1970's "30mpg" V8 cams, big car, w/14:1 CR on 87oct

[Bill the lump]

While browsing ebay last week I was able to locate one of the unusual cams produced by "Crane cams" in the early 1980's with a long intake duration and a short duration on the exhaust. This pretty much matches the camshaft produced by Crower and used in the econo engine build described in the September 1981 Hot Rod Magazine article on page 56. Larry Ofria from Valley Head Service built the engine for the Hot Rod article. I cannot at this time track down any info on the Crane cam, it is labeled "exclusive" on the profile data sheet. I believe that Crane or Crower also produced a kit that would change a standard 350 small block V8 into a 4 cylinder engine. It came with 4 dummy topless pistons and a set of lifter plugs to put in the lifter bores. Anyway, I also have a copy of the article on Smokey's first Vapor engine "V Twin" for anybody that is interested. Bill

[BabyDiesel]

What a resurrection!

Do you have a link to it, Mr. Lump?

[Bill the lump]

Hi, B.D. , I'm not dealing with a full deck today, what info do you need. I have no links (yet) just old magazines that I have rat holed over the years. I have been interested in this stuff for years. I also have the book produced by "Fish" on his carb from the 1920's or 30's and have dabbled in the "Pogue" carb stuff many years ago. I haven't thought about this stuff for years until I saw the weird cam the other day. Bill

[BabyDiesel]

I was hoping that you had a link to the Crane cam on Ebay. I was going to go down this road with my Blazer build, but besides forum talk, I have found little on these cams. It would be cool to check it out. What Crower did was quite amazing in my sight.

[ksa8907]

Just an fyi, GM is doing something similar with their 6.0 v8's. With full vvt they have an engine with the designation LIVC, late intake valve closing.

Very likely to see A LOT more of this in the future.

[changzuki]

How awful to say I went down this road 30 years ago. I had the Crane (not the Crower) mileage cam. I put in a 1979 Firebird.

The original engine was a 301 V8 (not high compression) but it's replacement engine was a 400cu in from a 1968 Pontiac and it was. I was able to get the 30 mpg on steady state driving however there were a few "adjustments" to make it to that mark.

Due to the cam's long duration, everything requiring vacuum from the intake was affected (power brakes and distributor advance). So I reworked the distributor advance (different springs and weights) and to address the brakes and installed Cranes fast bleed lifters. So, it sounded like an old worn engine at idle due to the lifters bleeding down, but as you increased rpm, they couldn't bleed out as fast and then full duration of the cam was experienced. Roller lifters and Jackson timing gears kept everything tight and smooth.

The rear end was a 2.42 so it had gearing enough to keep the rpm's low. Transmission was a TH350 full manual control w/shift kit and aftermarket torque converter with lower stall speed.

I dumped the quadrajet in favor of the Carter AFB since I had all of the rods and jets to dial it into this setup.

The suspension was lowered a bit and I ran solid wheels (no holes)...
Didn't help with fuel economy, but I stenciled the taillights so only the "RedBirds" lit at night.

A few years later, I went the other way since gas was soo cheap!
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~CrazyJerry

[cosmick]

Most of my 20s was spent really mastering cam specs comprehensively, and I did study all these side trails. Such deliberate compromises are not worth trying, no matter how tight your budget. Getting 90% of what you need from the salvage yard proves long term cheaper, reliable, and better-performing as well.
Most people really can't match a cam, a carb, and a cruise RPM, even if you give them a wideband, a tach, and a vacuum gauge as well. The rest give up too soon, while maybe 0.1% get lucky and accidentally stumble close enough.
It's not right to pay $400+ for a chassis dyno tune, better to go with a different stock engine that makes adequate power from a reasonable displacement. By that I mean that for cost-effectiveness, a 270 HP 4.8L LSx V8 beats a 275 HP 5.7L LT1 V8, for example.
Getting a V8 car to 30 MPG is no difficulty to do correctly, so I'm not giving up the cam specs for those '70s "miracle" cams.

[Bill the lump]

I was able to purchase the "new in the box" cam for a whopping $45 (including shipping). apparently the seller had no idea what they were selling. This has rekindled my interest in the MPG game once again. Back in the early eighties my boss allowed us to dabble with MPG gadgets... fuel heaters and vapor carburetors... I still have my "vapor boxes" and Pogue components. We were able to use a crashed Plymouth satellite to experiment on and was not able to drive it on the street. But The few things I remember is that it would drive fine, idle to around 350-400 rpm and sooo smooth and the HC/CO meter wound go to near zero with out a cat. We would drive the car around our facility but the project was cancelled before we could come up with a good meter system for the vapor. Had a lot of fun back in my 20's. I kept most of the parts and they are still setting in my attic...who knows what fun I can have when I bring them down. When I get time I'll show the cam spechs and the magazine articles. Bill

[Hersbird]

Put that 30 mpg claim through the current epa test and I bet it would come out something like 14 city 18 highway. 30 mpg would have been at 40 mph with gearing set to just have shifted into high. There were 74 Feather Dusters actually rated over 30 mpg highway but that was with an overdrive 4 speed manual and a lean burn straight 6.

[changzuki]

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~CrazyJerry