R2 cam in a 1957 Golden Hawk Engine

[StudeMichael]

Would any performance gains come from installing an R2 cam in a 1957 Golden Hawk Engine?

1957 Packard Clipper
1958 Golden Hawk
1963 Daytona Convertible
1963 R2 Daytona
1963 R2 GT Hawk
1963 R1 Wagonaire
1963 R4 Avanti
1964 Champ
1966 Cruiser

[JDP]

Not much in my opinion, by the time you get on the cams sweet spot the 2 barrel will limit breathing. Also, the lighter, stock valve springs won't rev as high either.

JDP/Maryland
64 R2 GT (Sid)
spent to date $62,839.60
63 Daytona HT/4 speed
63 Lark 2 door

[Mike Van Veghten]

Agreed.
Remember...the best performance comes from the right "combination" of parts. Mismatch these parts by too much...the car will run worse than it does now. I've seen people do this a lot.

As has been said before -
A well prepped manifold
A 500cfm carburetor
Some well done (light) head work
R3 copy exhaust manifolds
Duel exhaust
A good distributor
THEN...the R2 or R2+ cam

With at least a 3.55 rear gear. 3,70's will work better.

The "combination" of parts is the key.

Mike

[PackardV8]

Greetings, StudeMichael,

Don't forget, the '57 GH has 7.5 compression ratio. The R2+ camshaft has longer duration, which would lower the dynamic compression ratio even further. The '57GH was always a dog off the line. It wouldn't be good science to make it even slower below 4kRPMs and run out of valve springs at 4.5kRPMs.

thnx, jack vines

PackardV8

[64Avanti]

Getting the correct valve springs wouldn't be a problem. The higher compression heads would be easy to get. The carb would tend to limit the breathing and should be changed out for a 4 barrel. If you want to have the car look stock then the carb swap would be out of the question.

David L

[StudeMichael]

Thank you for the response! I am using stock heads that have 8 to 1 compression with composite gaskets, not Golden Hawk heads but it does not sound like a good idea. My engine is from a 1957 President and I am rebuilding it now. It will have a stock McCullough set up and is going in a 1957 Packard Clipper.

1957 Packard Clipper
1958 Golden Hawk
1963 Daytona Convertible
1963 R2 Daytona
1963 R2 GT Hawk
1963 R1 Wagonaire
1963 R4 Avanti
1964 Champ
1966 Cruiser