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Hi-Torq Street Series Hydraulic Roller Cams
Pontiac V8 Hi-Torq Street Series Hydraulic Roller Cams
Roller Lift, Street Manners — Hi-Torq Street Series Hydraulic Roller Cams for Pontiac V8s
The Hi-Torq Street Series is Butler's entry point into a hydraulic roller valvetrain for the Pontiac V8. These are the mildest grinds in the Hi-Torq family: enough duration to wake a stock-cammed 400 or 455 up, still civil enough to idle in gear, pull vacuum for power brakes and live behind a factory converter and a highway gear.
Butler stocks them as custom Comp Cams grinds on a billet core, ground in three duration steps and offered on several lobe separations so you can pick the idle you want. Buy the cam by itself, the cam with your choice of Morel, Johnson or Comp Evolution roller lifters, or the master kit with timing set, springs, retainers and seals.
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More About Hi-Torq Street Series Hydraulic Roller Cams
1. The Three Duration Steps
Every cam in this series is one of three Butler/Comp SP grinds. Duration at .050" is the number that tells you where the engine will make power; the advertised figure and the lift follow from it. All lift figures below are with 1.5:1 rockers.
| 264/270 advertised, 212/218 at .050", .487/.495 lift | the smallest step. This is the one for a mostly stock short block, a two-barrel-to-four-barrel car, an automatic with the converter it left the factory with, or anyone who wants the roller friction and lift without changing how the car behaves at a stoplight. |
| 270/276 advertised, 218/224 at .050", .495/.503 lift | the middle step and the one most street 400s and 455s end up on. It adds midrange without asking for compression or converter you do not already have, and it still signs off politely up top. |
| 276/282 advertised, 224/230 at .050", .503/.510 lift | the top of the Street Series. You hear it at idle, and it wants a head that will flow the extra lift and an intake and exhaust that are not stock. This is the step where a torque converter and a rear gear start to matter. |
If the grind you want is bigger than 224/230 at .050", you are out of the Street Series and into the Performance and Aggressive Series pages.
2. Picking the Lobe Separation
Each duration step is ground on more than one lobe separation angle, and that single number decides most of the character you will live with. Butler's own description of it is worth repeating: LSA is the distance in cam degrees between the intake and exhaust lobe centerlines. Tighter LSA gives a rougher idle and less vacuum but more midrange and peak power; wider LSA idles smoother and makes more vacuum with a broader top end.
| 108 | offered on the 276/282 grind only. Aggressive, choppy idle. The choice when the sound is part of what you are buying and you have the converter and compression to back it up. |
| 110 | rougher, choppy idle. Noticeable at the curb, still drivable, gives up some vacuum. |
| 112 | performance idle with medium choppiness. The middle-of-the-road pick, and the one to default to on a car that has to do everything. |
| 114 | smoother idle and more vacuum. Take this one on a heavy car, a power-brake car, anything with a vacuum-operated accessory, or a build that will see a trailer. |
Butler also publishes the intake lobe centerline these grinds want installed at: 110 LSA to 106, 112 LSA to 108, 113 LSA to 109, 114 LSA to 110. Degree the cam to that number rather than trusting a dot-to-dot timing set install.
3. Cam, Cam and Lifter Kit, or Master Kit
Every grind in this series comes three ways. Which one you need depends on what is already in the engine and how much of the top end is coming apart.
| Cam only | the billet-core camshaft by itself. Right when you already own good hydraulic roller lifters and matched springs and you are only changing the profile. |
| Cam and lifter kit | adds your choice of hydraulic roller lifters. The lifter is the part of a retrofit roller job people underestimate, and Butler lets you choose rather than shipping whatever is in the bin. |
| Master kit | the whole top-end package. Cam plus your choice of Morel 5884R or Johnson 2112-OPR lifters, a Pontiac Pro Billet timing set with billet gears, a nine-keyway crank sprocket and a seamed chain, BPI hydraulic roller valve springs matched to your cylinder head type, ten-degree chromoly retainers, matching locks, valve stem seals and a pushrod length checking tool. |
On the master kit you select your head type when you order, because the spring package is matched to it. That is the step that keeps a set of cast iron D-port springs from ending up under an Edelbrock head.
4. Lifters and the Valley Pan Problem
A retrofit hydraulic roller lifter is a linked pair, and the tie bar that links them sits up where the factory stamped valley pan lives.
| The gotcha | a stock valley pan will not clear the tie bar on hydraulic roller lifters. Butler points to TPP-0421 or a BFA fabricated valley pan. Plan on buying one as part of the job, not discovering it with the intake half torqued. |
| Lifter choice | Morel 5884R, Johnson 2112-OPR, or Comp Evolution on the cam and lifter kits; Morel or Johnson on the master kits. |
| Distributor gear | a roller cam core does not run the cast iron gear a flat tappet cam used. Roller cams need a bronze or polymer distributor gear, and that is not optional. |
5. Rockers, Lift and Coil Bind
Every duration and lift number on this page is quoted with 1.5:1 rockers on standard journals. Put a higher-ratio rocker on top and the valve lift goes up with it.
| 1.65:1 rockers | raise actual valve lift above the published figure. That is usually the point, but it moves you closer to coil bind and to the retainer-to-seal clearance limit, so check both with the springs you are actually installing. |
| Pushrod length | the master kit includes a checking tool for a reason. A retrofit roller lifter is a different height than what came out, and the pushrod that was correct before will not be correct after. |
| Spring pressure | the BPI hydraulic roller springs in the master kit are chosen for these profiles. Reusing forty-year-old factory springs behind a roller cam is how you find float well below where the cam wants to run. |
6. Custom Grinds When None of the Three Fit
The Street Series is a shelf-stock answer, and Butler is open about why it exists: these are custom grinds kept in stock so you do not have to chase down the right custom grind for a Pontiac, and they are the same cams Butler runs in its own proven combinations. When a combination genuinely falls between the steps, a Comp Cams custom hydraulic roller camshaft can be ground to your lobes instead.
Not sure what your Pontiac needs?
Email our tech team at tech@butlerperformance.com. Tell us your engine, heads, car, and power goal, and we will put the parts together as one combination that works.