Do not know what Cam is in my 440 ,

[68 Chris]

Hi all,
I am running a 440 with a newly installed MSD Digital 6A, Pro Billet Distributor, 8.5mm wires and stock champion spark plugs. I want to put in a higher stall converter so it would really help to know the cam. The guy I purchased the car from told me "mild purple cam." Well that could be any number of cams. So is it as simple as finding TDC then pulling off the valve cover and using a dial indicator and reading the cams lift and duration? I found a few sites with directions online such as LS1tech.com. Is this a fairly simple procedure? plus, how do I factor in wear? I don't know how long the cams have been in this motor. I have not purchased a dial indicator yet so if there are any special dials/tools that work good for this application I'd love to hear it.

Thanks!

Chris

 

[lewtot184]

if it's a hydraulic lifter cam it can't be checked at the valve. the lifter will gradually collapse giving a false reading. take the rocker assembly off and check at the tappet for a true reading. question; why would you want to change converters with a mild cam?

 

[dieseldazzle]

Its a little more involved then that due to the many purple cams they made lol. I did it once if you google court9155 and moparts youll see.

I did it right at the lifter bore with the comp cams lifter bore tool and my dial indicator.

The purple cams have 480, 484 and 472 lift over the years with quite a difference in duration and such very hard to measure down presicely.

Best of luck.

Also when I gave up and pulled the cam the numbers on the dang thing didnt translate to any parts catalog.

 

[Seventy]

I would just pull it out and put what ever cam you want in there, they are cheap enough for a new one with new lifters...
I am not quite sure from the lowest to highest lift purple cam would effect the converter choice too much {I would go 2500-3000 max? If you are looking to put a high stall converter on the car Ill bet you a decent shop with a wheel dyno will be able to let you know exactly what converter to put in there, and you wont have to take your motor apart or buy gaskets.

I had a 440 in a charger with a 484 purple cam and a 2800 converter, but it was a stroker and had some sack to it...

 

[68 Chris]

Lewtot,
Well, My friend gave me the suggestion and I'm not sure what stall converter is in the Charger but He said that I should put a larger one in. He doesn't know jack about Mopars so I don't know why I listened. He's a Chevy specialist. My car is very much stock. However I would really like to know all the details of this engine so I know what I'm working with. Same guy that told me to up the Stall converter told me to put an Edelbrock 750cfm on the engine as well. As soon as I started talking to Mopar enthusiasts everyone said Holly Double pumper. I went with the Edelbrock because it was the cheaper option but now I am thinking I should have gone with the Holly right off the bat. I'm not gonna hate on Edelbrock it's a good carb but I don't know if its the right one for this motor. I still have some adjusting to do and see if I can get the throttle to do what I want.

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Sorry, for not explaining it correctly. I know you have to take the rocker arm assembly off and install the dial indicator. I was just being lazy and not writing all the details of the process. My main goal is to talk to people who have done it and were they able to achieve good results? After listening to some of these responses it sounds like it's not as easy as it sounds to just measure the cam and identify it.

 

[coloradodave]

We really don't have all the info necessary to make any suggestions on what to change. If the motor is 'stock' the Holley double pumper is NOT a good choice, especially if you have a Torq-flite and a stock rear end ratio. The Edelbrock or Holley vacuum secondary carbs are good choices. BTW, recommending a higher stall converter on a stock motor doesn't make sense on ANY car, whether it's a Mopar, Chevy, Ford, or Huppmobile...

To quote our friend Budnicks: "Fill your library before you fill your garage". Words to live by.

 

[dieseldazzle]

This is what I used for checking the lobe lift. You then have to convert it using the rocker arm multiplier.....thats were most stock mopar rocker arms fall short from what I understand.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/pro-66838?seid=srese1&gclid=CNWm8oyi_MYCFdUUHwodTzEDkg

 

[68 Chris]

We really don't have all the info necessary to make any suggestions on what to change. If the motor is 'stock' the Holley double pumper is NOT a good choice, especially if you have a Torq-flite and a stock rear end ratio. The Edelbrock or Holley vacuum secondary carbs are good choices. BTW, recommending a higher stall converter on a stock motor doesn't make sense on ANY car, whether it's a Mopar, Chevy, Ford, or Huppmobile...

To quote our friend Budnicks: "Fill your library before you fill your garage". Words to live by.

Dave,
I'm not asking what to change. I was asking if other people have used the "Dial indicator" to find out what their cam is inside the engine. As well as if their are any other tools that work will for measuring a cam inside an engine, without dis-assembly So didn't mean to confuse the topic by supplying extra uneeded info.imp4: . The last post is just explains why I want to know what cam I am running in the car. So that I can adjust the carb accordingly and so on and so on. So I'm just going to get in there and see what I can find out using a dial Indicator. Hopefully I can get a consistent reading as I turn the crank by hand.

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This is what I used for checking the lobe lift. You then have to convert it using the rocker arm multiplier.....thats were most stock mopar rocker arms fall short from what I understand.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/pro-66838?seid=srese1&gclid=CNWm8oyi_MYCFdUUHwodTzEDkg

Diesel,
The Pro Form Cam Checker says it's made to fit a GM and Ford application. I'm guessing it also works for mopar? Thanks! This is what I was looking for. I'll give Summit a call. I have stock rocker arms in the heads. The rocker arms I pulled out of the 906 heads when they were rebuilt were an assortment of originals and Chinese re-pops. I had a friend send me a good set of mopar rocker arms he had sitting on a shelf in his garage and put the best out of the bunch in for consistency. Thanks for the info. I'll let you know how everything works out. I don't know how much ware is on this cam and how much of a factor it's going to play in the readings but hopefully I can get close enough to make a educated decision on which cam is in the engine.

 

[dieseldazzle]

Hey dude you are gonna have to remove the lifter and use the tool I sent you a link to in order to get an accurate reading.

Staying on the side of the tappet off of the center hydraulic section is very hard and you assume the hydraulics dont compress which they more than likely wont if you measure from the tappet or the top of the rocker but that is going to prove difficult as you will find out. It is vague at best and even then you are going to only know the lift. Depending on lobe wear and measurement accuracy you are going to still only be "close" at best.

I have been down this road.

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Dave,
I'm not asking what to change. I was asking if other people have used the "Dial indicator" to find out what their cam is inside the engine. As well as if their are any other tools that work will for measuring a cam inside an engine, without dis-assembly So didn't mean to confuse the topic by supplying extra uneeded info.imp4: . The last post is just explains why I want to know what cam I am running in the car. So that I can adjust the carb accordingly and so on and so on. So I'm just going to get in there and see what I can find out using a dial Indicator. Hopefully I can get a consistent reading as I turn the crank by hand.

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Diesel,
The Pro Form Cam Checker says it's made to fit a GM and Ford application. I'm guessing it also works for mopar? Thanks! This is what I was looking for. I'll give Summit a call. I have stock rocker arms in the heads. The rocker arms I pulled out of the 906 heads when they were rebuilt were an assortment of originals and Chinese re-pops. I had a friend send me a good set of mopar rocker arms he had sitting on a shelf in his garage and put the best out of the bunch in for consistency. Thanks for the info. I'll let you know how everything works out. I don't know how much ware is on this cam and how much of a factor it's going to play in the readings but hopefully I can get close enough to make a educated decision on which cam is in the engine.

That was a general pic.

This is the ACTUAL one I own and if you were close id let you borrow it:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/cca-4926/overview/