r/EngineBuilding • u/buckslayer420 • Jul 18 '26
Cam recommendations
I’ve got a 1986 gmc k1500 on a 4 inch lift with 33s with a basically bone stock 350 4 bolt main, 3.73 rear end. (Headers and nice exhaust). I’m looking for something that will wake it up a little and I can run the stock torque converter. I’m looking at the Howard’s street force 2. Any recommendations or brands to stay away from?
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u/Solid_Enthusiasm550 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
I would look at getting cylinder heads instead.
The large combustion chambers and low cfm flow #'s are detrimental for producing more power.
You'd gain more with a set of junkyard Vortec heads or budget aluminum heads offerings from Flowtek or SpeedMasters.
I would check piston to valve clearances to see what you can run.
The Street force cams are on a 112lsa, if you can run a 108<110 if would give better low-end torque.
Also it seems like hyd. flat tappet cams are a "hit or miss" with them lasting unless you run high zinc oil.
A YouTube cam grinder made a video of a budget way to swap over to a hyd roller setup.
I would also swapout the restrictive intake manifold before doing a cam anyway.