swapping early 3.09 1st into later case
dont worry about stealing the thread... this is the info I was looking for.
When I said "mask the cam " I meant feeling the pulses of a bigger cam at low speeds in 1st. The 3.09s will bring the rpms up in 1st without running 4.56s or such.
That's kinda what I thought that you mighta meant
I had the 292/292/108 cam for a while and at 11.3 Scr, the pulses down low were quite strong. I solved that with less initial timing. I installed a dash-mounted, dial-back timing device, and cranked the timing back to 5 degrees, for those times when she got a little jumpy.
If you haven't played with your T-port sync yet, I found some smoothness there too.That cam Likes a lot of Idle air bypass.
I run 3.55s and the 3.09, making the starter gear equivalent to 4.12s. At the other end, I run a GVOD, which turns the 3.55s into something like 2.76s, I forget exactly. But yeah, down at 600rpm that 292 hammered pretty good with 11.3 Scr, before I took the timing out.
See one thing I don't get is everybody always wants to crank the idle-timing up into the 20s. I guess with an automatic and a hi-stall one could get away with that,and then the down-low tune can be pretty sloppy. But for a streeter with a stick car, that just won't fly;the low-speed circuit needs to be pretty right on.
If you put that 3.09 in, you will be glad you did.
I got rid of that cam.
I now run a 276/286/110; lotsa more power down low, and as a streeter, I don't miss the top end rush, cuz, you know, there's this speed-limit thing.Oh yeah, the down low is no longer jumpy. Now I still use that timing device to slow the idle down to where I can parade the thing. Sometimes I run it into retard, and she smooths right out.
Happy motoring!