[HYPR 84]

Seeking advice from those that are/have use a hydraulic roller cam in a Gen1 350 SBC

Car is a '84 Pontiac TransAm - Mecham MSE. This is not a daily driver as I use mainly for autocrossing & car shows. My skill level at autox is 3 years and improving. I place in the top 1/3 of our local CAM-T group (typically 1.5 seconds behind leaders). The engine & drivetrain was overhauled 6 years ago and at the time built for car shows... then I stated autox! I recently had a mishap with my cooling system that I believe has created a compression pressure leak at the head gasket. Under high RPM runs my coolant overflow tank will raise above HOT level and not return to proper level when cold. I have tested several radiator caps & thermostats and get the same results. Under typical daily driving conditions the system acts correctly. There is no coolant loss under any condition as there is not smoke or mix into oil. So I guess the engine is coming out and i'm getting rid of the hydraulic flat tappet cam & weak valve springs.

Current drivetrain setup (suspenion ungrades not listed) :
Sniper EFI, Sniper Hyperspark distributor, Sniper sparkbox & coil, manual WC/T5 5-speed, McCloud balanced lightweight flywheel & pressure plateDana44 housing w/ Eaton TruTrac 3:31 gears. (I know the gearing is to high but that's going to stay for now) Car weighs in at 3400 +200 driver. Best 1/4 mile time 13.05 @ 107mph.

350 SBC 4 bolt, high nickel & tin block, blueprinted
Forged crank
+.060 forged pistons
Compression: Static 10.01:1, Dynamic 8.28:1
Total Seal rings- gapless 2nd
Prepped steel rods
ARP hardware
Comp test (yesterday) = 193-197 psi
Leak down test (yesterday) = 99-99+ & 100 psi
Rotating assembly balanced
CompCams - Hyd Flat tappet 12-242 (224I/231E @ .050, )
@ +4.125 advance
Cloyes true roller chain

Dart Pro1 aluminum heads, 72cc, 2.02 & 1.60
Ported & cc'd
7/16? rocket studs
5/16? chromoly Heat-treated pushrods
Chromoly roller rocker arms
Polylocs
Felpro 1003 Head gasket
ARP hardware

Dart dual plane intake
Felpro 1025 intake gasket

FlowKooler 1773 machined impellar water pump
BeCool radiator
Becool electric dual Spal fans

ETC. Etc. etc.


If you got this far... thanks for reading and look forward to your comments.

[CrashTestDummy]

Can't offer much tech, but please post pics!! The only other Mecam T/A I've actually seen is Art Martinez' CP car, which I've driven and actually have the 302 shvrtblock out of when he went big. It was a beast of a car with the 302!!

Looks like a healthy setup you have. What, exactly are you wanting, better drivability, lumpy idle, more power? I've always been one to build torque into my engines, letting the HP take care of itself. It's paid off a couple of times.

[HYPR 84]

That car you mentioned was most likely a 2nd Gen "MACHO T/A", those were pretty bad ass in the late 70's. Mine is a 3rd Gen, they produced the Motor Sport Edition (MSE) in 82-84, they sold these to support their SCCA TransAm racing habit.

I would post pics but when I click on the "insert image" button it list "Please enter the URL for this image" ? I do not have a website just a bunch of .jpg files. so I am unsure how to add them.

Here is a video of the car on the track (i just posted this)

https://youtu.be/XCPZ69BsDtQ

As for what I'm after with the engine... TORQUE before RPM. The car is strong even with the current cam but the flat tappet setup just scares me with the oils of today. I use Valvoline VR1 for the added ZDDP and been happy with it. The car was not built to racing or autoX and now I find myself thinking it would be better to move toward the roller cam & lifters for less wear & tear on those parts... but the high dollar expense to switch would be nice to avoid. I just figured if someone out there had some good recommendations I would seriously consider the swap since the engine will be removed in the next 2-3 weeks. Planning on the car being ready in Sept for the start of our next race season... so I have some time to plan this.

