Cam choice

[79brent]

I have a new hecho en mexico 85 chevy 350 in my 79, I believe the heads are 1.94/1.50 and im looking for a good cam choice. My rear end is a 2.76 with 31" tires (definately need better gears) so its probably around the 2.5 range so im thinking i need a torque cam? I want the best cam i can buy while trying to keep stock valvetrain components. The motor is stock with iron intake stock manifolds and the rochester.
I'm thinking maybe a carb and intake swap with some headers in the future, the performer intake is probably gonna be my choice for the intake but im wondering what carb would be good, keep in mind i live in California and the smog laws are junky haha.
Thanks.

[1980c10]

If you're going to change the gears anyway, why not just do them 1st and see where you're at with power?
A cam by itself won't get you too far. You need to go a little further; headers and a free flowing exhaust would help
The performer is a good choice for the intake.
I like the holley 670 street avenger; it is easy to tune and will run right out of the box.
I've never had to deal with smog laws so can't help ya there.
For a cam I have the Crower torque beast. Very good long flat torque curve.
Also consider a valve spring upgrade with any new cam to prevent the valves from "floating" above 4000 rpms.

[454Man]

I have a new hecho en mexico 85 chevy 350 in my 79, I believe the heads are 1.94/1.50 and im looking for a good cam choice. My rear end is a 2.76 with 31" tires (definately need better gears) so its probably around the 2.5 range so im thinking i need a torque cam? I want the best cam i can buy while trying to keep stock valvetrain components. The motor is stock with iron intake stock manifolds and the rochester.
I'm thinking maybe a carb and intake swap with some headers in the future, the performer intake is probably gonna be my choice for the intake but im wondering what carb would be good, keep in mind i live in California and the smog laws are junky haha.
Thanks.

The comp cam high energy 260 is what I chose for a cam. Its supposed to be the biggest you can go on a stock setup.motor will be here in a couple days.maybe I'll get it running on the engine stand and take a video.idk about the laws in cali though...

[79brent]

i know i have good enough power but im gonna build it up little by little. The gear choice is in my head but im thinking i might just leave it till i can get an overdrive transmission, just for freeway speed (daily driver 80 mph at 2700rpm). Would you have an idea of what parts i should put on first, ex intake, headers then cam or?
im gonna be asking alot of questions just so i dont have to look through tons of google sites that arent specific to my truck like this forum is...sorry lol.
ive heard nothing but good things about that 670 and although its not "smog legal" in my state i can always swap it out for my rochester come smog time. question on it though, would i be able to run it with maybe just an intake and headers (my exhaust is a 2.5" with high flow cat and a 50 series i think).
in your experience/knowledge whats the best intake ive heard the edelbrock performer is good from many different people but ive read the old aluminum z28/corvette intake is better, and im kinda leaning towards the gm performance zz4 intake.
again sorry for all the #s im trying to learn as much as possible   

[1980c10]

Where your start isn't going to matter a whole lot. However start with the worst stuff first. For example if your exhaust is rusted, or your carb is bad start there. As far as intake choice goes, a dual plane matches you goals well. whatever intake and cam you buy; make sure they operate in the same rpm range. I use the edelbrock intake myself, although it is the vortech performer version.
The reason I say it doesn't matter a whole lot where you start is that all the pieces work together, for example, a nice intake and carb combo won't do a lot of good with exhuast that chokes the engine. I would save up and install all the pieces at the same time, if the pieces you install do enough good for your engine one by one; in theory you would have to make carb and timing adjustments each time you add a piece.
With this in mind If you just want to get a head start go with the headers to begin then do the intake carb and cam together after that.

[Irish_Alley]

the rochester isnt a bad carb. and many including me say its underrated. i think it was extreme 4x4 on power block that did a special on them. and even he said you can get allot out of them, even get them into the 700 cfms. but like 1980 said start where you need it. for one even if you put better heads on they wont work well with a stock intake or stock exhaust. me for one i like to get all the parts i need even if it takes a year then put them all together at once

[79brent]

alright sounds good thanks for the input