340 4 speed vs 5.2 5 speed

There is one other aspect to think about;
Take two identical cams, except for the LSAs. Make one a 114 and the other a 108.
Lets choose the venerable 268/276 size. Lets look at the whole cam; and install them at split overlap;First the 114., then the 108
It works out to
A)268/276/114+2/44 o'lap(44 effective)/114 comp/106 power/Ica of66*
B)268/276/108+2/56 o'lap(56 effective)/120 comp/112 power/Ica of60*
C)268/276/108+4/56 o'lap(52 effective)/122 comp/110 power/Ica of58*
What's it mean?
1)Check out the Icas; there is a 6* difference, so at about 1.25 psi per degree, you could be looking at difference in cylinder pressure of ~7.5 psi.
2) look at the power degrees of 112 vs 106. the 108cam is extracting energy out of the expanding gasses for 6 extra degrees. For a streeter, that points to less fuel being used most of the time, and for a hiway cruiser it points to a potential for more mpgs.
3) look at the overlap; 56 vs 44 degrees. This here is a huge difference. With headers, doing what they do, this has the potential for a nice lil power bulge at the top of the curve, and a lil fatter midrange.
4) Look at the Effective overlaps;these are installed at split overlap. If you have to bandaid your low-cylinder pressure engine by advancing the cam, then you are stealing from the overlap on one end and stealing from extraction on the other... both with negative results. This is, IMO, a very poor way to pick up cylinder pressure. You can see the results at C) above.
So the question then is; Why would anybody chose a wide LSA cam?
Well, in a low-rpm engine, with a Torqueflite engine, the 1-2 split is 59% so when you shift at say 2400 rpm, about the torque peak of an old 318LA, the rpm falls to 59% of 2400=1400 ... so the engine better have some juice down there to get out of that hole, and one of the ways to get it is with a wide LSA. It reduces the absolute power, in favor of some grunt, to pull those 2.45s and 2.76s etc..
So why did the 340 come with a 114LSA cam? Aye there's the 64,000 dollar question. Go back and look at the A) example, above.
Notice the 44* meager degrees of overlap. That engine came with log-manifolds, which killed the overlap anyhow, so they sure were not hunting for absolute power.And those engine already came with a generous Scr so the cylinder pressure was always pretty good too.
That just leaves the Late closing EXHAUST valve with it's attending EGR. Notice that Mopar was one of the last to employ air-pumps and such.
And finally, I guess they were satisfied with the unmistakable sound of an Idling 340 to not mess any more with it. Or
perhaps it was a de-tuning effort for insurance purposes.
IDK.
I can tell you this;
All my hi-school chums, slammed headers and a cam into their 340s just as quick as they could earn the money to do so. And gears were not far behind. I'll bet there are thousands of 340 logs that went to the scrap bins. And I myself still have a few of those and some 268 factory cams, kicking around taking up shelf space.
That's the best I got.
Oh the summary,lol
I can see no good reason to run a 114 cam in a Hi-Po street application, and with a tight ratio manual trans, I could easily see a 108 or less LSA. When it comes time to replace my current cam, I will definitely NOT choose another 110*Lsa. Furthermore; it will NOT be an FTH.