Competition Cams
Along with Crane, the other heavyweight contender when it comes to cam and valvetrain companies is CompCams. If you read any of the print ads throughout the year from these companies you'll see that these two companies love to take jabs at each other's new products or marketing campaigns. Comp is pretty proud of their cam advice, or "Cam Help" as they have trademarked the service. They are also the only company with a dedicated toll-free number for enthusiasts interested in cam recommendations or technical help.

Competition Cams Tech Line Evaluation Tech Line Number: (800) 999-0853     Hours: M-F 7am-8pm CST Hypothetical Engine Time of Call Monday, 2:00pm PST Tuesday, 9:21am PST On Hold Duration 8 min 3min 29 sec Tech Operator Hospitality 3 3 Camshafts Recommended PN: Custom Hyd. Roll. dur@.050: 232/240 valve lift: .565/.574 LSA: 110 deg. PN: 34-247-4 dur@.050: 230/236 valve lift: .562/.565 LSA: 110 deg. Remarks Quick response time. Good information on website. Rushed feeling. Single cam recommendation, no other valve train advise offered.

Calling Comp Cams can yield some pretty long hold times and even an occasional busy signal, but they do have some useful on-hold entertainment. A Comp recording tells you about new parts, promotes the Comp website, and prompts you to have certain information ready for the tech when they come online. On both calls our techs introduced themselves by name. However, similar to Crane, we immediately got the feeling that the guys were watching the clock. We were asked the standard rapid fire questions, "what compression, trans, gear, tire and weight", and a few seconds later we received a cam recommendation. What did impress us is that for the first motor, the 347, the tech came back with a custom cam recommendation. He gave us the duration and lift specs, and indicated this would be a custom grind which could be ordered from him and would only take 3 days to process. Surprisingly neither tech suggested lifters, springs or other valvetrain components. Both Comp Cam technicians indicated the cams could be ordered right there and then.

Lunati Cams
Lunati is a legendary brand when it comes to camshafts. Their name adorned the back window or rocker panel of many a circle track and drag cars back in the 70's and 80's. However after founder Joe Lunati turned the reigns over to Holley in 1998, Lunati cams seems to have taken back seat to the aforementioned big-guns of camshaft marketing. Perhaps 2005 is the comeback year for Lunati. In 2003 they were joined by former Comp Cams cam designer, and Ultradyne founder, Harold Brookshire. They have introduced a new cam line called "Voodoo" cams, which claims profiles never before utilized for flat-tappet camshafts. We certainly don't doubt the talent at Lunati, however we wonder why the Holley marketing team would launch a new camshaft line and limit it just to hydraulic flat-tappet cams. Also a big oversight is that the Australian alternative-fuel company GasResearch has been calling their line of cams "Voodoo" for a few years now.

Lunati Cams Tech Line Evaluation Tech Line Number: (901) 365-0950     Hours: M-F 8am-5pm CST Hypothetical Engine Time of Call Monday, 2:13pm PST Tuesday, 9:11am PST On Hold Duration 8 min 30 sec 4 min Tech Operator Hospitality 5 5 Camshafts Recommended PN: Custom Type: Hyd. Roller. dur@.050: 232/240 valve lift: .565/.565 LSA: 110 deg. -or- PN: 51012 Type: Hyd. Roll. dur@.050: 232/242 valve lift: .544/.560 LSA: 112 deg. PN: Custom Type: Solid Flat. Tapp. dur@.050: 244/244 valve lift: .608/.608 LSA: 110 deg. -or- PN: 41699 Type: Solid Flat. Tapp. dur@.050: 244/251 valve lift: .608/.611 LSA: 110 deg. Remarks Poor on-hold experience. Marginal information on website. Enthusiastic operator. Recommended several cams to select from, willing to talk and explain.

