This question is for you 400 engine builders and wasn't sure how to search for it so I thought I would just put the question here. When building a stock block 400 with the stock crank and rods, is the camshaft a small base circle cam or is it a standard size? I realize the need for a stroker motor but is it necessary for a stock block setup? I am planning on running a retro hydraulic roller camshaft due to the changes in oil composition and such. I will be using the stock rods with ARP bolts, hyper pistons, and stock crank that has been turned .010" to clean it up, with a Milodon main stud kit so I can mount a windage tray with the 6 qt Moroso pan and pump. Thanks for any info you can give me..:bowtie:

standerd cam size should be fine unless some one knows some other reason why you shouldnt that I have never herd of. IF u use stud's you will have to re-line bore/hone the blocks main's. Depending on your budget you my be better of just using a crank scraper or somthing of that nature. This brings up another topic that would be a good post if it hasnt already been posted.

Matt

I have read varying opinions about the align bore when usings studs and I am not planning on doing that since this is an assembled short block and has about several thousand miles on it already. I want to add the windage tray for oil control along with the rear pan baffle to control the rising of the oil up the back of the block on acceleration. Guys have said in some posts I read in other places that it is a good idea when building from scratch. When I put the studs in, I will check to make sure there is no binding and everything is ok after torqueing them down. As you say, interesting topic for sure. Thanks for your input. I just want to get the right cam and not have to find out the hard way.

I think you would be all good on the standerd size cam. They also have Pan baffles too. They claim the way the load clamp causes diffrent articulation on the cap from bolt cause the re line bore isues but Im sure you have already herd all of this. There many other here that can advise you further on that debate. I sapose the best thing to do would be to run a Tray,Baffleand scraper.

Alot of people order small base circle cams when they dont even need one. And too many times a lazy engine builder will not notch the rods when using a 5.7 and just tell their customer to get a small base circle cam. I will atttach a link to some photo's showing how little effort is required to do it right and clearance the rods. In your case a std base circle cam will clear due to using the stock 400 rods which were produced with a shorter top half of the rod bolt area for clearance with std base circle cams. Getting back to the small base circle issue. Any Cam lobe with more lobe lift than a stock cam is going to have a smaller base circle than the stock cam. And it will be the twice the difference of the new lift number from stock. If it didnt , the lobe would not go thru the Cam brg. In other words A stock 390/410 valve lift cam will have a ex lobe lift of 273. Its base circle will be 1.322. Now a cam with 490 lift valve lift will have a lobe with 326 lift. So its base circle has to be no bigger than 1.214 or the lobe will hit the cam brg. To determine the max base circle diameter for a lobe you simply take the cam brg jrnl size and subtract the lobe lift twice from it. In the case of s Chevy small block , the jrnl size is 1.868. And a big block chevy is 1.949. So if we had a small block with a roller that has .450 lobe lift, the max base circle size that will fit thru the cam brg is .968. The bad thing about small base circle cams is the loading on the lifter is increased. Simply using a small base circle when you dont need one is putting more un necessary loads on your valvetrain. Here's the link to the rod clearance photos.
http://www.nastyz28.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82433&highlight=stroker+clearance+101