Chevy 292 "where's the power?"

More carb!
http://www.4secondsflat.com/Carb_CFM_Calculator.html

Was the cam properly degree'd during install or just stabbed in?

Also RV grinds are crap.

 

If the TDC mark on your balancer doesn't jive with the timing tab on the front cover, your ignition timing will be out of whack also. Do the above mentioned TDC check with the piston stop, make a new timing tab or remark the balancer if necessary, reset the timing. Even if the cam's a bit retarded it should pull harder than you describe. 292's have 4.125" stroke, they make buckets of torque in stock form.

 

So this is sooo late but I thought i'd update this thread with my finding after a year of driving this thing. My lack of power was due to a combination of a few things but the most dramatic being Carburetor orientation. Biggest problem after the first week was that the rear brakes were dragging, I've got an aftermarket under the floor corvette booster to drums all around and some how was building up residual pressure and the rears wheel cylinders were'nt returning very well. Second major improvement was the carb orientation I had it set up facing 90 degrees off (stupid!!) Anyway that was a huge improvement as well as fooling with the pump cam profile and really dialing the timing properly with a tdc test, some balancer tape and a good timing gun with advance. I drove it around for a while including a cross country trip from San Diego to New york all across the south in the summer, threw in a little jaunt to Daytona to pick up a bike before going north up the East Coast. But the latest improvement was surprising I had an offenhauser intake off of ebay which was setup for a rochester bolt pattern so I had made an adapter out of a 1" aluminum spacer. I eventually bought the correct adapter plate with out the spacing. And reset the carb directly to the manifold, wow...bat out of hell performance instantly. To all the disparaging comments about the 390 holley, I gotta say it just takes proper setup, I was getting 18mpg going cross country with four passengers, a ton of tools and a motorcycle for cargo, really nice idle, smooth acceleration and now absolutely no problem killing hills.

 

I'm not curtain what an RV cam is,but it sounds like it should be in a lumbering big motorhome.Not a panel truck.Find the actual specs for the cam,you may find it doesn't generate much power,just torque for a big vehicle

 

If you have points i would check dwell, if that checks out I would look at the carb. 17 inch of vacum is good but how steady is the needle? I run a 235 with delta performance cam, clifford 4 bbl carb and holly 390 and have tons of power.

 

I have a factory non rebuilt 292 in my 63 c-10 and it will run 85 mph all day long. plus you should have plenty of carb even with that cam sounds like timing or carb needs adjusting or rebuilding.

 

carb rebuild kit 30 bucks and 2 hours