As near as I can tell my 69 350/350 engine has never been apart. My rebuild shop tells me I need a new camshaft and upon research it appears the OEM was 3896962. I called CRANE cams today and they say they have an exact OEM cam part # 11-3896962; cost around $250.00. I went to a Chevrolet online source and they still show that part number available from GM. Is the GM cam the original duration,etc. or should I go with the CRANE cam or does any body have any other ideas? I am running a 100% correct engine, standard bore, factory pistons, pink rods, fresh valve job. Thanks in advance for your help on this. My engine is at the machine shop being cleaned up as I write this. The block had HX in yellow markings on both sides (upside down).
-
-
Re: C3 1969 camshaft 350/350 replacement
250 bucks is what Crane charges for a custom cam using lobe masters that they have available. They probably have lobemasters for the 962 cam, but AFAIK they do not offer this cam as an off-the-shelf-catalog part - MAYBE because they may actually manufacture this cam for GM! So, they only offer it as a "custom".
Whatever - if GM sells it as a 3896962 then it is built to that drawing number, and you can be reasonably assured that it is manufactured to print.
You can probably buy it from a GM dealer for less than $250. It's listed in the GM PP catalog.
This cam was used for the '69 L-46 and '73-'80 L-82. It's also installed in the current 350/290 HP crate engine. Though the lobes are slightly different, it's basically a L-79 cam with four degrees retard.
An interesting experiment would be to have a cam ground using the 962 lobes, but rather than 114/114 POMLs with 114 LSA, have it ground with 110/122 POMLs, which would be a 116 LSA - basically a hydraulic lifter version of the LT-1 cam with a little less duration. So, if you go with Crane have them index the lobes this way. Less overlap with an early opening exhaust valve and later closing inlet valve should produce better torque bandwidth with unmasssaged heads than the OE indexing.
Duke -
Re: C3 1969 camshaft 350/350 replacement
Jimmy----
The GM #3896962 camshaft is, indeed, still available from GM. In fact, it's one of the few, if not the only, 60's camshaft that is still available from GM. I expect that it's now manufactured in Mexico, but that doesn't make it bad. LOTS of engines and components are manufactured in Mexico these days including, for example, ALL modern-day Chrysler Hemi's. It's also possible that it's manufactured at Bay City, MI. I'd say it's one or the other. If you purchase one, I'd be interested in the manufacturing country shown on the tube.
I would fully expect that this camshaft is manufactured to its original specifications regardless of where it's made.In Appreciation of John HinckleyComment
-
Re: C3 1969 camshaft 350/350 replacement
GMpartsdirect list this cam for $136. Since it is the same cam no sense in over paying.Comment
-
Re: C3 1969 camshaft 350/350 replacement
Thanks to all that responded, it looks like I will go to GM and purchase camshaft.Comment
-
Re: C3 1969 camshaft 350/350 replacement
Jim ,if you can get that cam from gm i would go that way ,it should cost about 140, also that crane cam sounds spendy ,try comp cams for there blueprint cam it will probably cost about 80.ps always go oem when you can.JRComment
-
Re: C3 1969 camshaft 350/350 replacement
I agree, OEM GM for me. Thanks again.Comment
-
Re: C3 1969 camshaft 350/350 replacement
I ordered the cam GM # 3896962 and lifter set GM # 12371044 today from Superiorchevyperformance.com; after I factored in shipping costs from other "so-called" discount outlets they were the cheapest by over $20.00Comment
Comment