When you call Lunati you'll be calling the 901 area code, which is Tennessee, where Lunati started thirty some years ago. That's a plus because at least you know you'll be talking to someone at the cam company rather than the carb company. Unfortunately the witch doctors haven't brewed up a modern day phone system at the plant. An operator answers the call and after you ask for the tech line she warns you that the phone will continuously ring until one of the techs answers it. We listened to the constant ring for 8 minutes and 30 seconds before we got a human on the line. Our interaction with the tech made up for a lot however. The tech seemed genuinely interested in what we were building, and in fact sounded like a car guy more so then a trained operator. We didn't feel rushed when asked what the key specs of the motors were, and he engaged us with genuine enthusiasm about how strong the motor would run and sound with this cam or that cam. Surprisingly though on neither two calls did the tech mention the new Voodoo cam line. This is probably because for the 347 he realized this was a roller block. For the 460 call we deliberately acted interested in the Voodoo cam line, however he suggested that a solid flat-tappet would make more power for our motor. He even told us while the cam could be ordered from Lunati directly, we'd save some money through a retailer because Lunati does not charge extra for custom grinds. We appreciated the honesty and integrity from the Lunati tech, after all he could have pushed a cam on us just to promote the new product line. Instead he used his experience to suggest what he felt would be best for our combination.

Ultradyne/Bullet Racing Cams
Perhaps the smallest of the cam companies we called was Ultradyne. However hardly a newcomer, Ultradyne likely has the best reputation amongst hard-core engine builders as "the" custom cam company. This is certainly due to the fact that Ultradyne's founder, Harold Brookshire pioneered cam designs which led to Daytona wins in the 70's and 80's. (In 2003 Harold joined Lunati as their Chief Cam Designer.)

It's really only in the past few years that custom grinding has become a household phrase. This is certainly due to the large cam companies making their lobe profiles available in their catalogs, and bringing prices on custom grinds to almost par with off-the-shelf sticks. As a result, there are many people in the late-model Mustang crowd who claim to be cam-gurus and have the masses fooled into thinking their specs will significantly out perform any of the catalog cams.

The fact still remains that designing the right cam requires experience and knowledge. The second you get on the phone with Tim at Ultradyne you realize the difference between what goes into a real custom cam and the one someone's friend regurgitated.

Ultradyne Cams Tech Line Evaluation Tech Line Number: (662) 893-8022    Hours: M-F 8am-5pm CST Hypothetical Engine Time of Call Monday, 2:35pm PST Thursday, 1:51pm PST On Hold Duration busy signal, then 2 min. None. Tech Operator Hospitality 4 4 Camshafts Recommended PN: Custom Type: Solid Roller dur@.050: 245/253 valve lift: .621/.621 LSA: 108 deg. PN: 280/288 H12 460 Type: Hyd. Flat Tappet dur@.050: 223/231 valve lift: .534/.559 LSA: 112 deg. Remarks Website is so awful it is actually soothingly funny. Most engaging and informative tech operator. No rush, willing to explain and educate.

Make no mistake though, calling Ultradyne is similar to calling your favorite speed shop. The phone seems to be answered by whomever hears it ringing. It might be the guy you need to talk to, or it might be the a woman in the back-office. Who knows, but ultimately you'll get to the right person. Both times we called, we got very helpful guys on the phone. We hesitate to call them "techs" because in reality they are probably the very guys running the small company and designing the cams. Ultradyne is the clear winner when it comes to asking the most sincere and in-depth questions regarding our car and motor. We were asked what brand heads, what valve sizes and even flow numbers. The biggest surprise was the mechanical roller recommendation for our 347, which came with several minutes of explanation on why this decision will yield more power. We spent over 10 minutes on the phone with the Ultradyne tech and felt he would have spent as long as it took to understand our needs, or help us understand his cam recommendation.

Ultradyne doesn't really have any part numbers, and pretty much every cam is ground to order. You buy from them direct and it takes a couple days to get the cam cut and sent out. After our first call for the 347 motor we thought these guys might be prone to recommending pretty big cams. However we were pleasantly surprised when we called regarding the 460 and they recommend a mild duration cam that would "be great for on and off the throttle driving, but still yield that nice cam sound at idle."