Need a low buck hydraulic camshaft/lifter recomendation.

I picked up a 80 K10 at a bargain price.
I know the last 3 owners of this 350 Chevy.
The first owner scrapped the 250 six and installed a 350 motor.
Was told it had camel hump heads.
A RV cam was added for more torque at low end and a decent idle.
Used to plow snow, ect.

Second owner (16 yr old) had sent it to the local body shop to fix the rust
(new doors, fenders and hood) and paint, adding aluminum Cragers and wide radials,
an assembled steel flatbed (decent job) and chrome 4 inch stacks.

His Brother-in Law bought it and using HER credit card, called Summit.
He couldn't get it to run after installing these new  parts purchased from Summit Racing:
Summit cast iron heads
Pushrods and Hydraulic lifters
Stamped rocker arms (have a + stamp?)
Edelbrock 750 cfm carb
14" moroso air cleaner
Edelbrock performer intake
50,000 volt HEI distributor - brand x?
Long tube headers with 3 inch collector- no flanges- brand x?
3" Flowmasters
Pro Stock degreed harmonic balancer (No Pointer)

0Pistons flat or dish? unknown
GQ1 for the axle ratio maybe 3.42
4 speed with creeper 1st tranny
33" tires

Anyways, It has been many years since I wrenched a hot rod. (anything other than stock)
A starter switch and removal of the #1 plug and a thumb got me to TDC on #1.
After 2 tries the distributor was in correctly and (started the first time- low on go power- 1 tooth off) it was running.
Did the clatter trick to adjust the lifters with the engine running and squirting oil everywhere..
Still didn't run right.
Did the "clean" method with the engine turned off.
Stopped when I found a lifter collapsed (no spring action).

Since I have lifters to replace, a cam with more low end torque a bit more lope at idle is what I seek.
Can someone steer me to the right cam?
Thanks,
K10  

i suggest that you go to the summitracing website and use the search engine to look up a camshaft.  you will have so many options to narrow down your seach you will get exactly what you want.
click under street/strip or street only, or strip only,  then you can select your rpm range and boom you got the cam you want.  it doesn't get any easier than they make it.  i love summit.  i dont shop anywhere else they have great customer service.  i shop there so much i get free ***  now that is service. go there first.  

Lope and low end are hard to acomplish,Cylinder bleed off at lower rpms with to much overlap kills low end.A 110 lobe center would be the most narrow I would go,knowing your application I would say no more than 204 int.duration @ .050.Your gears and tire diameter is your hold back, 4:10's and 33's would help your heavy iron off the line.Your mileage in (town) wouldn't really change, more cubes is even better.     WIEDER  

Building an engine to attract attention is usually a good way to build a dog of an engine that isn't very economical, practical, or isn't very "worth it"...

You may to make sure there isn't a lobe gone before you replace the camshaft in this engine. If there is any sign of a lobe wearing down on any of those "collapsed" lifters you need to tear that engine down completely before proceeding.

My advice is to cam small. This thing is never going to be a barn-burner with that tall high-end gear ratio. Maybe you can do some pulling in lower gears but that requires a lot of low-end power production that comes from small duration figures. I'd look at something like this...
Comp Cams PN 12-306-4  

GibTG: Do you mean 12-206-4 212 duration? WIEDER  

Thanks so much for the quick responses guys.
I have 2 of those carbs, Edelbrock Performers.
One loose and the other bolted to the 350
Both have a number that starts with 1406.
Suffix is 0002 on the uninstalled one.
Would they both be 750s?
Have a line on a Q jet but as I recall the secondaries are large, not matching my square bore Performer manifold.
Tires on this rig are 32s not 33s as I wrote earlier.
Forgot to crawl under to look for an axle tag today.
K10  

a 1406 is a 650cfm performer carb. A 1407 would be a 750cfm.  

Took a pencil and piece of paper this time.

Tires are 32X11.50R15 LT MS

Edelbrock Performer Carburetor
# 1406 2035
Looked it up at the Summit site.
The PN is for a 600 cfm carb.

Does my incorrect identification of tires and carb change the cam recommendation?

Rear axle tag was gone.
Front tag was there.

41-12
3.42

Thanks Everyone!
K10  

Not enough difference it still applies,that 600 Edelbrock would work good E.Performer intakes have dual bolt patterns to accept Q-jets.The small Q-jet primaries are great for a stronger signal and mileage.I recommend 12-16 degrees at the crank and total of 34-38 degrees all in around 2500-3000rpm.Still no more than around 204 int duration and also no more than 210ex,a 10 degree or more split with exhaust will start to take away lowend grunt because of extra cylinder pressure bleed-off.CompCam 4x4 cam grind# XE249H would do right.  WIEDER  

My 83 Chevy K10 plow truck has a 305 with a Q jet.
I have no part numbers right now. I remember when this carb was a brand new stock replacement on this former oilfield truck. Fuel bleeds down somewhere between plow jobs now but otherwise it still works great after all these years. A trade of carbs is possible as I have an adapter for square bore to spread.
K10  

Do you have the Performer EPS that is only squarebore? If so use the Performer 600 carb instead because those adapters going from square to spread is like shoehorning the big Q-jet secondaries into a smaller opening which will hurt power.If you can find a good used orignal performer that has provisions for a Q-jet maybe go that route.    WIEDER  

The cam I listed has 206/212° of duration @.050 on a 108° LSA. Low-lift as well, only .425" on the intake side. Might as well keep it low for durability purposes.  

Found gent that has truck parts. Says he has a 4.11 front axle. If this lead pans out the hunt can continue for a rear axle.
Would a pair of 2" or 2.25" tailpipes work after the 3" Flowmaster mufflers or do I need smaller inlet/ outet mufflers as well.
K10  

Good luck on axle search,this gear change will be worthwhile. Flowmaster and Hooker in the Jeg's catalog have reducers,2-1/4 mandrel bend or 2-1/2 compression bend would be good.A mufflershop recently installed the Flowmaster reducers on my truck 3 to 2-1/2 compression tailpipes,being longer reducers prevents bottlenecking into smaller diameter so much,less turbulance and maintains velocity better.3" collectors with at least 18" of 3" pipe is what most performance systems use. Keep us posted      WIEDER  

Finally got around to starting my (gasoline) engine project.
I am a School Bus Mechanic (diesel dude) and now that summer is here I am more inclined to tackle this project.
All lobes on the camshaft that I pulled looked ok.
The brand spanking new lifters had the beginnings of problems. This motor had not fired before I got it. (just cranked a lot)
2 lifters were not spinning as evidenced by the straight line scuff marks near the centers. The hydraulic lifter that led to this teardown was indeed stuck - at the top, on the clip.  I could not compress it like the others.
As recommended, I kept my selection for a cam mild. Bought a Lunati Voodoo Cam and Lifter Kit - LUN-60101LK.
I may pull the heads (? pistons) and oil pan (a bolt is missing)  to see what I have as the fel-pro gasket set has everything but the carb gasket and the header gaskets- so the only thing that I waste is my time and a set of header gaskets. None of the fasteners appeared to be torqued.  Some tight- some not so tight.
I ran the suffix stamping code, CGC,  and found that the original vehicle was  a - 1971 El Camino-  350 ci-  2 bolt mains-   245 hp-  turbo hydro  trans ....
K10