OK Kyle, by now you are probably overwhelmed with opinions, hopefully this one will not be the straw that broke the camel's back. I will make the assumption you have an early 70's 302 with early stud mounted rail rocker arms. The greatest limiting factor in a stock SBF are the cylinder heads. If you are wanting to change the cam and nothing else I recommend you install one from a stock 69-71 351W. It should work with all you current "stock" components and still give you a little boost. You would have to change the firing order to a 351W but that is really of no concern. Also, since this is a flat tappet hydraulic you should put in new lifters with the cam as well. The stock specs are listed below for comparison. Hope you find this helpful.
I've done that swap a few times.. factory 351/4bbl cam included. While it used to be a worthwhile low-budget swap.. it would be a total and utter waste of time and resources compared to doing some of the cam swaps mentioned earlier in this thread. In fact, he would gain more power from moving to a 1.7 roller rocker conversion than any of those factory style cams would give him. Aside from the minor lift increases gained with the higher rocker ratio.. the valve action would be quicker which allows for more area under the lift curve. Plus, he'll gain truer ratios compared to the factory stuff which deviates from part to part and typically falls short of advertised spec's. Also an easier bolt on part that can be swapped over to any other powerplant he chooses to use them on later on down the road. Money spent now can be money saved later. Only caveat would be the slight chance for different pushrod length requirements and need for guide plates(requires screw in studs. Last time I did that swap to cranes high energy rollers.. I used the early style pushrod lengths(mid-year 67 and earlier IIRC) and everything bolted right up. The workaround for press in studs these days is to use the self guided roller style tips. Many to choose from out there. On this engine I'd go to a 1.72 ratio self guiding tip setup. An easy 12-15 horsepower with more torque and greater average power EVERYWHERE. Re-tuning the ignition and carb would flush out a bit more too.
