Should I run a camshaft from the 1955 Crowfoot Holden?

Includes fuel system, cooling system and exhaust.

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Stygian
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Re: Should I run a camshaft from the 1955 Crowfoot Holden?

Post by Stygian »

GreyFc wrote:But I do have a soft spot for the grey. Gonna start harassing the old man to get some of the good stuff out of storage. I believe the cam we have is a wade 440
You'll find there are a few of us on this forum who do have a soft spot also for the grey motor. Yeah, get onto your old man and get that loot out of the shed. If you do have a Wade cam, it should have the grind number stamped on the end of it.
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Stygian
Posts: 1273
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2009 3:52 pm
State: NSW
Location: Upper North Shore, Sydney

Re: Should I run a camshaft from the 1955 Crowfoot Holden?

Post by Stygian »

Thommo wrote:
Stygian wrote: GreyFC, here is a video of Jeff (Thommo) taking myself, Stewart (parisian62) and Rob (fbcrusin) for a spin around Narrandera in his hot grey powered FB http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI9-rfC38Pk
Bloody squeeeeeeeky clutch pedal :oops: :lol:
Pretty easy fix there Thommo. Just let Stewart and I take it for a few spins around Sawtel. We'll work the squeak out of it :wink: :D
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Stygian
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State: NSW
Location: Upper North Shore, Sydney

Re: Should I run a camshaft from the 1955 Crowfoot Holden?

Post by Stygian »

parisian62 wrote:
Bloody squeeeeeeeky clutch pedal
'bout time you got that fixed...been squeaking like that since Forbes... :shock: :wink: :lol:

thanks for posting up Andrew. 8)
No worries, anytime Stewart :D
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Stygian
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Re: Should I run a camshaft from the 1955 Crowfoot Holden?

Post by Stygian »

Just to close out this decade old plus thread, I roadtested the car for six months after finally getting it registered last year. Whilst a great open road cam, and fun on the highway past 4000 rpm, the Wade 140 wasn't that pleasant around town. It wanted to bunny hop in top at 60km, spit raw fuel into the exhaust and taking roundabouts in second was something needing to be planned in advance. That said, it ran better than it probably should have, but my grey motor is unlikely to see over 4500 rpm that often.

I spoke to Clive Stenlake at Clive Cams, whom recommended the Clive 82. Clive used to work at Wade and bought the Wade catalogue when that company wound up. Clive remarked that the 140 was "...a bloody good cam" but got to work at 3800 rpm, so long as you had good compression (around 10.5 to 11:1). The Clive 82 cam is much smaller than the Wade 140 (32/66 and 215 @ 50" versus 41/71 and 238 @ 50"), but still has a bit of overlap to assist the poor breathing of the old grey head, which also gives it a nice, lumpy exhaust note. The 82 gives registers about 10"Hg intake vacuum, so no brake booster without a vacuum tank. The 82 can be run in a stock grey, but responds best with head work, carbs and compression.

For my own interest, I wrote R and Python scripts to calculate cranking cylinder pressures, dynamic compression ratios and other things, using the piston motion equations. These showed why the Wade 140 wasn't a complete dog to drive, and underscored the importance of raising the static compression ratio as high as you can.

That said, if you are considering camshafts for a grey, I'd recommend speaking to Clive Stenlake first here.
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