Let Mr. Horsepower Help You Build More Power with Clay Smith Engineering

Most every gearhead recognizes Clay Smith Engineering’s famous ‘Mr. Horsepower’ woodpecker logo. But some of you might not realize there is serious performance behind that cigar-chomping bird. Clay Smith began hand-grinding performance camshafts back in 1931 and created grinds for everything from midget racers to hydroplane race boats and land speed record cars. The company is still at it 90 years later, knocking out power-building cams for street performance and racing.

Camshafts have a thin layer of case-hardened material on each lobe to resist wear. Grind too deep through that material and the cam is all but certain to fail Clay Smith index-grinds its cam profiles to ensure there is a consistently thick layer of material on each lobe. It also micropolishes any rough edges to prevent tiny pieces of metal from coming loose and damaging the cam.

Let’s take a look at a few of the cam profiles Clay Smith offers:

Hydraulic Flat Tappet Camshafts for Small Block Chevy
Mr. Horsepower put his money where his mouth is and dyno-tested these three Clay Smith hydraulic flat tappet camshafts at Westech Performance. The dyno mule was a basic 350 with 10:1 flat top pistons, a Summit Racing Performance 750 CFM carburetor on an Air Flow Research intake manifold, and a set of Trick Flow Super 23® 195 cylinder heads. Take a look at the specs for each cam, then watch the Clay Smith Dyno Mule YouTube video to see the test process.

01-003
The mildest cam of the bunch made 367 peak horsepower at 5,600 RPM and 405 lbs.-ft. of peak torque at 4,100 RPM, with plenty of vacuum for power brakes.
• Advertised Duration: 264°/264°
• Duration@ .050": 214°/214°
• Lift with 1.5 Rocker: .450"
• Lobe Center: 110°

01-012
Peak horsepower moved up a bunch—405 at 5,800 RPM—and peak torque climbed a bit to 416 lbs.-ft. at 4,200 RPM. Clay Smith recommends using 1.6 rockers on the intake and 1.5 rockers on the exhaust for best performance with this cam.
• Advertised Duration: 274°/274°
• Duration@ .050": 224°/224°
• Lift with 1.5 Rocker: .450"
• Lobe Center: 108°

01-052-LD
Horsepower with this cam peaked at 425 at 6,000 RPM with good power through 6,300 RPM. Peak torque was 416 lbs.-ft. at 4,800 RPM. This cam is definitely a mid- to high-RPM power builder with less low-end torque, making it a great bracket race camshaft. A high-stall converter is a must.
• Advertised Duration: 300°/300°
• Duration@ .050": 236°/236°
• Lift with 1.5 Rocker: .472"
• Lobe Center: 108°

Hydraulic Flat Tappet Cams for Ford 144-250 Six-Cylinder
Ford made a lot of Mustangs, Falcons, Mavericks, and other cars with inline six-cylinder engines. Clay Smith has been grinding hot cams for these engines for many years and knows what it takes to coax the horsepower lurking inside that cast iron. Take these two, for example:

07-003
This is Clay Smith’s most popular inline Ford six cam grind. Rated at 214° duration @.050" and .456" lift, the cam makes excellent midrange power without killing vacuum or fuel economy.

07-012
Rated at 224° duration @.050" and .456" lift, Clay Smith recommends this one for engines with two-barrel carburetor conversions and a manual transmission or an automatic with a higher-stall converter. It has a nice lopey idle and makes excellent low- and midrange power.

Summit Racing also has Clay Smith Engineering camshafts for big block Chevy and GM LS engines, plus some grinds for Ford Y-block V8 engines. We also carry Clay Smith hydraulic flat tappet, hydraulic roller, and solid roller lifters.

SEE CLAY SMITH ENGINEERING CAMSHAFTS AND LIFTERS AT SUMMIT RACING