Hello, new guy here.

The motor in my Chevelle currently is an 11:1 406, flat top, 5.7 eagle esp rods (full floaters), crane solid roller: 250/260 @ .050, AFR 195's with aftermarket valves/ valve job, Victor Junior.... TH400 w/brake with 8" Coan 5000 stall, 4.30's with spool, moser 33 spline, blah blah. The car weighs about 3500lbs with me in it, and has a best run of 11.13 @ 119.  Yes, I drive it on the street with 93 octane (but use 110 when I race, just to be safe). It still has power brakes... they are a little stiff, but not unbearable. I borrowed a carburetor for a while that didn't have a vaccuum port for the brakes (it was sealed with a threaded plug) ... now that was a stiff brake pedal. The Comp 292H I used to run (in a 355, on the street) also had a relatively stiff pedal, but it too, was bearable. A vaccuum canister couldn't hurt.

 The big convertor scaredy-cats kill me.... a higher stall convertor requires an aditional cooler, (I run the one in the radiator and an external) but really... REALLY, it tames a big cam or radical motor on the street. It is still very streetable, at about 2000 rpms the car is pulling respectably away from a traffic light. Compared to a stock convertor, it is noticeable... but after a week of driving, it becomes the norm. It only reaches it's stall rpm when your foot finds the floor.

 The 650 is too small for a motor that size with a cam that big, I recommend a 750 double pumber. Also, I don't recall if you have or are getting an MSD, but it will help clean up your idle. As long as you don't have a blown power valve, you shouldn't be fouling any spark plugs... A 3000 rpm stall is what I would recommend, my preference is B&M Holeshot. The AFR 195's will work well for you.

I hope I haven't jumped into a new forum and pissed a bunch of people off, but I've been driving my car on the street for many years, and the naysayers of big cams and high stall convertors in street cars really seem way too.... precautious? ... conservative?  It's a pet peeve, sorry.

PS: I miss my power steering. Swapping in a manual box and removing the pump didn't provide the performance gains I had hoped for... barely noticeable actually.

as far as the 292 cam,it is big but i don't know if its too big.i have a magnum 280 with 1.6 rockers in a 3/4 ton full sized van with a 406 and it pulls it around like its a corvette.i'd be more apted to make sure that a good converter but not to big is used.you need to decided before you build the motor just where its going to spend most of its life.ifs its to be in town lite to lite then the 292 is too big.i also have a wolverine/ blue racer 214/224,,.443/.465,,with 1.6 rockers .472/.496that works very well and makes nearly the same power as the magnum 280.

chevy makes cam# 12353923 that measures 224/234,,465/448,,used with 1.6 .496/.478,,114 LCA,, that i ran on the desk top dyno a couple of yrs ago and was very impressive in both a 350 .060 over and a 406.i have a couple of cams to use right now but when they are gone the next one will be the GM cam.this is my first post here and i'd like to say hi to everyone and am looking forward to being around.

I ran the 292 (244@.050) and had no problem with power brakes.

If you use anything less, you will be sacrificing alot. You must use the proper converter and gear. You should also use a carb that will allow you to tune a clean idle. I'm going to give you a freebie on this one...

One of the key things to do is set up your distributor as follows. This will hold true for small block auto's with the correct converter.

18 degrees initial - 34 to 36 total, depending on the heads.

You will have to do some work to shorten the curve on your distributor to accomplish this. What this will do is increase idle vacuum, and make the engine more responsive. The total advance must all be in before the flash point of the converter. If you do this, you will be able to detect a real difference, just by "seat of the pants" feel. Don't stop tuning until you have perfected your combination. The car will start fine in the 10:1 compression range with this timing. You must have 9.5:1 with iron, and up to 10.5:1 with aluminum heads. This should be no problem on 93 octane. I have tested this on the dyno.

I totally agree with the previous person who had a Chevelle and commented on the converter issue. Look at his performance and be the judge. I ran 11's, and drove to and from the track 45 miles each way.

good luck,

Chris