[Mike C]

You will be fine with that cam with your setup. Vortecs are great, but you are right that there are additional costs if you already have an intake.

I had a Cam Dynamics 284 cam (228@.050) when the 331 in the Jimmy used to be in my Camaro. With 4.10 gears and a 2800 rpm converter it worked well. When my Jimmy timing chain broke on the original motor at 252,000 miles I swapped the 331 in because it was just sitting in the barn.

Let me tell you, with 3.07 gears, 33" tires and the SM 465, that was NOT the right cam! LOL. I swapped the cam to the Crane 266, the Z/28 intake for a Weiand 8004 and a Q-jet. Along with 4.10 gears and 35" tires that has proven to be a good combo. That motor has been in the truck 30 years now. At some point I will go 383 with a cam between 214 and 218 at .050

That motor has 186 GM heads and TRW forged flat tops in it. 9.8:1 maybe? It runs just fine on 87 octane as well. If making max power is your goal, I'd save for the aluminum heads. Maximum torque is dictated by displacement and compression ratio.

Have you ever bought from Competition Products? They own Howards Cams (I think, or are at least in the same town) and are an Elgin dealer. Pretty sure Elgin grinds those cams from Summit. But there are more cams in the catalog that may be even better suited you may want to check out.