1970 Dodge Dart 318 upgrades

toolmanmike said

Once upon a time I ran a bunch of different cams on the D dyno. Here's the 318 build:
Stock bore Teen, 9.5/1, 1.80/1.60 valves, LD4B/600, 340 manifolds and dual exhaust.
I chose cams with duration 220° or less and all were hydraulics.
The winner (as far as what I can see) was the Howards 711381-10
322 hp@5000 and 399 lb/ft@3000
Specs: 208°/214° @ .050
255°/261° advertised
.479/.494 110°

Click to expand...

I went back in and changed things back to stock 318 with #302 heads. The HP winner is the XE262H-10.
The torque winner is the Howards cam I spoke about before.
The torque winner @ 1000 rpm is the Howards cam again.
The D dyno is a fun tool to compare as long as you don't rely on the numbers to be dead nuts accurate.
Too bad it is so much work to change cams just to get a real world test with the minimum of variables.
In conclusion, there is no magic bullet cam and stock 318's can't handle much without other mods.

Next question for you guys, for a stock Mopar like the OP has, would you rather have more HP or more torque?
I would think the torque would be more important with the low gears. Max. HP doesn't happen till 4500 rpm or so. Hard to use it just cruising around town.