zz502 Cam Swap

[seattle67]

Hey folks... I'm in the middle of building a 67 camaro coupe and am looking for some advice to help me decide whether or not to do a cam swap on a zz502 crate motor. The car's purpose is primarily street duty on sunny days only (not too many of these in Seattle!). My power goal is to have as much as possible that can be put to the ground while maintaining an agressive, but streetable idle. I will be ordering the long block from Sallee Chevrolet (now Gilbert) with the Edelbrock Pro-Flow EFI package (includes Crower roller rocker upgrade). Adam down at Sallee suggested a cam upgrade to a Crane roller setup (PN 168731) with .587/.610 lift and 226/236 duration @ .050 and matching Crane roller lifters. For reference, stock zz502 cam specs run .527/.544 and 224/234 respectively. Is this enough of a bump in lift/duration to make a significant difference in power + hotrod idle , or just a waste of $$?? (~$1,000 extra to do the swap, incl. parts).

As add'l info, the car is mini-tubbed (running 17x11's with 315/35/17s rear) and will be running a TKO 600 5 spd tranny. Thanks in advance for the advice!

[ccracin]

I've done alot of research on this, as we are using a ZZ502 as well. So far I still have not decided exactly what we are doing, but 1K sounds like a bit much for a very small change in lift and duration. If you havn't puchased yet, get the 502 Shortblock add a set of AFR 315's and a hydraulic roller to match. Should be good for 625+ with the correct induction. JMO Check out www.lewisracingengines.com Give them a ring and talk to Mike. Great guy to talk to.

[seattle67]

Thanks for the info Chad. I'll get a parts list together to see what the best bang for the buck is going to be (EFI + long block vs. 502 short block + AFRs, etc.). Based on what I've seen, the dyno sheets sent to me by Gilbert Chevrolet for the stock zz502 with Edelbrock RPM Pro Flo EFI and Crower roller rockers yielded 551 hp @ 5400 and 580 ft-lbs @ 2700. This is pretty close to where I'd like to be (closer to 600 though), but want to "get it right" the first time and avoid doing a cam swap down the road. I'll give Lewis Racing Engines a call to bounce some thoughts off them as well.

If anyone else out there has tinkered with their zz502 with good results, I'd like to hear about it!

Take care,

Todd