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A barn find that was originally from South Carolina. 64 galaxie 390 fastback. I have been looking for this exact car for 15 years. Still haven't decided what cam I want to run in it. I'm going to rebuild with 10:1 compression bored out .030 over. I want it to be a tourquer motor not a high RPM motor no more than 5k as I plan on driving it frequently. Any suggestions are appreciated.
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No one has suggestions for a torquer cam.
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Congrats on your acquistion. Automatic? Toploader? Tremec? Rear end ratio? stock heads or aftermarket? What if the engine is already at .030 over? When my 390 was rebuilt in the early 70s, with stock components and .010 over, it topped out at 5,000 RPM 100,000+ miles later, I don't push it past 4,000 but it still cruises without complaint at 80 MPH (3.00 differential)..
FWIW, Comp Cams would likely recommend something in the first set of options here: I have the dual energy 265DEH in my 289 Mustang, is well behaved but will out pull most 4 Barrel windsor-based motors.
Kevin
Last edited by pkevins (October 16, 2017 9:05 pm)
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Sorry for not getting back to you earlier, been busy. I haven't decided the transmission yet. still a toss up between auto C6 or a toploaded. The motor is already torn down and shows only about .004" out of round. It came with a cruis-o-matic, but some one put a C6 in it. Would like to make it original equipment but not sure or c-o-m can handle the power. therefore why not put in a 4speed top loader in, But i currently have C6 and can save money by using it. It has a 3.00 differential, so cruising long haul should be easy.
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The dual energy 265 is a good mild cam. I went over the these series. Got a xe 256 in my 289 and gained everywhere over the high energy 268.
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Thank you for the info. So you like the XE 256 better. very helpful.
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They are both terrific cams. The comp XE line has faster opening and closing rates so you get more power within the chosen rpm range. That DEH 265 is no slouch though. Either one would work great in a big car, and you could probably go hotter yet with your big block an XE 262 in your 390 is going to idle pretty tame compared to my little 289.
Actually what behaves more radically in my small block is going to be more like an RV cam in your 390. You could probably get by with something like a 268xe and still have good vacuum, and a broad torque curve. The xe line is a little different than the older school grinds in that they actually build cylinder pressure, so your dynamic ratio will be a little higher which will help with with grunt. With 10:1 compression and too short of a duration cam, you could run into detonation issues so you may want to go bigger on the cam to bleed off some compression, or lower compression to work better with a smaller more torque oriented cam.
A car with lower compression and a good performance ignition curve will be quicker than a car with higher compression that has retarded timing to run on today's crappy gas.
I hope I'm not coming across as a smart aleck. I am trying to help you learn from some of my mistakes. Trust me when I say that I have made more than my share 
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Last edited by guitar74 (October 26, 2017 2:54 pm)
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Guitar have you tried using comp cams Camquest tool? If you or anyone else has how accurate/relative was it to the actual set up.
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I have. The suggestions are pretty good. I don't think that the power numbers are realistic, but they aren't as exaggerated as some dyno programs. Also, the converter suggestions are spot on.
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