Slooow ramps and meager lift, not what you want in a streeter, but good for a lawnmower.
A streeter wants a modest duration with fast ramps and hi-lift.If you have to sacrifice RPM to get it may not be a big deal. As long as you have enough rpm left to hit 50/60 mph in first gear you are golden.
With the more typical 3.55s, 55 mph is doable at 5900rpm with an automatic and 27s. So a .550lift cam at about 220* is almost ideal. Of course the heads will have to support that.Tons of torque, adequate power, and just the right power band to be fun.
I wouldn't pull the stock cam out to install a 2177
Another thing to consider is that installing much more than the stock spec cam will likely make a torque hole just off idle, unless the compression is bumped up, to keep pace. The Edelbrock pkg with 63 cc heads does that, so as a package, it works.But if you are a gearhead, the modest power increase will soon wear off and you will be looking for more. Then typically if you jump to a 230* cam the compression needs to be brought up, or a hi-stall and gears band-aided on.
It's always best to to build the "final"iteration first, having brought the compression up to match, using a thin headgasket. Then if the cam is too big you can move down one or two sizes and install matching headgaskets to keep the DCr where it needs to be.
If you stick proper pistons in it from the get-go, you have a base from which to build on. A modest streeter with hi-comp pistons can make good use of iron heads. Back in 98 when I built my combo, good iron heads were not out there, so the Eddies were a no-brainer,but today we have several good iron choices.
