Hi, Martin,
When I originally built my 194, the main purpose of the car was to be a daily driver, so I was looking more for torque and gas mileage then raw horsepower. With that in mind, I used a Sig Erson RV cam with a high lift and moderate duration. Specs were .480" valve lift, and 256 degrees advertised duration. They didn't use the .050" standard to measure cam duration then, so I don't know what that figure would be. As far as valvetrain modifacations/improvements, I used the heavier valvesprings that came with the cam (I bought it as a kit; cam, lifters, valvesprings, and retainers as a set), had screw in rocker studs installed at a machine shop, and used Isky steel retainers instead of the aluminum ones that came with the kit. The lifters were the anti pump up type, and were included with the cam. I also used a Clifford aluminum intake and a Holley 350 cfm 2-bbl carb along with the headers. After all that was installed, the difference in performance was INCREDIBLE, and the thing that really blew my mind was that the gas mileage before I changed to the bigger carb, Clifford manifold and headers was 19 mpg, and after everything was installed, it was still 19 mpg, with probably about 40% more horsepower than stock. And at that point, the engine was in a 64 Chevelle wagon body and running a 3 speed trans. In a Nova body with a similar setup for the motor and your 5-speed, I would think that your mileage should be at LEAST 25 mpg. I remember when I compared the stock cam with the Erson RV cam, the stock cam looked like a towel rack with pimples, and the Erson cam had LOBES. I'm not saying that you should go out and buy a new cam also, but anything that makes the engine breathe better will give you better torque and that means better drivability, more efficiency, and better fuel economy. That will hold true for cams up to about 270 degrees advertised duration. Much more than that and you get more power, but at higher rpm and fuel economy goes out the window. I was VERY happy with my cam for street use. It did exactly what I wanted from it. Of course, that cam isn't available any more, but there are others on the market that are similar and would give you the same basic results. One other thing that I would strongly recommend is to change the cam gear. Ditch the fiber gear and get an aluminum gear, even if you don't use an aftermarket cam. The aluminum gear will last practically forever, which the fiber gear won't. From your last post, it sounds like things are somewhat improved already. Keep up the good work.