As for the car... I am the original owner, so I have had it for 41 years, I refurbished the car 2016-2019 for car shows and cruising. I didn't list the suspension mods as I was trying to keep this focus on the engine/drivetrain. If you are interested in seeing what the car looks like below is a video someone did of the car at one of the local carshows here in Phoenix, AZ from a couple years ago. I had it all spiffed up for the show with my street wheels on it.

https://youtu.be/f_aogMBdSvQ?si=tClojdKpQ6O1KJbL

[CrashTestDummy]

That car you mentioned was most likely a 2nd Gen "MACHO T/A", those were pretty bad ass in the late 70's. Mine is a 3rd Gen, they produced the Motor Sport Edition (MSE) in 82-84, they sold these to support their SCCA TransAm racing habit.

I would post pics but when I click on the "insert image" button it list "Please enter the URL for this image" ? I do not have a website just a bunch of .jpg files. so I am unsure how to add them.

Here is a video of the car on the track (i just posted this)

https://youtu.be/XCPZ69BsDtQ

As for what I'm after with the engine... TORQUE before RPM. The car is strong even with the current cam but the flat tappet setup just scares me with the oils of today. I use Valvoline VR1 for the added ZDDP and been happy with it. The car was not built to racing or autoX and now I find myself thinking it would be better to move toward the roller cam & lifters for less wear & tear on those parts... but the high dollar expense to switch would be nice to avoid. I just figured if someone out there had some good recommendations I would seriously consider the swap since the engine will be removed in the next 2-3 weeks. Planning on the car being ready in Sept for the start of our next race season... so I have some time to plan this.

As for the car... I am the original owner, so I have had it for 41 years, I refurbished the car 2016-2019 for car shows and cruising. I didn't list the suspension mods as I was trying to keep this focus on the engine/drivetrain. If you are interested in seeing what the car looks like below is a video someone did of the car at one of the local carshows here in Phoenix, AZ from a couple years ago. I had it all spiffed up for the show with my street wheels on it.

https://youtu.be/f_aogMBdSvQ?si=tClojdKpQ6O1KJbL

Very nice!! That car looks new!

The car I was talking about is. a 1982 MSE T/A. It belongs to Art Martinez. I believe he said the car was a race car. It has some pretty bit fender flares (only way to fit 14" slicks in the bodywork on a 3rd Gen w/o a lot of suspension and tub mods). I don't know if it came to him with the flares, or he added them after he got the car. The old CP ruleset was kind of restrictive on what body modifications you could make. They've gotten better, but still. kind of restrictive.

[HYPR 84]

Very nice!! That car looks new!
The car I was talking about is. a 1982 MSE T/A. It belongs to Art Martinez. I believe he said the car was a race car. It has some pretty bit fender flares (only way to fit 14" slicks in the bodywork on a 3rd Gen w/o a lot of suspension and tub mods). I don't know if it came to him with the flares, or he added them after he got the car. The old CP ruleset was kind of restrictive on what body modifications you could make. They've gotten better, but still. kind of restrictive.

Sounds like Art Martinez had something very special.
1982 Mecham Racing won Pontiac their very first SCCA Trans Am Championship! Mecham supported their racing habit modifying new TA's into their street version MSE's.

This was the first new car I bought, still has the original paint and looks the same as the day I purchased it with 186 miles. All the MSE?s were serialized with mine being #84-0022, one of 50 built in 1984. Very few I was told had 5 speeds (mine didn't last very long). It had all the Mecham options; 300hp 350 4bolt replaced the stock HO engine, HD 4 core radiator, front & rear coil springs lowered the car 1.5" (unknown spring rates), Koni adjustable struts & shocks, gold Enkei 92 rims with wider EagleGT?s tires, MR gauge package, steering wheel, rear wing, war-paint scheme & MR graphics, rear droop limiter, front frame stiffener, etc. It was very attractive and fast for 1984. I have upgraded frame & suspension items, along with drivetrain and interior. And with 76K orig miles... it is a new car again!