Reply to "Valve Lift"

Restoman,

Limits in early valve lift due to piston to valve clearance depends upon the phasing & profile of the cam lobes. The piston is stroking downward as the intake valve opens, so long as the valve doesn't open too quickly, it won't hit the piston. So the cam grinder is in control of that aspect. Ultimate valve lift will depend upon the reliability you want for this motor. These days, cam grinders are able to grind roller lobes with lifts a bit above 0.600" while maintaining good reliability.

In regards to making a cam recommendation, we need to know a bit more about your motor, what condition is it in, what other changes will you be making, what other performance parts must it operate in conjunction with, what are you attemptimg to achieve with this change, how will you be using the car, what performance aspects are important to you (drivability, reliability, fuel economy, accelertion, a certain dyno number, etc) AND what's the budget.

You'll have 2 choices in off the shelf cams, Crane or Competition Cams, and a third choice will be to use an independent cam grinder.

your friend on the DTBB