Stock 360 Upgrades for Crusher Cuda?

Gotta agree with the converter. However! I don’t think you need one with that size cam. The stock converter will be fine for street driving. If your plan is the strip, then a converter would be very helpful.

I myself have used the Crane variant of that cam. I used the entire kit from Crane. Cam, springs, etc… In a low compression (7.9-1) 318. The first run (literally!) directly off the Hwy. onto the staging lane I ran a 15.14, I forget the mph.

‘74 Duster, ‘79-318 dead stock with the cam and the following bolt on parts. Open air cleaner on a 600 cfm carb, LD4B Edelbrock, Hooker 1-5/8 headers into a Jegs header to bumper dual exhaust kit. Dead stock converter and 904 trans, 3.21 suregrip equipped rear end on stock size tires. Foot brakes it at various rpm’s. Tire spin was to easy with street radials.

The things that would have put my Duster into the 14’s off the bat are simple and a short list. .14 is not a lot.
(Sometimes! LOL!)

A modified distributor curve. I had a junk yard distributor simply slammed in there. The only thing I know about it was it came off of a truck. So you know the curve was slow.

Stickier & wider tires to stop spinning @ the line.
Stock sized radials don’t stand a chance.

3.55’s would do the trick. Though I forget the finish line rpm, I still remember I had a lot of usable rpm left over at the stripe.

A shift kit would have been something nice to add. The 904 was a slow shifter. Not horrible for stock, but stock none the less. I also wanted to add an H pipe in the exhaust. I never got there.

I would like to add the engine was missing a decent dose of compression. At 7.9-1, this engine could run fine on “Joe Cheapo’s Gas stations Yak piss.”

So there ya have it. If you want to get more solidly into the 14’s, like a low 14, a cam change would do it. A
About another 8*’s with a proper converter.