Where to go after stage 2

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Luke5589

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Predator 212 hemi will be stage 2 after a new cam install. Currently has upgraded exhaust, carb, intake, rod, flywheel, and springs.

Wondering where to go after stage 2 and what stage 3 consists of. All very new to me and I love to learn. Answers throughout the internet seem to vary.

Not looking to race or enter any contests, just wanna build a backyard, high RPM hot rod.

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.
 
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BrownStainRacing

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Stock coils start pulling ignition timing out at higher rpm.
Don't make any sense to me to add a bunch of hi $ parts, then let the stock coil pull the power out. 🤔

Dover Power performance coils work, and dont pull timing out.

Clean up the bowl areas in the head. Don't hog em out, jus clean up the sharp edges, so air/fuel will have an easier way to the combustion chamber.

Measure piston to deck height.

Get a head gasket thickness that will get you close to .030" piston to head clearance. This will up the compression ratio, and thats easy, fast, cheap power.

Learn to set ignition timing with a degree wheel. Dont guess, and jus think its right, you will leave power on the table. Learn to do it right and get it right.

Hemis are hard to get any more out of. There's jus not really any good cams for the hemi head. It's limited with valve to piston clearance. Either cams have too much duration, with no lift. Or too much lift and no duration. 🤔

Dyno cams had a 216 cheater stock cam that works really good with the hemi head that had 9.5:1 CR. It's not on their web site any more.

Only other cam I would recommend for the hemi with around 9.5:1CR is, isky's custom cam
220* duration
.260 lift
104 lsa
It's a mean , nasty lil camshaft, torq comes in fast and hard. And thats what you get for a $150 camshaft.

For $65 you can get 1 of those turd .265 cams, that won't pull a greasy string out of a cats a$$.

Or you could switch over to a non hemi head and have more choices for a GOOD cam.

Or you could stay with the stock cam and make the best of it.

The choice is yours, 😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆
have fun, enjoy what you got for awhile.
 
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panchothedog

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A bit of porting the head as suggested by BSR is probably about all you can do with the hemi. If your not satisfied with what that gets you, then get and build a non hemi head. You can buy high compression heads as well as mill the stock ones. Much higher compression ratios are possible with the wedge head configuration. Also bigger valves can be installed as well as ratio rockers which are not a good option with the hemi. It's very easy to put $300 + into a.well built
head and another $160 to $230 into roller rockers. Problem is, once you get it to breath REALLY good, it starts making more power than the predator block can handle. They say the Tilliston blocks can handle more horse power, and they probably can. Don't know, never owned one, but I can tell you that the next one will be.
 
BaconBitRacing

BaconBitRacing

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panchothedog said:
A bit of porting the head as suggested by BSR is probably about all you can do with the hemi. If your not satisfied with what that gets you, then get and build a non hemi head. You can buy high compression heads as well as mill the stock ones. Much higher compression ratios are possible with the wedge head configuration. Also bigger valves can be installed as well as ratio rockers which are not a good option with the hemi. It's very easy to put $300 + into a.well built
head and another $160 to $230 into roller rockers. Problem is, once you get it to breath REALLY good, it starts making more power than the predator block can handle. They say the Tilliston blocks can handle more horse power, and they probably can. Don't know, never owned one, but I can tell you that the next one will be.
Click to expand...
Ducar blocks are very good as well, so I've heard. They use 'em for racing. I'm a little more apprehensive to the Tillison because of all the corporate YouTube sponsorship and advertising. I do hear they are good motors, though. One of the big benefits of both is no need to replace the flywheel, high-speed flywheels come stock.
 
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G.W

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panchothedog said:
A bit of porting the head as suggested by BSR is probably about all you can do with the hemi. If your not satisfied with what that gets you, then get and build a non hemi head. You can buy high compression heads as well as mill the stock ones. Much higher compression ratios are possible with the wedge head configuration. Also bigger valves can be installed as well as ratio rockers which are not a good option with the hemi. It's very easy to put $300 + into a.well built
head and another $160 to $230 into roller rockers. Problem is, once you get it to breath REALLY good, it starts making more power than the predator block can handle. They say the Tilliston blocks can handle more horse power, and they probably can. Don't know, never owned one, but I can tell you that the next one will be.
Click to expand...
You can also reinforce the Tillotson blocks.
 
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BrownStainRacing

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Master Hack said:
Just wondering if thats a spec listed on the cam card?
Click to expand...
Yeap. It's right there, intake timing close, at .006" tappet rise.
It's gonna take some math to figure it out.

Egor's got the "magic cam formula" written on a 8'x10' blackboard, somewheres in his lair. I'm sure he can go over it with you. 😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆 🤣 😂

Here's one of the better .265" lift cams. It's still a turd and I wouldn't have it.
They don't tell you what other goodies it's gonna take to make it pull, like a good torqey cam should pull like, in a "usable" rpm range. 7000 rpm is NOT a usable rpm for a back yard, fun time, neighborhood cruiser.

Cam dynamics is 1 of the hardest things to figure out in any build. Thats another story for another day.

Most people won't take the time to figure out what CR their engines has, so I surely don't know what makes them think, a bigger cam is gonna make more power, 🤔 .
Screenshot_20230618_003818_OneDrive.jpg
 
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