Camcraft Monthly Newsletter
by Charles Reichard, Editor

July 1, 2001
Editor: Charles Reichard
http://www.camcraftcams.com

Dear Customers,

          Here comes the hottest part of the summer. Kids are preparing to head back to school and need money for all the latest cool stuff on the market.  Victoria has already gone back to Elon University and plans to attend year round until graduation.

Business has slowed down a little which is fairly normal for this time of year. We will get another surge next month as most track’s points races end and people try new things at the end of the season to get a head start on new combinations for next year. Many people are reporting a slower year overall and feel it is a reflection of the economy.

We would like to start sending our newsletter out by e-mail whenever possible. How many of you would find this a better or at least as convenient a way to receive our newsletter? You can tell us the next time you order and give us your e-mail address, or you can send e-mail to charles@camcraftcams.com . If you don’t wish to receive our newsletter then let us know and we will remove you from our mailing list. Incidentally we don’t share our mailing list with anyone other than our sales reps.

We continue to receive cams with no instructions despite our telling everyone who calls about sending in a cam to be repaired to enclose a note and be explicit about what is to be done. We just can’t remember every conversation we have about every cam that shows up without some little note to jog our memory. This is especially important when it is a rush job. Please don’t expect us to remember all this when we talk to 25-50 people a day.

Another thing we still have happening is receiving cams with timing gears on them. About the only cams we can grind with gears in place are D342 and 1693 Caterpillars. We have no press and have to send the cams out to have the gears removed It is expensive and will add a day to the turnaround time.  Remember on most diesel cams the gear must be heated to install it on the cam. Pressing the gear on is almost always a no-no! A big pan with vegetable oil on a stove works well to heat the gear. Be quick and careful getting the gear out of the oil and on the cam. It’s a 2-person operation.

          I want to share a few thoughts on choosing the proper cam for your engine. The full text can be found on our web site.

Some thoughts on choosing the proper cam.

1-    Short duration cams with wider lobe separations usually yield flatter torque curves

2-    Longer rod motors prefer a shorter duration cam with wider lobe separation

3-    Most unported heads approach 85 or 95 % of peak flow at .400 to .450 lift and do not need or want a maximum valve lift over .540 to.555. Often a low cam lift with 1.65 or 1.7 ratio rockers is very helpful on the intake side as long as lift is kept to about .550. Exhaust is less critical with 1.5 or 1.55 being the most popular.

4-    The benefit of high ratio rockers is faster valve movement and the added lift is frequently detrimental in unported heads. It often helps to utilize a lower cam lift with high ratio rockers.

5-    The important numbers on a dyno sheet are about a thousand RPM above and below peak torque and peak horsepower. Peak numbers are for bragging purposes and high peak numbers do not win races.

We have many people (especially small block Chevy owners) who say they want a cam to make good power to at least 6500 rpm. Take a moment and figure how fast 6500 rpm is in high gear (not overdrive). A typical car with 3.70 gears and 28-inch tall tires will be going 145+ mph. Even with 4.10 gears top speed will be 130 + mph I doubt that many of us will ever go that fast in our street car and certainly not at a drag strip. 5500 rpm is still 125 mph and as fast as most street cars will ever see. Making power at 6500 rpm will sacrifice power at 3500 rpm where you need it much more to launch the car. There is no point is having 6500 rpm power when you go through the lights at 5500.

We thank you for your continued support.

Yours truly,

Charles, Harriett, Clarence, Cookie, Chuck & Shannon