# 66 camshaft



## johnnylightning03 (Nov 27, 2007)

in the middle of the engine part of my restoration. any recommendations for a stock cam replacement (supplier or brand also) or maybe a step up over stock? completely stock 389 4bbl wt code. plan to keep it with stock carb, manifolds and exhaust. thanks.


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

See what Comp Cams has. Try the 068 grind: tri-power cars had the 068, 4bbl cars had an 067 cam. A little more ooomph, same drivability. I put a Sig Erson Hi-Flow 1 in my '65 in 1982, and it is waaaaay too lopey and rough at idle for my liking now that I'm an old guy. It DOES run like heck, tho'.
Jeff


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## johnnylightning03 (Nov 27, 2007)

thanks jeff. may go with the 3 x 2 bbl carbs later on anyhow so that cam may be a good idea. ames performance mentions a 066 for the 4 bbl and 067 cam for the h.o. motors, is that what you were referring to with the 067 and 068 cams? and performance years has a 3/2 set up with aluminum intake for $1700. opinions?


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Yes. Use an 068 cam. An o66 is a 326 cam for Tempests, etc. 2bbl, and very mild. An o68 came with '65 and '66 tripower and '67 400 ho engines. Don't even mess with an 066 or 067. tripower will give you more power than a conventional 4bbl, and looks great, too. They are easy to set up, and low maintainence.


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## johnnylightning03 (Nov 27, 2007)

thanks for the info. i will go with the 068 and look for a tri power set up as well.


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## khinton (Jun 22, 2008)

I have a 400 wt code in my 68 --What cam would you suggest i use in this car It will be street driven but would like to hear a little bit of lope---ruined the cam in the engine. Broke teeth off the distributor and the cam trying turn the engine over to set timming and coil fell on the dizy and jamed it to a qwick stop---ouch. live and learn. (cam was not stock but I don't know what it was could not find it's number listed any where--had a nice lope.


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

First thing you need to do is get the broken bits of metal out of your engine. You may have to pull it and drop the pan, or maybe you can use a long magnet, etc. But you NEED to get all of the metal chunks out of there. I don't know what to tell you about camshafts these days. I would get on the Pontiac sites, like Butler Perfmance and Wallace Racing if you want a modified cam with a lope. An 068 does not lope, but works well. As stated above, my Sig Erson Hi9-Flow I has a lot of lift and duration (lope) and pulls about 12" of vacuum. Runs really strong in my manual brake, manual trans '65, but it would not pull enough vacuum for a power brake, automatic car. Also, cams that lope a lot are harder on the engine: since the valves are open longer at ALL speeds (including idle), if you idle, you dilute the engine oil due to the overly rich fuel condition. This washes the oil off of the cylinder walls, dilutes the crankcase oil, etc. Plan on changing your oil often and getting less engine life if you "like to lope".


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## khinton (Jun 22, 2008)

Thanks--pulled the engine--found all the chips (lined them up with the broken cam and distrubtor teeth--got them all, 5 in all) still don't know what cam to go with am lookin at the HO-ent HC-01D has dur of 220/232 and lift of .470/.490 intake- ehaust (dur at .50) lsa- 108/120 any thoughts? Is this going to be streetable--Don't want to get into problems with that. Help; looking for advice; please. Car has 4 speed, manual brakes with 3.55 posi.


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## khinton (Jun 22, 2008)

Geet--- do you know the specs for your cam--does sound to strong for me.


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

I lost the cam card long ago. It's .479 Lift, and around 112 degrees duration, I think. There's a REALLY good article I found a while back on camshaft selection for these engines....clears up a LOT of murkiness. It's an article called "Blueprinting the Pontiac V8" and it's at Blueprint Tuning the Pontiac V-8 
If you can't access it, I'll try to get you a copy. It's a must read, though. Has to do with optimum cylinder compression, cranking compression, cam indexing, selection, and what works and what doesn't. Good stuff.


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