 110 470hp at 6000 rpm and 467 ft lbs at 4400 rpm. You don't need a massive cam to make good power if you have good heads and intake.
I agree.
A streeter is a one or two gear car. You never have a massive wind to fight;
you could power up a brick and have fun with modest power.Traction in first is nearly non-existent, so deep gears on the street are a waste; 3.55s and and a 2.66 low, will get you a speeding ticket, almost anywhere in my country. A modest cam like a 220 to 230 is all you will ever need. A fast rate of lift will make it possible to get decent fuel mileage. As will a tighter LSA.
Check this out;
your
Whiplash 271/284/112 is 222/234. The simple math says 48* to go from seat to seat, to 050. At 4* advanced the ICA is 63.5, and the overlap is 49.5*
Now lets say you got this on a
108LSA.The new ICA for that, again 4* advanced is
59.5. And the overlap is now
62.5*.That's 4 degrees more time to build compression, and 4 degrees more to extract power on the power stroke, for a bit more mpgs,and the overlap period has jumped 12* making a very real power increase with headers........ Same basic lobes, same basic cam.
But hang on check out those wicked slow ramps. Suppose we found a cam with just 42 degree ramps for the same 222@050. The specs would now be 264/276/108.
The ICA is now 56*, and the overlap is now 54*. This same 222 cam now is making still more torque with it's new ICA, and has lost just 6.5 degrees of overlap.
But hang on, what if we went up one cam size to say 230/238/108@ 050 with those same 42* ramps.Now we have a 272/280/108. T
he new ICA is 60* and the overlap is 60* also, So now, you are still saving 3.5 degrees on the ICA, while getting back the power adding overlap at 60* . AND the big one is that you are up one size in the camming, so you move the power up 200ish rpm, while gaining torque and at least not losing much as to mpgs.
Now are you seeing the Whiplash for what it is?
For a streeter, IMHO, you need the fastest ramps money can buy, A tight LSA cuz it's a one gear deal, the right sized cam for the operating range that the engine is called to do, and whatever lift the grinder is willing to put on those lobes. Then select or build the heads to work with the cam. And finally set the compression ratio to run the gas you want to run. Oh yeah, put some springs on, that will carry that 383 into the rpm realm it wants to live in. There's nothing like taking an engine 1000 rpm or more past its power-peak, just cuz it can, and is able to live up there.
This might sound bassackwards to a guy with dragracing on his mind. But just try driving a dragrace engine on the street,day after day.