<VV> The 304 cam's intent!

[BobHelt at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/19/08 6:26:10 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
mark at asktheagent.info writes:

> Just what was the 304 cam designed to do after all?? 

Hi Mark,
The answer might interest everybody, so here goes. It was designed to control 
valve action at high speeds with its long ramps (just look at the Chev specs 
with the long ramps for this cam!!!).

OK what does this mean? Well, take a step back in time. It's 1964 and the 
high perf Mustang has just hit the showrooms. And with it, a host of other high 
performance cars like the Pontiac GTO, etc. So Chev wanted into this action 
too. But what with? The Corsa was their answer and the 180 turbo was the engine. 
But it was limited in performance with its initial release using the 891 cam 
which was known to have valve bounce problems (even multiple bounce too. See my 
book, THE CLASSIC CORVAIR for more info). Remember that the 891 cam was 
designed for the 110 hp engine that only reved to about 4800 rpm. So they 
introduced the 304 cam in Mar of 1995 which allowed the turbo engines to rev safely to 
about 5800 rpm, thus maximizing the engine output. (HP=TQ X rpm).

Sure the 180 turbo wasn't really in the same category as the other hipo cars, 
but the Corsa was doing ther best it could with what it had available.
Regards,
Bob Helt 


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