[steve25]

These recommendations from HO racing in the early 70s should interest many here in this string and if I am not mistaken they where inferring this along with compression ratios of over 9 to 1.

Maybe Ken from HO racing days can confirm this inference?

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

Kind of interesting how they did that in a 455, yet the RAIII 400 engine of 1970 just came with the 068 cam no matter what trans you chose. Considering the 068 would act much bigger in a 400 and wouldn't even put a dent in a 455.

Pontiac did away with 744 cam in mid 1969 I believe. They were having complaints about cold start rough idle in Northern climates. Before that the four speed cars with 48 heads came with the 744 cam (and stiff valve springs) and automatics got the 068.

[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by steve25

These recommendations from HO racing in the early 70s should interest many here in this string ...

thanks for sharing this!

What publication is that from?
(and what pages please)

Over the years I have bought any vintage Pontiac stuff I have come across;
I do have one HO Racing book (engine blueprinting), but that is not in it.

Originally Posted by steve25

... and if I am not mistaken they where inferring this along with compression ratios of over 9 to 1.

Maybe Ken from HO racing days can confirm this inference?

Wait, someone from HO racing is here?

I have heard that someone close to McCarthy is here, but have never seen anything from the man himself;
(or noticed anything inferred to be second hand either)
I have also never seen any posts which I understood to be from any of the speed shops of days gone by...

I used to on occasion just imagine being around in the heyday of when all these great cars and engines were around...
The best I can now do is try to be financially smart, get a bigger garage, and maybe some day have a couple different Pontiacs to choose from.
(as long as the prices don't keep going skyward.)

[Stan Weiss]

Maybe Ken will way in on what he may sell now.

This is from the Elgin version of the 744 they sold many years ago

_______I__N__T__A__K__E
Rocker_Arm_Ratio_=_1.650_________Valve_Lash_=_0.00 000

VALVE_____Lift______Opens___Closes__Duration
_________________Deg_BTDC__Deg_ABDC_____________Ar ea
_________0.00000____50.30_|_121.70_|_352.00_|__38. 00
_________0.00400____32.22_|_101.59_|_313.81_|__37. 96
_________0.00600____28.14_|__96.18_|_304.32_|__37. 94
_________0.05000_____4.38_|__55.67_|_240.05_|__37. 24
_________0.10000____-7.29_|__43.59_|_216.29_|__36.30
_________0.15000___-16.73_|__33.82_|_197.10_|__35.15
_________0.20000___-25.70_|__24.73_|_179.03_|__33.54
_________0.25000___-34.98_|__15.37_|_160.39_|__31.24
_________0.30000___-45.04_|___5.30_|_140.26_|__28.43
_________0.35000___-56.81_|__-6.47_|_116.72_|__24.46
_________0.40000___-72.03_|_-21.72_|__86.25_|__18.76
_________0.44500___-98.73_|_-48.32_|__32.96_|___7.18
CAM_______________________________________________ ______ICL
_________0.00400____27.12_|__94.68_|_301.80_|__22. 99_|_123.78
_________0.00600____22.73_|__86.21_|_288.94_|__22. 96_|_121.74
_________0.05000____-3.64_|__47.30_|_223.66_|__22.23_|_115.47
_________0.10000___-19.42_|__31.10_|_191.68_|__21.00_|_115.26
_________0.15000___-34.50_|__15.85_|_161.35_|__19.09_|_115.18
_________0.20000___-51.81_|__-1.50_|_126.69_|__15.88_|_115.16
_________0.25000___-77.01_|_-26.67_|__76.32_|__10.13_|_115.17

Stan

[scott70]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

Kind of interesting how they did that in a 455, yet the RAIII 400 engine of 1970 just came with the 068 cam no matter what trans you chose. Considering the 068 would act much bigger in a 400 and wouldn't even put a dent in a 455.

