As the topic says, I am looking at a performance cam From Speed-Pro. The specs on the cam are:
Duration 306/306
Duration @ .050 Intake/Exhaust 230/230
Lift 480/480 LSA 108
Good from 2500-6000 RPM
This is what the guy told me over the phone. He had it in a motor for his boat but it proved to be too much. He is asking $200 for it, said he paid $580 for it and it has been used for about 3 hours. He also said that as I already have a roller motor, that I can use the stock lifters.
So my thinking was to put this into my now carbed 1987 L98. So I have an Edelbrock Performer intake, Holley 650, Accel coil, K&N 3"filter w/ Xtreme-Flo lid, holley headers and Dynomax cat back. The car is a 700R and stock 308 gears, but am thinking of getting a 3.27 posi.
The engine block is still stock as are the heads. I was told that the engine has about 18,000K's on it since rebuilt.
So with that info, what else would I be looking at to install this cam? Do I need new springs? Will my lifters be ok, what convertor should I be looking at, or will the stock one be sufficient? Any info will be appreciated...

first of all was the cam from a roller block or non roller, 2 different monsters right there.

Always a good Idea for new Springs

According to the guy, it is for a 1987-92 SBC, so I would have to guess that it would be for a roller block. He says it would work perfectly with my block.

Yes technically it would work perfectly fine in your L98 as long as you changed the valve springs.

What else you need depends on what youre willing to spend.

First of all, a 230/230 cam on a stock L98 might be on the bigger side of things (even with a carb). It will work okay but to really utilize the cam your heads will need some port work.

Yes you can reuse your roller lifters.

If the cam is a 'retro roller' version, it can still be used on your block however you will need to use a cam-button and you will need to change your timing chain setup to a retro-roller style that doesnt use the cam retainer plate like the OE roller setup has.


The problem is a cam like that with 3.08 gears will be horrendous. It wont be much better with 3.27 gears either. I wouldn't even think twice about this, your car will NEED 3.73 gears being an auto and NOT having a TPI on the top which means the engine can breathe some real RPM's. 3.45 gears might work but will still be border line, but 3.73s or whatever the 9-bolt equivalent is will be perfect.

Good luck!

I'm no cam expert, but the profile on that cam seems pretty odd. Those specs are the same that you can get in an old fashioned $79 Summit flat tappet cam. I understand the ramps will be different, and the valves will open alot quicker being a roller cam, but why not look for something with less duration and have a more streetable car? You can get an LT4 Hot cam or cc503 and take the dowel out and would probably work better with your current setup.

You're def gonna want a stall converter with that cam

From my understanding a cam with a 230/230 duration your gonna want to have a compression ratio of 10.5 or better.

too big

specs sound more like flat tappet then rollor

Thanks for the info guys, I am going to pass on this cam. Swapping in a cam like this is too troublesome for my liking. I saw the ad and liked the price, but the price will go much higher with the work involved making it work properly.