AJ's Opinion; Just for you 318 streeters

Since YR opened the door to overlap;
But I am talking about a well-rounded streeter,
One of the single-most, best-pay-back things you can do for performance, is increasing the overlap. But it requires you to have both headers and a free-flowing exhaust.
Almost all cams have at least some overlap. Performance cams have more and race cams yet more.
At the advertised durations, the Factory 318 cam has 20*, the 340/360-4bbl had 44*. The 360 2bbl had about 30 (IIRC). So we know that 20* is nothing, and things are heating up by 44*. But the big performance gains are up past 76*, like the 292/292/108 cam has.
However, in the quest for overlap, the compression duration suffers, and so the Scr has to be pumped up in compensation. That is why you see dragrace engines sporting big number Scrs.
Obviously, on the street, we cannot normally run the Scr up into the hi twelves or more, and still expect to run pumpgas. So, that sorta limits the amount of overlap we can run.
By experience;
the 76* on that 292 cam was not for me. Yeah it made a lot of power over the top, but, it didn't like 3.55s at all. Because it was on a tight 108LSA, the cylinder pressure was still reasonably high enough at low-rpm, but you know, winding it way up to prove she had the power was not for 3.55s. I mean 6500 was 55 in first gear... and 7000 was ~60. I once put 4 big guys in the car,and it was embarrassing to get it moving. Not for me.
>My next cam had only 53*of overlap, (270/276/110 advertised), but with the more compression degrees, this baby made a chitload of bottom end power. Perfect for those 3.55s. In fact, I ran it with 3.23s and 2.76s as well, because it didn't complain all that much. I was very sad when that cam began to drop lobes.
>My last cam has 61* of overlap (276/286/110 advertised), and let me tell you how disappointed I was with the loss of bottom-end power. I worked on the timing and carburetion all summer and couldn't get it back. I finally called Passon Performance, and ordered up a set of Commando gears with the 3.09 low.... and that took care of First gear with the 3.55s.
So, in my thinking, I'm not interested in a bigger cam.
However, I would be, if the bottom-end power could at the least, stay the same. .
And
this is where VP comes back into play.
Knowing the VPs that I have had, I know where the lower limit for me is, with 3.55s. See I could run a bigger rear gear, but I'm not going to. With the Gvod, and 3.55s, the cruise rpm is a very pleasant 65=2240; so that has to stay.
My lowest VP has been about 135 with that 292 cam, and I never liked that bottom-end. My highest was 157, which was killer. And the current combo has 153, and as mentioned, I was disappointed coming from 157.
Having gotten 15 or more years older now, I could do without the VP of 153, and I don't travel much any more, and have a second car for that now ......... so, I guess I could sacrifice some of that VP, trading it for gears. I already tried 4.30s and that was too deep for the 3.09 low, but I guess I could go 3.91s. Which is 10% bigger than 3.55s. And so I could sacrifice 10% VP, dropping from 153 to 138; criminy that's low. I ain't going under 140, there is just no way.
Ok so now I have a new VP target of 140 and she's a 367 at 10.95Scr; lets see where this goes. Ok I get an Ica of 68* for a VP of 142; I'm good with that. From my current cam that is about 1 cam size bigger, but I'm gonna punch the Lsa to 106 for my tight-split 4-speed using the GVod as a splitter, so lets see where that goes....
Ok got it; I get 284/292/106 in straight up. This gets an Ica of 68* badaboom, with an overlap of 76 degrees. So that will do several things.
The overlap jump, from 61 to 76 is huge, so I can expect a real nice power bulge on the curve. The VP drops from a very high 153 to a tolerably low, (for me) 140, but the 3.91s will get the bottom-end back. Of course this cam will drink gas, but she's not a DD anymore. You should not run this type of cam in a 318 with an automatic...... because you cannot easily get the Scr up to 10.95! And the powerband is not at all suited to the auto. The A904/A727 have ratios of 2.45-1.45-1.00 and splits of 59%/69% which means on a shift at 6500, the Rs would drop to 3840 and 4485. Making your 1-2 powerband 2660 and your 2-3 powerband 2015.
But with my GVod splitting gears, the ratios are 3.09-2.41-1.92-1.50...... with splits of .78-.80-.78 So my combo can get away with thischit. I could get away with shifting say 6100 for a powerband of 1340rpm.
Now, from 276*( the current cam) intake duration to 284* ( the proposed cam) is 8*, so just a lil more than One cam size. But the overlap from 61* to 76* being 15* is two cam sizes. So I can expect the power to move up 200 rpm, but the power increase due to overlap will be significantly higher.
Is it worth it to me?
Well considering the total cost, no.

I just wanted you guys to see how important it is to match your engine to the rest of your combo.