need some advise or suggestions on my small block build

[joe dirt]

so I picked up a low mileage zz3 motor carb to pan, plans are to build this up allittle for my 61 chev longbed, I plan to keep the sm420 4spd trans, rear end is 390 gears, but will be swapped out to a 308 geared 12bolt...
its not a drag truck and not a daily driver,...more of a weekend warrior that occasionally will see some hard pulles from time to time

id like to get close to 400 hp if possible with a nice lumpy exhaust sound

im ditching the l98 aluminum heads are on it

I will be using a set of 64cc pro comp 190cc heads with 202 and 106 valves with a set of .028 head gaskets to keep the cr close to 9.8-1 or so..
I was planning on getting an air gap performer intake
already have a holley 670 that I plan to use
I was looking at the lt4 hot cams but really not sure if that's what im looking for...
so im basically at a stall point because of cam choice,..i need to make a decision on a cam before I send the heads to the machine shop

any help is appreciated

[GASoline71]

That old 420 with granny low will sap a lot of your power as it won't be up to any kind of speed shifting. It's your basic old school truck transmission.

"Lumpy" sound can mean a loss of power depending on the cam you choose.

You can make 350hp with a 350 extremely easy. A true 350hp engine will have a good seat of the pants feel as you accelerate.

[joe dirt]

im not looking for the thumper cam lumpy sound...just something with a healthy sound...as far as the 420...ya it has been a bear as it is now with the 390 gears...i am thinking the 308 gears will help with that...i dont mind the slow shifting...its not a track truck....but who knows...maybe years down the line it will get a better trans...just not now

[mongocanfly]

A couple of different ones we ran back in our smallblock days were a .488/.288 and a .500/.300.. we ran these on what we called our junkyard motors..both sound really good..and made good hp gains with headers and intake..if you just want a barely there cam sound you probably don't want one as big as these

[joe dirt]

oh ya the zz3 is a roller so ill be looking for a roller cam

[Captainfab]

I would suggest either the GM cam used in the ZZ6 engine or one with similar specs from Comp or Lunati. The ZZ6 is supposed to be a tad over 400 hp.