Just a few years ago, there was a lot of reference to Contreras Cams as a source for Desoto cams. I checked in recently, and Natchi tells me he got out of doing them a couple of years ago. I have been in contact with the person he recommended me to talk to, and we're looking at making some cam cores. The initial tooling cost won't be cheap, so I'm gauging interest to see about making a run of several. Also, I may be able to do some Dodge Red Ram cores also. Please let me know if you're inteested.
Are you talking about cast cores? Making a billet is relatively easy and, IIRC, what Conteras was making for a few folks.
Yeah, we're doing billets. Don't have a specialized foundry to do chilled cast iron. I'm learning to be impressed with the cost of machine work, especially setup cost.
Most folks have no clue about the costs (and headaches) ***ociated with bringing a machined product to market... I hope this works out. What are your plans for the gear? What costs have you found for hobbing ? Many years ago I cut the end off of a 354 cam (to get a cast gear) and grafted it to a billet to avoid the usual gear issues with billet rollers.
Thats a lot of expense for a very small market. I was fortunate to have a cam for the 330 so I had it reground. Maybe Hot Heads would buy them?
I think if you let people know they'll be available you could probably get deposits on cams if not outright paid in full before production.
Fortunately, the place grinding the cams will hob the gears, too. So that will all be part of the operation. Costs are still being worked out. I just wanted put out feelers to see if there is enough interest before I front the costs of setup.
Do it for yourself, but think long and hard about trying to amortize your costs by selling retail. From experience in two different custom billet roller cam projects for Studebaker V8s: If you offer to sell the billet with semi-finished lobes, so they can have their own grind, they'll want you to have it finished for them, but to their specs, but at the same cost as the semi-finished. If you sell a choice of two finished race grinds, they'll want a street grind; like a Studebaker V8 needs a street roller. Reliable roller lifters from Crower/Isky/et al, are expensive. They won't want to pay your price; will just ask you for what you're using so they can order some Chicom **** off AliBaba. Then, usually custom pushrods are required. If you offer adjustable pushrods, they'll say those are too much trouble If you offer adjustable rocker arms, they'll say those are too expensive. And they'll never buy your valve spring and retainer package. They'll run some eBay ****page and complain your cam won't turn the RPMs you promised. jack vines, who tries not to be in the parts business, but it sometimes works out that way.
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