Yes,,,when I bought my GTO the motor had never been touched internally. Still had the 068 'S" cam and nylon covered timing chain. With that cam it idled like a kitten but had a good low rpm pull. Now a RA4 sized cam with Rhoads and its only a little choppy,,,still pretty smooth.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

Any idea how long ago?

The one that is in my YZ engine was acquired in 1998.
I cannot remember the name brand it was, but it was supposed to be a Pontiac 744, and came without a cam card.

Early 2000's ish ..... Definetly after 1998.

[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by PAUL K

Early 2000's ish ..... Definetly after 1998.

I went out today to look and see if I still have the box from that cam (I can be something of a packrat);
I first looked at my machine shop paperwork and it didn't list it;
But I did find a little note that I wrote in pencil at the time - I believe I was trying to get the spec's on this cam, in spite of it not coming with a cam card.

I want to say it might have been a 'Wolverine' brand - but I could very well be wrong;
I do recall that the machine shop had to do a lot of looking around to find it, and I believe it was a brand, or from a warehouse that was closing down...



So I next went out to the garage to where I have camshafts stashed;
I decided to look at the cams i had tucked away in case I recalled what they were incorrectly, and in doing so I surprised myself.

I clearly recall that when I was looking at the cam that I replaced, that it was stamped with an "A", and to this point, I had assumed it had a replacement cam... but It looks like the "A" stamp was on the wrong end...



I now know that the OE Pontiac grinds have the stamp on the front, and looky-looky!?!



I don't recall noticing that stamp before!
Now I want to buy a degree wheel to measure and confirm what I have!

---

EDIT:

I just did some searching, and it looks like Wolverine did go out of business - not sure when. Maybe my cam was a Wolverine grind(?)
Does anyone have an old Wolverine book?

One of my google searches brought me back here, to THIS thread.

Does 171R sound like a grind number? (this guys receipts could be misleading - sometimes he used part numbers, sometimes it was his own code.)
Maybe I'll just have to pop open my engine one day.

[400 Lemans]

https://partshawk.com/melling-spc-3-...-camshaft.html Scroll down to the interchange on this page and the Sealed Power cam has that same number.

[unruhjonny]

/\ thanks!
That’s some awesome sleuthing there!!
I’d wager he used the sealed power number on his sheet, but was only able to find the Wolverine part.
I remember there was some story of him having genuine trouble locating that grind for me.

Does anyone know when Wolverine was incorporated into Crane (which has since been incorporated into Comp!)?

[PAUL K]

Wolverine's parent company was Crane.

I'd think you have a true RA III copy camshaft. Not many places offered a copy of that cam. From what I've seen all of them were the same as the Mellings cam. Not all 068 and 041 cams are the same. There is more than one copy of them.

If you look closely at your S grind you can see the peeks of the lobes appear to be a little flat. The RA III is more pronounced. It's the only cam I know of that can almost be visually identified. I measured the dwell at max lift and I want to say it was at peak for twelve degrees. There is a post on the site that has pictures of this cam. I'm pretty sure it was posted by Ken Crocie (the owner of H-O racing).

[64speed]

Just an idea. Gach recommended the 60919 Crower cam and what little I got to drive it it was a nice cam. I will be using it again in this incarnation of my engine.

[Stan Weiss]

This is some information that I got from Rocky about 5 years ago.

Stan, here's what I can tell by looking at my sources.

Pontiac generally raised the lifter at a quicker rate than it lowered it. Advertised duration on hydraulic cams was rated with this clearance ramp taken into consideration.

744 advertised duration is 301/313 degrees. It was rated between 4 degrees of opening and 15 degrees of closing. (The open/close clearance ramp varied by grind.)

744 duration at .050" is 224/236 degrees.

744 duration at .200" is 128.5/140.5 degrees.

744 lobe lift is .2716/.2716".

744 lobe dwell at peak lift is 6 degrees intake 12 degrees exhaust.

Rocky Rotella

Stan

PS - Let me add this is what the nose of the lobe lift data for the Elgin cam looks like.