Where Do I Get Cams?????

Ok so Im a total gearhead and have always done all of my own work on all of my vehicles ranging from my 86 Monte Carlo SS, to my old 2004 SRT-4 Turbo, to my Yamaha R1, to my new toy my 2006 SRT-8 300C.....BUT!!!!....This is a whole new world. I want to get maximum HP from the 351W. How do I go about doing that? I will need heads, cam, intake, carbs, etc... Where do I get all these things?????

Call Rick at 704-377-4933. I got a RH Clevite cam from him and I'm very pleased with it.

I got that number from ReidP, I think it's a machine shop, they sell Clevite cams. The one I got is a little hotter than stock. I think it was $147.

Check out this thread. I highly recommend Cam Research for the cam- several of us here have had great luck with them (they only do Fords and are knowledgable about ski boats). The best place to get heads depends on what you want. Cast iron GT40 and GT40p heads are cheap and effective. For the gaskets, I stuck with quality PCM marine ones from SkiDIM. Pretty much everything else (intake, timing sets, carb stuff, misc parts) can be found at Summit.

your telling me Reid uses k-cams..

boat dr wrote: Would use them again,they also can "break-in" your cam and lifters for a small fee.This was worth more than the dollars spent to insure peace of mind..........boat dr

I did the same Doc, don't know if it made a hugh difference but I haven't had a failure yet and it was only $60 for the breakin. They still recommended going through the normal breakin procedure at first startup, I thought it was good insurance.

Reid, that is toooooooo funny.
My draws come from Victoria Somebody,but only the boat nurse knows the style......
I kinda' loike the foo foo stuff, but no need to go into that here , will start another thread........
Back to the root of this thread;
Building HP & Torque is a complicated but not expensive venture.
I spoke to many engine builders and to Ford Motor Racing as to what I wanted and what I was able to live with.These are two different worlds,and spending lottsa' dollars will not always give you the numbers.
As anyone at G/Lake will attest the 331 is a strong build, all the parts work together.And based on the quality of the rotating assy.the engine shouls live for 1000 hrs.
Strong low end with a top end of 5100 rpm's gives me the thrill I paid for..boat dr

I got my cam from Crane many years ago,but it isn't a roller.The thing that upset me was they have the firing order on the sheet wrong.When I started it up for the 1st time it ran like sh**,and here you are trying to break the cam in,and it won't go over 1000 rpm!How could they even grind a cam and not know the firing order is beyond me.By now I hope they have got their act together.

thanks for the info guys. Got some more questions for ya. Does anyone sell a stroker kit for the 351 and also is there anyone out there who hase gone completely solid lifters and a huge lift and duration cam setup with a gear drive instead of a chain?....I want my boat to sound like its about to run a 9 second Qtr Mile...And also be that powerful...any help in that direction.

thanks nate

Huge lift and duration equals long overlap, chop the throttle at high rpm for an emergency or what ever, and all that vacuum is going to suck the water back through the exhaust into your exahust valves, BAM! hydro locked, not pretty.   Follow the lead of the gear heads here, they'll send you in the right direction.

Nate,
In regards to strokers, BoatDr has a guy he used and I found another company near Detroit called Paul Anthony Race Engines (PARE). They specialize in small block Ford power with a nice selection of stroker short and long blocks based off 302's and 351's. The pricing is also very attractive. We recently got a 347 from them to replace a tired 302 in a buddies Donzi which we're converting right now.

MarineSRT8, "regular" heads for the 351W is a very broad statement. There are several heads thru the 30 year history that are not the best to use. Joe from NY just built a 351 stroker recently, and he may can help you. I believe he built a standard rotation, so he could run a roller cam. I just built a 351w .040 over, and I am very happy with the performance. I am pushing 350+ horsepower. Make sure that your HP/TQ curve is between 2500 and 5500, any more is pretty much a waste. I would look at the GT40 or GT40p heads. They burn fuel much more efficient than the old heads being stuffed with bigger valves and hogging out the ports. I'm sure others with chime in on their opinions, and there are a lot of good ones out there. As for me, I'm running a Crane and am very happy with it.