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Thoughts on choosing a cam for my 440

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Gear_head73

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Hello all,

i am new on here. I noticed a lot of knowledgeable people on here and could really use some advice regarding cam selection.

I’m in the process of building a 1969 440.

The engine will be going in a 1973 Dodge Charger.

What I’m looking for is a car that is for street/strip. Something that I won’t loose my dependability for driving on the road but at the same time has a lot of get up and go.

I would like to go with a solid lifter cam.

So far the direction I have gone is purchased:

- BDS 871 stage 2 blower with dual 4 setup.

- Factory Mopar 906 cast heads... planning on putting dual springs in, and cleaning up the heads with a slight polish of the ports.

- Block has been cleaned and magna-fluxed. I’ve had to bore it .30 over.

- Forged speed pro pistons (flat tops) .30

- Eagle H-beam connecting rods

- Stock forged crank

- 2 (4 barrel edelbrock Avs 650 cfms)

- MSD Pro-Billet Distributor


Thanks for the help in advanced.
 
Welcome from Missouri!!
 
Welcome from Ontario. My latest 440 build I called Hughes for cam advice. I've had several cams in it over the decades and absolutely love the cam he suggested. Better than any I've had. There is a questionnaire on their website for cam info.

I know you didn't ask but after looking through your engine specs a couple things stand out to me. IMO, your heads will limit the airflow of that blower. Its cheaper and better to pick up aftermarket aluminum heads like Edelbrocks. After all the work needed to make them flow better you still have old heavy technology. I'd also look at a new crank. The blower states that you want muscle and you'll need to build it for that or fix it later. Again, the guys over at Hughes will give you some advise on a good combination to achieve what you want. They are also a sponsor here.

http://www.hughesengines.com
 
Your stated goals and the 871 blower are opposite of each other. Like the party girl that wants to be a nun.

Why don’t you call BDS and ask them what to do. They might have some experience making it work. LOL
 
O
slepr1 said:
Welcome from Ontario. My latest 440 build I called Hughes for cam advice. I've had several cams in it over the decades and absolutely love the cam he suggested. Better than any I've had. There is a questionnaire on their website for cam info.

I know you didn't ask but after looking through your engine specs a couple things stand out to me. IMO, your heads will limit the airflow of that blower. Its cheaper and better to pick up aftermarket aluminum heads like Edelbrocks. After all the work needed to make them flow better you still have old heavy technology. I'd also look at a new crank. The blower states that you want muscle and you'll need to build it for that or fix it later. Again, the guys over at Hughes will give you some advise on a good combination to achieve what you want. They are also a sponsor here.

http://www.hughesengines.com
Click to expand...

Oh okay thank you. I will definitely do that.

your right regarding a few things..

originally I wanted aluminum heads but most aftermarket aluminum heads are closed chamber design. I couldn’t find any with open chamber design.

I had a set of 906 heads kicking around and they were in really good shape. With a little cleaning that i could do personally.. seemed like they would be (ok) to get me up and going.

I thought I’d throw them on and possibly later I could always put a improved head on.


originally I wanted to buy a dished forged piston but my local machine shop and other aftermarket stores said the flat tops were only available at this time.

originally when purchased they claimed I would be at 8 compression then with aftermarket heads depending on what ones I figured I may be around 9.1 compression and could shift that number slightly with a thicker head gasket.


In the end.. it seems I’m going to be at 9.1 compression with only open chamber heads. I’m not so sure if it would be a good idea to use that thick of a gasket to really bump down the compression from a closed chamber head.

i will check into that crank, thank you for pointing that out.

This will be my first RB big block build. I’ve done mostly all small block over the years in a different direction only going for compression not reverse

the weight factor stands out for sure between the small and big block. I like the idea of aluminum heads. So far I’ve replaced the water pump with a aftermarket aluminum one. Couldn’t get over the weight difference only in the original water pump to the aluminum one.
 
R413 said:
Your stated goals and the 871 blower are opposite of each other. Like the party girl that wants to be a nun.

Why don’t you call BDS and ask them what to do. They might have some experience making it work. LOL
Click to expand...


Haha yeah... it’s going to be a bit more wild then what I thought I’d raised

Been talking with BDS & edelbrock. A few things they changed to make things work better.

edelbrock suggested a needle kit for their carb.

BDS recommended I step from the first stage to the 2nd stage (stage 2 blower)

they set me up with the 8mm drive as well.

When I was asking regarding cam specs and gave them all the info they said they didn’t know what to suggest other then solid lifter cam or roller and that they had a spec sheet on their web page with the cam bracket numbers regarding solid or roller.

when I talked with edelbrock they said they would probably go with the solids but the cam choice was totally up to me.

I’ve herd from some people that have told me make sure I don’t go with too big of a cam because it will be tough to control on the road (idle etc) and recommended go smaller VS larger

I don’t want to go too little either with what I got.
 
Thanks all for welcoming me to the page and the thought on my build.

i hope at some point I can be of help to others on here.
 
Big Als toy box builds blower mills... he would know what cam..
 
Welcome from Alabama, heck of a introduction and straight into the blower world.
 
welcome to FBBO

maybe check out the Resto-Mod & pro-Touring forum section
or the Racers Hangout forum section too
or the Classic MoPar Tech section, Engine trans driveline,
or performance engine builds, fuel-air systems etc.

