Camshaft help.....340 Dart Swinger

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I take it you're running power brakes. Although i do have to say i have a 360 with that 284 .484 cam and my brakes work relatively well. that tight lobe separation kills it. I recommend the nostalgia series with the 280 duration .474 lift with a 110. i never had any issues with that cam in a 318 with 360 heads and power brakes on a 4x4. so in a car it would work great.
the cam you're looking at leaves alot on the table to desire. what is your compression ratio?
 
Its not the cam. I have run that cam in several cars with no problems...did you degree the cam? Did you rejet ? Did you redo timing ? Was the cam new ?
It could be a vacuum leak.....
 
I have a 1971 Dodge Dart Swinger with a 340/727 out of a 1968 GTS Dart so it has the "X" heads, I put long tubes on it and put 3.23's in it, it is bored 30 over, and has a stock converter ....I also changed cams, I went with the Mopar Performance Purple shaft 284/484 cam and I wish I would never have chose that cam, hardly has an vacuum, honestly runs like crap, I swear it had more power and response with the other cam....its my own fault I'm 22 so I wanted a lumpy idle, I definitely got that but I hate everything else about it. So I've been looking at different cams to hopefully get my car back performance wise with my current set up, I found the a Comp Cam that very well just may be the ticket would just like to see if there is any other feed back from you seasoned veterans. Its the Xtreme Energy cam part number is 20-222-3 here is a link to the specs on the cam. Thanks in advance for the help. 20-222-3 - Xtreme Energy™ Hydraulic Flat Tappet Camshafts


check out a Hughesengines.com whiplash cam, nasty idle good street manners. see youtube for videos of cam in cars or on their website.

or get an original street hemi grind purple shaft that was made by direct connection.
you can use it with stock valve train. its not that nasty of an idle but it will give you good performance with street manners. I had one in my 69 340 4speed with 3.55 suregrip and it rocked well.
 
Its not the cam. I have run that cam in several cars with no problems...did you degree the cam? Did you rejet ? Did you redo timing ? Was the cam new ?
It could be a vacuum leak.....



This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


That cam isn't big enough to have issues with power brakes. You need to fix your tune up. Changing cams because your tune up is off makes no sense.
 
IIRC ...the 284 /484 is the Hemi street grind.

It has a great sound to it... I remember hearing my buddies 1970 440-6 Plum Crazy Cuda with Sonic Turbos and that cam coming down the street. I could tell it was him when he turned onto my block... Gorgeous Shaker car all stock looking and running 12's... still has it.
 
BTW did you degree the cam when you installed it, or is it just a dot to dot deal.

You can install the thing at 100-102 ICL and that would change the power curve some. If you didn't degree it, it may be 10 degrees retarded.
 
yes there are more modern cams out there but that cam should run pretty darn good in that motor.
1000s of guys ran that same combo with great results. You may find yourself going thru a lot of trouble changing cams only to come out with similar results.

ask me how I know this.....lol
 
You can do a lot with tuning but that cam will never be great with a stock converter. It can be made to run good and be drivable but wont have killer torque from an idle. I would buy a converter if I wanted to pick up the low end or get a smaller cam and forget the lopey idle.
 
another really important thing is cylinder pressure. going from the 284 .484 which bleeds it off to a mild cam especially with 10-10.5 compression could take you out of pump gas territory especially with iron heads
 
You haven't answered one of the pertinent questions in the thread, only complain about the cam that YOU selected and installed.

Where was it installed?
Initial timing?

Can't answer those, you either didn't install it by degreeing and don't have close to what it needs for timing.

Carry on with the fit. :)
 
Stall speed of a REAL stock TC is ~2400rpm, so if that's what you have, I don't see that being much of an issue.

I agree with most of the guys here that cam has a long proven history and should be running better than you're letting on.
 
ive got the 284/484 cam in my 360, its a lot more tame than it was in my 318, it loves 20 initial.admittedly i now have a hughes 3000 stall.did you change your power valve? work on your tune, its not that radical, you should be able to get more out of it
 
IIRC ...the 284 /484 is the Hemi street grind.

It has a great sound to it... I remember hearing my buddies 1970 440-6 Plum Crazy Cuda with Sonic Turbos and that cam coming down the street. I could tell it was him when he turned onto my block... Gorgeous Shaker car all stock looking and running 12's... still has it.


I don't think the cam your talking about is the original street hemi grind.
original was 471/474 lift 284 duration and 90 deg. overlap.
that was the cam I had in my 69 4 speed swinger. I could probably use a little looser converter in an automatic.

then again you really need to dial the cam in with a degree wheel, there are guy here that can help you with that here. and for sure the cam will change the dynamics of your tuneup.
 
Thanks to the majority of people that responded. There are some comments I don't appreciate so I'm not going to continue this. Thanks again to those that actually helped.
 
So did you degree the cam or not? If so, where is it installed?

I'll bet it was installed lining up the dots, no wheel. No idea where it's actually installed.

People ask for help then don't provide any answers worth writing about. Provide answers, get answers it's that simple.

Buy a degree wheel and dial indicator and onstall the cam at 100. Will run like a different car. :)
 
He deletes his posts because he didn't like the answers?


WOW!
 
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Thanks to the majority of people that responded. There are some comments I don't appreciate so I'm not going to continue this. Thanks again to those that actually helped.


good luck to you and I hope you get it sorted out.
 
The RPM range on the 284/484 cam is 2600-6000. I would pull it and put in the 280/474 cam. The RPM range of 2000-6000 will work great with your factory "hi-stall" torque convertor. Then degree the cam so you know it's installed correctly. You still get your lumpy idle and will be very responsive.
 
I have a 1971 Dodge Dart Swinger with a 340/727 out of a 1968 GTS Dart so it has the "X" heads, I put long tubes on it and put 3.23's in it, it is bored 30 over, and has a stock converter ....I also changed cams, I went with the Mopar Performance Purple shaft 284/484 cam and I wish I would never have chose that cam, hardly has an vacuum, honestly runs like crap, I swear it had more power and response with the other cam....its my own fault I'm 22 so I wanted a lumpy idle, I definitely got that but I hate everything else about it. So I've been looking at different cams to hopefully get my car back performance wise with my current set up, I found the a Comp Cam that very well just may be the ticket would just like to see if there is any other feed back from you seasoned veterans. Its the Xtreme Energy cam part number is 20-222-3 here is a link to the specs on the cam. Thanks in advance for the help. 20-222-3 - Xtreme Energy™ Hydraulic Flat Tappet Camshafts
That cam you linked is an awesome street cam ,Great torque, enough power. can run the factory stall and 3.23s even. It runs really well with a 10.5 compression an 3.55s but doesn't need either, really. It will also be a fuel sipper once the tune is in.At just 46* of overlap, headers are optional. It will run a bit better with them. It's kindof like a stock 340 cam on a tighter LSA. It is a very good choice. If you want more power, put it in the heads. But that cam will fry the tires easy enough.You will like it, I had the next size up, and it was awesome!
I agree that the 284 is not for everybody,and especially not for a first timer.
Believe it or not, we are here to help.
 
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LMAO!

Then he comes back and marks an "X" on your post!
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!
 
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