am currently building an L18 for the stanza and wanted opinions on cam selection. i bought it for parts but is now the daily after i grazed a tree in the ute. I have fully balanced all the internals within 1 gram and have lightened the flywheel to a shade under 8 kilos. hi comp pistons 0.020" over, match ported the head to manifolds, 2 x su's, extractors ,sss 5 speed. you get the idea. a small voice inside my head says go all out .500" lift, lumpy as. but that might be a bit hard to drive in traffic. i was thinking of having the original cam reground to sss specs or could i go a bit bigger than this and still retain decent driveability. what are other L series owners running and what sort of driveability are you geting. any and all opinions would be greatly appreciated. cheers S

Hi, I'd love to know a little more about this motor.
the 910bluebird site may be helpful.
I need mine to be drivable in traffic too.
I was thinking of a similar upgrade ( bored and stroked). I'd like to upgrade the valve springs too but I don't know which ones

sss specs is just a L20b cam...nothing special or powerful

and if you were to go all out with the cam, the SUs would be holding you back big time

you can't go too wild in cam choice with SU carbs. They need vacuum to run at all. You might get away with a 72 works cam, but to be safe I'd stay under that. I ran a Camshaft Engineering 32/72 with mine and it was very lumpy and rich at idle due to the lack of consistent vacuum.

i spoke to an engine reconditioner today at work he recond a 30/70 cam should give good power with out being too lumpy at idle. the SU's came free so this was a very cheep option for twin carbs. i will definatly be going big f#@k off webbers when i build the coupe.
I was planing too get the original cam reground rather than buy a new one. Are there any draw backs in doing this? does it effect the position off cam mounting(height)? as i understand it more lift is obtained by removing material from the opposite side of the lobes thus changing the relationship between bearing journals and lobes. if that makes any sence. thanks for your input. Simon

sorry to steal your topic but has anyone ever had trouble with inconsistent vacuum from a lumpy cam causing vacuum advance issues? i've noticed a distinct ticking noise from my dizzy at idle and i wonder if it might be the vacuum only appearing in bursts and advancing it on and off..
The engine in question is an L20b and it has a series 2 electronic dizzy.. i have tried two different dizzies but both of them seem to do it, not all the time, but i have noticed if i raise the idle a bit it goes away which is why i thought of it...