OK let me preface thread by saying this is not a "gee, what cam should I run?" thread. I have access to an M/T 30/30 cam shaft that I am pondering using in an engine for the comming summer. My understanding is that it is a Mickey Thompson rendering of the Duntov 30/30 cam shaft for SBC. So before I make a decision to plop this cam shaft in I need to find specs on it. I have looked everywhere. Maybe someone has an old M/T catalog or even the Duntov specs would ball park me. A little help here? Thanks benno
http://www.camaros.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-35792.html http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=399506
It's my understanding that your quite versed on SBC's due to your frequent reference to them. I'm quite surprised that you would consider a 30/30 cam as it was one of the lesser performing cams from Chevrolet. I'll expect a **** storm of criticism for that statement but I can back it up with many personal applications from my past. If your into noise (valve train) thinking that the noisier the better I'll not convince you otherwise. During our drag racing days we had the privilege of having a dyno and a local drag strip at our disposal. Testing this cam against many others it always cam up lacking in everything but erection producing clatter. A L79 (350hp 327 cam) unfailingly produced a better E.T. on the strip and was a clear winner on the street used in the same car against the same opponent. It goes without saying that there are hundreds of aftermarket cams that outperform both of these offerings. Frank
Benno, there is a special procedure for lashing valves on the 30/30 cam, it cant be done as typical SBC because of the ramp design. At TDC both intake and exhaust are on the ramps, not on the base circle as typical SBC. I dont know for certain if this holds true for the M/T cam. I have the procedure for the 30/30 if you need it. Like Frank said, not the best performer, but a lot of History. Fact is you can probably pick a Summit house brand cam and get much better performance without the noise and special adjustment procedure. TR
I always wondered how that L-79 camshaft would have run in a 302... Even though it redlined @??? 6200 rpm... More low end torque out of the hole than the .030/.030 cam???
The 30/30 is an old Duntov-designed SBC cam using '50s era technology. It's got a really neat history, but that's about it. If you're building a traditional car, run it. If you want make maximum power, there are much better choices. I tried that cam in a 302 and it didn't work well. I tried to introduce torque into an engine that isn't well-suited for it. It didn't have much bottom end, pulled OK from 3000 to 6000, then laid down. I had my best luck with solid-lifter cams that were suited for the rpm range that 302s like. The L-79/302 was one of those experiments that didn't pan out for me. But in a 327, the L-79 works much better. Then again, almost anything works with those magical little 327s. Amazing little engines......
Frank I usually run L-79 cams in my street motors. They function well and require little maintenance. The cam I have access to is an M/T. My thinking on it is that Mickey aside from developing things new and different such as hemi heads for about one of everything, he also was one to take something existing and improve on it. I have run the Duntov as well in small displacement engines with good success and I know that in the longer stroke engines it has a tendency to fall on its face. But, with my thinking on M/T being an innovator the 30/30 may have just been a selling point to a greatly improved camshaft. A name that was known as opposed to calling it the "new better M/T going real fast cam." (sorry it was the hokiest name I could come up with ). Anyway before I would stab a camshaft like that in an engine that I know runs out real well I would first want to be able to compair it to a known and see if it is going to be worth my time.
Melling also made copies of the 30-30 cams. I used 2 of these back in the 70s and had mixed results. I remember showing the cam card to the engine builder that got me started in ths crazy game. His replie was it's going to idle rough as hell and it's not going to make any low-end power. He was exactly correct. I do remember changing the cam out and installing a Sig-Erson with the same lift and alot less duration and the engine was completely different and produced the results I was looking for. And for the life of me I have no references of the 30-30 cam card. But I do still have the Sig-Erson card >>>>.
Engine pro, Uncle Sig was a hell of a cam grinder. I don't know much about their modern grinds but if you can get an old Sig grind you got a real came shaft. Exceptional ramps on his old cam shafts. Muttley, I am going to be near the cam in the next week or so. I'll see if there are any other numbers on it that you can compair to your catalog. Maybe there is some other numbers that it was sold by aside from M/T 30/30.
Beano, don't know if it might help or not, but one of my Buds who worked for Lunatti for many years says M/T cams were actually ground by Clay Smith. Most likely these relabeled and sold by M/T Inc. as they came from Mr. Woodpecker.
******, I'll pull the card on the Sig-Erson when I get back to the shop and I'll get you some info >>>>.
try this.............. The 30-30 was used in 327-365HP Corvettes and Z-28 302 Camaros. It has specs of 254/254 .485"/.485" on a 114 LSA.<!-- google_ad_section_end --> hope it helps.............<!-- / message -->
Dont blame me, it's Mickeys catalog. Cool deal. According to my catalog the M/T cams were actually made by Schiefer.
I know this is trivial but we never referred to the 327 365 (30-30) cam as a Duntov cam in my neighborhood. And the heads were not called power packs for the 327 engines either. By this time the heads and the cams were referred to by their HP ratings. The earlier 097 solid lifter Corvette cams for the 283s were called Duntovs on the streets in my neighborhood. Power pack heads were for 283s... 340 and 365 heads heads and cams were for the 327s of that HP ratings. 340s had smaller intake valves but the casings were the same. ("double hump") You'd get a funny look if you said I am running a 365 Duntov cam. Mixing eras to my ears. I had a 327-340 HP Corvette back then but I don't remember the valve lash. It was not the 30-30. I think that was a 64 Corvette engine. I did run the valves and bought the special clips to keep from oiling down the engine compartment. Still have them. The L79 engine came out in 1965 but we were conditioned to think that a performance engine had to have solid lifters. It took a year or so before the L79 started to become the factory cam of choice. With 20-20 hind sight it's easy to see today what is best but we wanted the loose rockers and the lope to announce to the public that we had a performance engine. It was part of the mystique for us at that time. Bill Jenkins with his L79 Chevy II played a big roll in changing our dated opinions I can only speak of my area.
Tommy, I have run the L-79 almost exclusively in my personal engines for a long time. What made me a believer was the L-79 Engine in my mom's Plane Jane '67 Malibu. Not running the valves and running it hard whenever I got in it was a plus for me. I have built a few small displacement engines with the GM Duntov and like you prior to having experience with the L-79 I was a firm believer in solid lifters. With modern hydraulics you can spin one until it comes apart, so solids are not as necessary as they once were. Maybe someone has a Clay Smith or a Scheifer catalog with some numbers in it. I have a target that I am shooting at and if this particular cam will get me there it is a shoe in. If not I'll have to seek a different asolution. It is not about noise for me it is about making it on the big end, then driving it home. If it rattles and clatters it isn't a problem for me either, the only problem is that when you lope every kid in his mom's fox body thinks he needs to try and run you down. Hell they all try that anyway. Thanks for the info fellas. I am closer than I was when I started this thread.
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