Any Trickflow Top End 440 Users Out There?

[Geoff 2]

R/grabber, post #11.
From memory, idle vac is about 11". Car has p/brakes & they work ok. I spent a lot of time dialling in the idle advance, which is 43*. It has a Mopar elec ign dist that fires a 4 pin HEI module, 0.060" plug gaps, & is revved to just under 6000 rpm, about the limit of the cam. In a 68 Charger, 5 or 6 gears [ I forget ], but will spin the wheels in 3rd gear. The dist had an adj vac unit, but the spring was too strong for the available vac. I swapped a spring out of an adj HEI vac adv unit, which is softer than the Mopar. Rock steady idle now with 43* at idle.

 

[andyf]

Thanks for the reply. How does this cam fit into your vision which is installed as of now?

By “adding duration” would that be adding duration to both exhaust and intake? Forgive the lack of cam experience with numbers. I’m not a track guy with higher than usual levels of exposure.

I placed it twice in case hard to read.

View attachment 1970133

229/235 on 112 is on the small side for a performance 440, but it should be a nice street engine. Should have plenty of manifold vacuum, maybe a slight lope at idle. That cam in a 440 with pump gas compression and TF240 heads won't make anything close to 600 hp but it might make 500. Engine building is full of compromises, sometimes you don't know what you really want until you try it.
As a comparison, the GM 502/502 crate engine has a 224/234 hyd roller cam in it. That engine makes 500 hp and a bunch of torque and is a fantastic engine for street rods. The 502/602 uses a bigger cam and it makes 600 hp but the idle quality is totally different and you need more rear gear and more stall. Too much cam timing can be too much.

 

[PRHeads]

Just trying to make some sense without having the same background.
Are these specs you mentioned @.050 lift?
Any reason why valve lift is not there when cam specs are mentioned?

Is lift not as much a factor?

Thanks for chiming in.

As far as what affects it has on the general application for the engine, lift has little effect.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’ll be better off finding someone you trust and having them select a cam for you.
Based on your input, and a conversation, where priorities are discussed and evaluated…….let them make the selection for you. Like you did with Howard’s.
Two things…….
1-At this point it’s undetermined how effective their cam will prove to be when the PR’s are replaced with more suitable pieces.
2-changing the cam to something else that still checks off the ex manifold/street friendly nature of the current cam…….. isn’t going to yield “big” power gains.
Big-ish power gains from a cam swap will require the ex manifolds to go, and a bit less civility at low speed operation.
(There is no magic cam—— for hot street builds it’s all about managing compromises)

With 1-7/8x3 headers, I’d expect your current combo to get into the 500hp “neighborhood”.
If it got there with 520+tq, I’d say it should be pretty satisfying to drive.

 

[Dodge Bros]

I must have missed the back story on this engine. What combination was this Howard’s cam picked for?

 

[PRHeads]

From what I understand, the current iteration, with ex manifolds.