Cam selection help

[Adam Nathan]

I have a stock 440 motor with a six pack set up but would like to up the cam slightly. I feel it's time to unleash a few more horses out of the old girl.
Any of you fine folk out there have any recommendations on what's a good choice of cam. Don't want to go too mental just something nice with a little sting in its tail.

 

[ga66mopar]

I used the XE274 comp cam in my 440 and I am very happy with it. It has strong bottom end torque and pulls hard in the mid range and pulls 6000 RPM's. It also has a pretty mean idle. Strong bottom end torque and a good lumpy idle is what I was after. I needed a cam to work well with 323 gears and have plenty of vacuum for the power brakes. . You will find many differences of opinions on camshaft choices.

Found this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhm40hDbuKE

Here's a 383 with the cam. Besides the header leak mine sounds like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StY40zeDqY0

 

[Adam Nathan]

Seems to be LOADS of cam shaft selections available. It's seems choosing the right one can be a headache. So wanna get it right 1st time.

 

[lewtot184]

a lot depends on how "stock is stock". stock cast exhaust manifolds don't like a lot of valve overlap and prefer a 112LSA or wider. some friends and I some years back did a lot of playing with stock six pak configurations. the slowest time of 3 cars was 13.16-106mph, best was 12.80's. all cars were 3.23 geared automatics with weights varying from 3900-4200lbs. all cars used the mopar 272-.455. the greatest power gains were with head work. a souped up cam would be the last place i'd go, and then i'd be a little conservative. my next "stock" six-pak build will probably have a summit 6401 cam or an engle k56/k58 on a LSA of 112 or 114.

 

[Garys1969RR]

My son has the .488/.491 cam in his 383 Super Bee. It works great! I run the 509 in my 451, which works well once it hits a certain RPM. Like 2200 RPM and up.

 

[Adam Nathan]

At the moment the car has stock cast exhaust manifolds but thankfully their not skinny logs these are some big ol bad boys. Never been a lover of headers. Transmission is a TF 727 with a 2300 stall converter that was already in there. Rear is running 3.23 gearing. Never had the engine apart cos never needed to so I'm gonna assume that until I start performing engine surgery all parts are stock parts inside.
It's time to open up the wallet and let some of the moths out.

 

[MoparMitch]

Take a look at Howards Camshafts. They are doing some interesting things. Nice high lift with reasonable duration and still at 112LSA. I'm using one in my 68 Dart GTS 383 A/T resto project. Pretty much same set up as yours. I'm anxious to see how it works when I get it fired up.

 

[coloradodave]

Giving intelligent camshaft recommendations isn't possible without ALL the specifications on the vehicle, engine, transmission, rear-end, tire size and intended use. What I would recommend is to call or email a variety of manufacturers with ALL the above information and get their choices FOR YOUR APPLICATION. Who knows better than the folks who make them? By comparing the choices you should find a consensus. A little leg work goes a long ways to find the right cam.

 

[440 Cuda]

I have a stock 440 motor with a six pack set up but would like to up the cam slightly. I feel it's time to unleash a few more horses out of the old girl.
Any of you fine folk out there have any recommendations on what's a good choice of cam. Don't want to go too mental just something nice with a little sting in its tail.

Adam,

My Car Club friend has a 440 'Six-Barrel' Road Runner, 4/Speed with 3.91 Gears.

The 440 Engine is all stock, except for 'Balancing and Blueprinting'.

He used the old profile 484/284 Camshaft {Chrysler Part #3412004}
Lift............ .484"
Duration..... 284*
Overlap....... 68*
LSA............ 108*

And he made sure he installed the {-.0005} Hydraulic Lifters.

The 440 is a 'Monster'.

 

[Meep-Meep]

a lot depends on how "stock is stock". stock cast exhaust manifolds don't like a lot of valve overlap and prefer a 112LSA or wider. some friends and I some years back did a lot of playing with stock six pak configurations. the slowest time of 3 cars was 13.16-106mph, best was 12.80's. all cars were 3.23 geared automatics with weights varying from 3900-4200lbs. all cars used the mopar 272-.455. the greatest power gains were with head work. a souped up cam would be the last place i'd go, and then i'd be a little conservative. my next "stock" six-pak build will probably have a summit 6401 cam or an engle k56/k58 on a LSA of 112 or 114.

I'm going to second the MoPar .455 / 272. This is the cam I'm running in my green Belvedere and my performance is virtually identical to what Lew posted. Super crisp throttle response and out of the box carbs seem to work without major recalibration. I had to jet up 4% on my 750 AFB. My performance numbers were with headers / 3" TTI and a factory iron intake. Same cam is in the 426W that is now running in my 69 RR. Compression difference between the two engines is 10.1:1 vs. 9.6:1 on the 426W. Cranking pressure on the 10.1:1 440 is 190 PSI (too much for pump 91). Still need to check the cranking on the 426W and I'll be interested to see that result since both cams are identical and installed within a couple of degrees. 112 LSA is magic on a street big block.