General Category > Quadrajet Carb Talk and Tips
wanna help me pic a cam?
Mudsport96:
Hopefully i can post the specs, its right at the kb limit
Cliff Ruggles:
Most likely you are only comparing 2 cams.
Since I first got into this hobby cam companies "juggle" specs slightly to make a "generic" cam look like something they grind themselves. Part of the marketing strategy with cam companies and for sure it saves them a LOT of money by simply being able to re-box cams they purchase directly from CMC.
The Comp 12-388-4 is probably the same as the Summit 1102. Even though Comp shows quite a bit less advertised duration they simply rate it at a different open point.
Same thing with the last two cams, so close they are likely the same cam.
Decades ago every cam we purchased no matter who it came from would have different colored paint on each end just before the first journal. I always wondered why and one day asked my part supplier about it. He told me that he had been to the plant where they were ground and the paint on each end was so folks on the assembly line would not have to look at part numbers when boxing them up, they used the color coding instead. I suppose things are more sophisticated these days as the paint markings are no longer used.
Anyhow, the first two are often dubbed the "RV" cam for the SBC engine, 204/214/112LSA. This is and always has been a very popular camshaft.
I would use the smaller cam for the build in question here and stick with a stock converter. Smoother idle and more power right off idle and below 3000rpm's or so works very well in a truck application. Make sure to open up the pushrod slots in the heads so you can add 1.6 ratio rocker arms. If you want to put the smaller cam on steroids at some point it keeps that option open.......Cliff
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