I'd also highly suggest check out
the search feature on the top right of every page
enter your criteria
there are 100's if not thousands of threads already about heads
or performance engine combos

you need to buy the proper piston deck height
or compression/valve reliefs etc. for your combo
this isn't a build type to just mix a bunch of parts together
& have any real success or "reliability"
Piston Order/buy
for use with whatever head & even the camshaft selection
you end up with
for whatever you 'end use' will be, be realistic,
not pie in the sky dreamer stuff
especially if it's gonna' have an 871 Huffer on-top of it
you need to plan it out, not buy stuff several times
especially not mismatched parts combos,
it needs to be more specific for "it's" realistic end-use
& what's on top of it

sort of the best of both worlds,
that's a tall task
with that combo, it can be done "somewhat"
BUT;
there's going to be compromises
especially with a boosted ROOTS BLOWN application
& dependability/reliability in the same sentence, with such a thing

Gear_head73 said:
Hello all,

i am new on here. I noticed a lot of knowledgeable people on here and could really use some advice regarding cam selection.

I’m in the process of building a 1969 440.

The engine will be going in a 1973 Dodge Charger.

What I’m looking for is a car that is for street/strip. Something that I won’t loose my dependability for driving on the road but at the same time has a lot of get up and go.

I would like to go with a solid lifter cam.

So far the direction I have gone is purchased:

- BDS 871 stage 2 blower with dual 4 setup.

- Factory Mopar 906 cast heads... planning on putting dual springs in, and cleaning up the heads with a slight polish of the ports.

- Block has been cleaned and magna-fluxed. I’ve had to bore it .30 over.

- Forged speed pro pistons (flat tops) .30

- Eagle H-beam connecting rods

- Stock forged crank

- 2 (4 barrel edelbrock Avs 650 cfms)

- MSD Pro-Billet Distributor


Thanks for the help in advanced.
Click to expand...
 
Welcome from PA! I don't know how much help I can lend, but I do know :xscuseless:
 
Welcome aboard from Ohio.(don't jump off the deep end of the pool too quickly)
 
Welcome from Iowa. Your good with your rods and crank, A factory forged mopar crank is tough enough for a blower on the street, you will need to machine a second key way in it for the blower pulley hub, no big deal. You need to ditch some compression and those 906 heads. Eddy's flow great, big *** valves and decent price. They have 3 different chamber sizes to choose from If none work with your flat tops then it's best you get different pistons to match up to a set of eddy's for a max of 8.6:1 if your boost is around 5 or 6 will give you a boosted compression of 12.1:1, perfect for the street and stay on the edge of pump gas. Your carbs are on the small side, a pair of Holley 750 blower referenced carbs would be better. Cam is 100% up to you, of course in a perfect world you want a grind that has more lift and duration on the exhaust side, the intake side is forced in so you need more help getting the exhaust out naturally, You can also do this with higher ratio rockers on the exhaust valves.... or you can go with any nice streetable cam like a beautiful sounding 509 purple shaft and run good because you are going to have more power than you can ever use on the street with a 871. I'm running a 509 in a blown 440 (871 BDS) pushing 750 hp at 6 psi of boost and 900 hp at 12 psi and 110 octane race gas. She's a handful on the street!!
blown 440.jpg
 
Outlawd said:
Welcome from Iowa. Your good with your rods and crank, A factory forged mopar crank is tough enough for a blower on the street, you will need to machine a second key way in it for the blower pulley hub, no big deal. You need to ditch some compression and those 906 heads. Eddy's flow great, big *** valves and decent price. They have 3 different chamber sizes to choose from If none work with your flat tops then it's best you get different pistons to match up to a set of eddy's for a max of 8.6:1 if your boost is around 5 or 6 will give you a boosted compression of 12.1:1, perfect for the street and stay on the edge of pump gas. Your carbs are on the small side, a pair of Holley 750 blower referenced carbs would be better. Cam is 100% up to you, of course in a perfect world you want a grind that has more lift and duration on the exhaust side, the intake side is forced in so you need more help getting the exhaust out naturally, You can also do this with higher ratio rockers on the exhaust valves.... or you can go with any nice streetable cam like a beautiful sounding 509 purple shaft and run good because you are going to have more power than you can ever use on the street with a 871. I'm running a 509 in a blown 440 (871 BDS) pushing 750 hp at 6 psi of boost and 900 hp at 12 psi and 110 octane race gas. She's a handful on the street!!View attachment 1105129
Click to expand...


Thank you for writing in regards to my post. Sweet ride!!

Im curious how you built your 440. Could you please share a bit. Curious about your entire setup. Heads especially. Your car is a 4-speed? what type of transmission do you have ?

What type of pistons did you go with ? flat tops?
 
Gear_head73 said:
Thank you for writing in regards to my post. Sweet ride!!

Im curious how you built your 440. Could you please share a bit. Curious about your entire setup. Heads especially. Your car is a 4-speed? what type of transmission do you have ?

What type of pistons did you go with ? flat tops?
Click to expand...
I would enjoy talking with you on a motor build and will try to visit with you through pm sometime later, very busy time of year for me now.
 
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