Performance cam re-grind worth?

[Hotwatermusic]

I have an '83 SC motor thats already been punched out to 3.2 liters. Still has CIS. Stock heat exchangers, single in/out muffler. No cat. No O2 sensor. I'm looking--like everyone--for a little more power, and am intrigued by a cam regrind now. From what I understand a 964 profile grind will afford me more low-end torque and more power in the "useful" RPM band for street driving. But I may be looking at faster wear on valvetrain components as such, I've also read.
My question is, seeing what I have and don't have on my motor currently, would a cam regrind be worth the $800-1000 prices I've seen? Is the power difference considerable? What else goes into a cam regrind I am not considering? Will I need to make other changes to feel the full effect of a regrind? Am I better off getting headers and a pre-74 style exhaust for bang-for-the-buck performance? I don't see a lot about cam regrinds here, in fact when I searched the last posting exclusively about the subject looked to be from 2011. But maybe I missed some...

[DaddyGlenn]

Change the exhaust first. Get a nice set of SSI's and a free breathing muffler.

At some point I will probably regrind my cams to a 964 profile and I will have the rockers rebuilt at the same time. I am figuring $1,500 to $2,000 to cover everything and leave room for a couple "while I'm in there" items.

[jpnovak]

1. Change exhaust.


Next, where do you think you need more power? city driving? high rpm?

Many times for a street car it is the throttle response that sucks. In this case. dump the CIS and consider an EFI conversion. The car is so much more driveable. I just converted a car and the next step will be cams. However, the car runs so crisp now that the owner may not want to swap cams for a while.

Just my $0.02.

[Hotwatermusic]

Next, where do you think you need more power? city driving? high rpm?



Many times for a street car it is the throttle response that sucks. In this case. dump the CIS and consider an EFI conversion. The car is so much more driveable. I just converted a car and the next step will be cams. However, the car runs so crisp now that the owner may not want to swap cams for a while.

Spirited street driving. I use the entire RPM band, but would like to see more torque around 3k RPM than 5500RPM. I'd love to swap to EFI but I don't even know where to begin with that process. When I search I can't seem to find an EFI thread that starts at step one. It always, " Help with this EFI swap I've already done..."
So exhaust swap it is. Now...about snapping off exhaust studs

[DaddyGlenn]

Originally Posted by Hotwatermusic

{snip}.....Now...about snapping off exhaust studs

Many, many threads on that subject. Good luck.

[DaddyGlenn]

P.S. CIS to EFI conversion and index